Hi Ben,
I think now that David has expanded on his point I can see what he was driving at (and I also think it is valid!). The concern was to question what on the face of it appeared to be another over simplification - as with the research that prompted this. The research that you quote is interesting, although this is specifically about Filipino gay men. Also I'm not sure about the homogeniuty of 'gays' and this is commented on within the article: "The gay population is merely a slice of a representative cross-section of the general population. That means they too have varying income, education, and lifestyle preferences." So I'm not sure that anyone one of us can speak for 'our' people - whichever section of the community we come from. It may also be rather limiting to talk of 'sensibilities' as this has often led women to be confined within certain areas, and it would kind of be a shame to consign gay men to the same fate. As for the research that prompted this discussion, maybe it just illustrates a lack of user-centred design - with developers designing for themselves it is not suprising to find an appeal along gender lines (It would be interesting to know more about the sites choosen for this study). Whilst the success of the 'beauty' sites may be indicative of a more serious attempt to understand the user (commerical driver) and adoption of appropriate methodologies rather than any supposed 'pink' development.
Jackie
Jacqueline Hollowood
Web Designer
Learning Support Services
B105, Cripps North
University of Nottingham
University Park, NG7 2RD
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>>> Ben Parish <[log in to unmask]> 09/08/05 17:14:35 >>>
Hello Jacqueline,
I did not make any of the same implications that you made about David's
observation. To me it seemed a valid point.
Here is an interesting article I found about how retails targets the gay
market. I would expect that their market research is quite sophisticated
because of the commercial stakes:
http://www.inq7.net/nwsbrk/2002/jul/09/nbk_4-1.htm
"Concern about their physical appearance ranges from the purchase of all
kinds of beauty products usually made for women, to the type of clothes
they don. Male gays follow the same beauty regimen as women, and use the
most effective to the most expensive products."
This would suggest that gay men would be more aware of the nuances of
marketing of these products (valuable in assisting in website design
process) than the average straight man. It would also imply that more
gay men would be successful at applying for jobs in this sector than
straight men and therefore more representative.
On this basis it would be pointless to analyse the male/female statistic
without considering sexual orientation. If it was not significant it
would be ignored by the retail sector.
Ben
Jacqueline Hollowood wrote:
> what sort of comment is this? As it seems rather to imply that:
>
> 1. Males engaged with the beauty industry are gay
> 2. Gay males are psychologically more like women than men
> 3. Gay males gender designation is female
>
> I don't see how this adds to the debate about aesthetics and gender difference, and could be taken as rather offensive.
>
> Jacqueline Hollowood
> Web Designer
> Learning Support Services
> B105, Cripps North
> University of Nottingham
> University Park, NG7 2RD
>
> Tel: 0115 9513618
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>>>>"David R. Newman" <[log in to unmask]> 09/08/05 14:40:43 >>>
>
> Claire Gibbons wrote:
>
>>http://www.glam.ac.uk/news/releases/003056.php
>
>
> In the press release we find:
>
>
>>While expectedly 77% of angling websites are designed by men, more
>>surprisingly 78% of the female orientated beauty websites were also
>>drawn up by men.
>
>
> I'm not sure exactly how they counted the sex of all the team members
> designing a web site, but maybe the difference we should be looking at
> in the beauty products sites is the sexual orientation of the designers
> (as in the fashion industry).
>
--
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