Apparently the cute photos of kittens and dresses and recipes on Pinterest made men who wanted to share photos of knives and guns and meat feel unwelcome. Because now we have Manterest, for the manteresting things of virtual life!
Women quickly colonized Pinterest, which allows users to “pin” images they like and share them with friends, probably because we’ve been trained so well by our women’s magazines to covet beautiful products. But the predominately female demographic must have made some man somewhere uncomfortable and thus unable to “pin” his fave golf club photos on the social networking site. Surely he will feel better “nailing” and “bumping” those instead, as Manterest allows him to do. That’s how you know it’s for men! That, and the black, wood grain background.
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For the record, this is just as ridiculous — and insulting to men — as those ill-fated attempts to make tablets and pens just for women. You know, the ones that use “feminine” color schemes (that’s pink and purple to you) and, in the case of the tablets, come preloaded with apps someone has decided you will like if you have a vagina — like calorie trackers and yoga programs and shopping lists and recipes. (Ugh.) These things sound like jokes, but all signs point to them being earnest enterprises.
Some things — actually, most things — don’t need to hew to the gender binary. And while these things seem superficial and silly, they make a difference: The more we make the world boys-versus-girls when it need not be, the more we imply there’s only one right way to be masculine, one right way to be feminine, and nowhere in between. Guys, you can bring your fishing rod photos, or whatever, over to Pinterest. They’ll look just fine next to the cupcake photos, and who knows — maybe even a lady or two will “like” them.
Hollywood.com correspondent Jennifer Keishin Armstrong is the author of Sexy Feminism, available now, and Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted, a history of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, due out in May. For more information visit JenniferKArmstrong.com.
Follow Jennifer on Twitter @jmkarmstrong
[Photo Credit: Manteresting.com]
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