Viewpoint: Using sex to sell gadgets

Go Digital presenter Tracey Logan likes her gadgets but wonders why they are usually sold as boys' toys.

Wow, shiny new gadget with lots of buttons

My uncle Frank loved gadgets. In the early 1960s, he had his own reel to reel tape recorder, an expensive and surprising possession since he was a butcher in the West of Ireland.

After the doctor, he owned the only telephone in town. Perhaps it was Uncle Frank who sparked my lifelong interest in technology.

He would have loved Stuff Live, an exhibition in London recently crammed with gadgets which I would call "boys' toys".

They had sunglasses that doubled up as video screens, the latest Blackberry phone/e-mail device, flight simulators, mini car racing, the list goes on.

The King of Shaves stand declared this a male gathering as I searched in vain for an armpit section.

But what is it about all this stuff that excites men so and which fails, spectacularly, to get my female friends and I worked up into a lather?

The editor of Stuff magazine said his favourite gadget was the video sunglasses. I, on the other hand, wouldn't be seen dead in them.

Whip it out

Many men I know obsess about technology. One does up old cars and motorbikes and yet refuses to buy a mobile phone.

Another must have the very latest multimedia device, just so he can whip it out in meetings.

A very clever, digitally literate man I know says that men obsess over gadgets because they are easier and less complicated to interact with than women Tracey Logan

And a third, on a recent trip to Senegal, would stand outside our hotel with his box-fresh GPS position finder and, after a few clicks, proudly proclaim our location. Surely it would have been simpler to ask at reception?

Don't get me wrong. I'm fascinated by technology and what it can do and now use the internet, e-mail and text messaging more than most.

And I've had my share of handheld computers, but was more than happy to return to my old Psion after the Handspring got run over by a car.

Once I've found a bit of kit that works for me I'm happy and will only upgrade when it becomes obsolete.

I think this applies to a lot of women. And I'm quite intolerant of technology that is complicated or confusing to use, too.

Are gadget makers ignoring the female buyer?

In this I have something in common with Her Majesty the Queen. According to the design guru Don Norman, who heard it from the head of Sony America, Her Royal Highness has trouble operating her remote control.

A very clever, digitally literate man I know says that men obsess over gadgets because they are easier and less complicated to interact with than women.

I think he was just saying that make me feel better about my own techno-inertia. There must be a more important, evolutionary reason for this clear genetic trend.

Survival game

That the Y chromosome conveys an obsession with hard, metallic or mechanical objects seems clear.

Have you come for the gadgets?

Basic evolutionary theory might suggest an explanation for this phenomenon. An attraction for, or keen ability to use new tools would convey a survival advantage.

The guy with the best gun hunts quicker and faster, stands more chance of a full stomach, with plenty to spare for any fecund females in the neighbourhood. His genes would pass to the next generation.

But what about the female X chromosome? Why does that seem to convey different digital urges - a turgid distaste for constant digital upgrades but a clear interest in communication and entertainment technologies?

Maybe it is true that, for women, the survival advantage has to do with being where the most reliable dinner is or the fittest fellahs.

That age old explanation would certainly explain the popularity among girls of mobile phones and disco-dancing video games.

Of course, it could just be that boys like to show off with tools and girls do the same with shoes.

In the evolutionary battle for survival, who can say whether Jimmy Choo or PlayStation 2 has the upper hand?

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Do you agree with Tracey? Are women just not interested in gadgets? Or are the makers of them missing out by not appealing to women? Send us your views.

Having worked in IT for several large corporations, supporting several thousand users in total, I certainly got the impression that women would get excited about software rather than the hardware, unless something was was cute and stylish, like a PDA. It was mostly men who would whine about needing the latest fastest equipment to do their work. But I also noticed that plenty of men who boasted about the size and capacity of their equipment, as it were, often didn't know how the equipment actually worked, nor how to use it properly.
Simon, USA

Gadgets are aimed at men because quite simply most women don't know how to work them.
Mayoui, UK

I agree that females don't get that excited about gadgets. I myself am a big gadget freak I love technology. But my girlfriend just thinks I'm mad, she wouldn't care what's inside a PC or what make of TV she is watching, just as long as they both do the job there designed too. She hates the fact that to turn the TV on in my flat you need four remote controls. Why shouldn't us men have our boys' toys it keeps us out of our wives' and girlfriends' hair?
Andy, UK

Of course they are missing out. Who could deny the joy of having newer toys and faster PC than the boys in the IT department? Surely a PC case in pink that has room for your T610, PDA, manicure set and GPS as well as the laptop would be so much more appealing for us giggly girlies that manage IT projects.
Elizabeth Beales, UK

Of course some women like techno gadgets! Just in the same way that some blokes hate them.. True, there may not be quite the same number of women who get overexcited whenever the newest piece of multi-media malarkey comes on the market, but it doesn't mean to say that all women are technophobes. I've always held the view that the best way to put people off doing something is to tell them that it's not for them, or that they can't do it. So whether it be women playing computer games or men going shoe shopping, it doesn't matter, not all women enjoy traditional girlie stereotypical pursuits just asI'm sure that the entire male population doesn't enjoy football.
Anna, UK

Women just aren't interested in gadgets full stop. I think the explanation of the Y chromosome is the best one yet. I love gadgets, but every single girlfriend so far as seen them as a complete waste of time and money - and the girls who do like them have certain 'bloke' qualities themselves.
Duncan, Belgium

Despite being a man, I find myself wondering why anybody bothers with new technology. Are these gadgets invented to fill a need or are they just invented for no real reason? Perhaps they are a cynical marketing ploy designed to relieve people with noting better to do of their money? I really can see no use for sunglasses doubling as a video screen. I have mobile phone but I use it to make phone calls. I have no idea what other features it has nor am I interested - to me a phone makes phone calls - end of story. I'm not interested if updating equipment even if is obsolete - if it is still working great. I'll get a new one if/when I can't get the old one mended.
Nick Morton, UK

I recently objected that in Asda all the Science, Gadget and Economy related magazine are displayed under the banner "Male Lifestyle" while us women are relegated to the home economics subjects. Sexism is pervasive in all aspects of UK life.
Carol Lamb, England

As a female computer scientist with a tangential interest in fashion I have to say that my love of shiny gadgets is always perceived as a very masculine thing. My friends call me (affectionately) a geek, and liken my love for technology to an obsession with cars (something many men share!). I don't mind confusing technology - I love tinkering with things. And while I have a new mobile phone, its PDA functions appeal to me more than the text-messaging handwriting recognition or video calling modes. Maybe I got landed with a Y chromosome by accident?
Jennifer, Cambridge, England

Well I remember back in the early 90's writing to one of the Stuff-like magazines asking why they always had the nubile you girl tastefully holding a gadget and could we one month have Harrison Ford. Needless to say the editor's reply (yes they printed my letter) was very 'heheh and for the ladieeess'. Yes I am a technophile - I've have six PDA's from Psion to Tungsten via Pocket PC and the complete set of Bluetooth bits etc, I'd just like a modicom of respect in the gizmo shops.
Julie, UK

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