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If you ever feel like being a woman in this world is somehow hard, it may be because it is. What does it mean for a woman to live in a world that’s predominantly designed by men? Does it make women less visible and less heard? These are crucial questions that we don’t really have the answers to straight away.
But Karly Hou, a sophomore at Harvard in computer science, math, and economics, has recently posted an illuminating thread on Twitter that has shed some light on the current state of gender bias which, in many cases, is not so obvious. “Our world was not built for women,” Karly made a strong statement before proceeding to list all eighteen disturbing examples of how it’s hostile to female identities.
From simple things like smartphones and cars to military equipment and recommended drug dosages, these are the things most of us have been taking for granted. Maybe, until now?
RELATED:
Karly Hou, a sophomore at Harvard, has recently shared an illuminating thread on how the way the world is designed is hostile towards women
And she listed these disturbing examples of how our world wasn’t built for women
Image credits: kbarley66
Image credits: kbarley66
The world population is projected to reach 9.9 billion by 2050, an increase of more than 25% from the current 2020 population of 7.8 billion. While more than half of this 7.8 billion are women, the heads of governments, corporations, and other influential voices are those of males.
Image credits: kbarley66
Many feminist researchers claim that this is the case because the “default male” is the figure our world is designed around. According to one such author, Caroline Criado Perez, the male that serves as a stand-in for “human” may have very real and often damaging consequences.
From longer wait times at the loos to phones that simply don’t fit female hands, these are some of the annoying things women have to find their ways around. Some though can be truly lethal, like protective clothing that wasn’t built according to female proportions, or misdiagnosing heart diseases in female patients.
Image credits: kbarley66
Image credits: kbarley66
But the default male problem is much greater than just manifesting in daily activities or objects. Turns out, it’s something that permeates the very language we use to talk about such things. According to feminist legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon, the #MeToo campaign has achieved what the law couldn’t.
“Culturally, it is still said ‘women allege’ or ‘claim’ they were sexually assaulted. Those accused ‘deny what was alleged.’ What if we changed the emphasis and said that survivors ‘report’ and the accused ‘alleges’ or ‘claims’ it didn’t happen?” Prior to #MeToo, society has privileged the male accused while framing women’s reports as suspect.
Image credits: kbarley66
The problem takes us to the point that gender bias is an unconscious matter that we are all “infected by” from an early age. Feminism is part of the process to “unlearn it,” but it needs more radical shifts in thinking while we frame the default male concept as inherently problematic.
Image credits: kbarley66
Image credits: kbarley66
Image credits: kbarley66
Image credits: kbarley66
Image credits: kbarley66
Image credits: kbarley66
Image credits: kbarley66
Image credits: kbarley66
Image credits: kbarley66
Image credits: kbarley66
Image credits: kbarley66
Image credits: kbarley66
Image credits: kbarley66
More women shared their observations on things that were meant for men
Image credits: MadameGeology
Image credits: CreativeNotEvil
Image credits: your_friend_izz
Image credits: ComicsByVieN
Image credits: nirvana_kedi
Image credits: Diane05363872
Image credits: tacosyUnacoca
What do you think ?
Ozacoter 4 years ago
The worst for me is how medicine has always been focused on men. (I know that this was mentioned I just hate it). Women are rarely studied and diseases that only affect women are barely researched. Doctors still have the idea that women are "hysterical" if they describe pain; studies showed that women need to express much more pain to get the same painkillers than men and that often are prescribed with anti anxiety medication instead of getting a diagnositic. A perfect example is endometriosis; it is as common as diabetes but because it only affects women it was barely researched. The average time for a diagnosis is between 7-10 years because women are not believed when they say that they are in pain and because most doctors arent educated in menstrual problems. It took me 10 years to get a diagnostic and one to get a treatment. In total I have visited 13 doctors between GPs and Gyns and only one ever treated me with decency.
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago (edited)
What was said in the article about medical research only doing tests on men because “scientists considered female hormones too complicated to study” just chaps my ass. It’s been known since the ‘90s that the warning signs of heart attack in women are way different than the classic “numb left arm” in men. Medical researchers gave that exact same excuse why those differences were never researched. W T Actual F? That is the EXACT reason why they SHOULD study how women experience heart attacks, and other diseases!!! FFS, the fact that we experience health conditions differently than men, but those differences have not been as thoroughly researched, published, and taught in med school as men whose physiology never-changes, is probably the root of the evil disservice doctors, especially male doctors, do to women who complain of pain and other concerns. We’re NOT hysterical, hypochondriac, or just trying to get some attention—-we’re in excruciating pain, Dr Asshole, for f**k’s sake!
Load More Replies...
Nubmaeme 4 years ago
At the risk of getting downvoted in oblivion, I must say that this why we need more women in STEM studies than in gender studies. More women engineers/designers/etc would mean better clothing, equipment, and facilities.
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago (edited)
If anybody downvotes you, it’s probably a man who’s scared shitless of competing with a woman—-he knows he’ll lose, because he really isn’t qualified and/or was a D student in school (whereas the woman was most likely both highly qualified and an A student), and has been getting by ONLY because he’s part of the “old boys network”.
Load More Replies...
John Louis 4 years ago
This post is among the most effective post on gender that boredpanda has ever presented. We need to see more of this and keep it at the forefront.
Celeste Grant 4 years ago
Completely agree! This needs to be more widely researched and more people need to be aware that 50% of the population are not catered for!
Load More Replies...
Jonathan 4 years ago
Regarding PPE, I don't know who the model was for the sizing because our aprons at work go down to the top of my shoes! Covid has shown us that PPE has been designed terribly but it had mostly gone unnoticed.
Brandy Grote 4 years ago
This. I buy "tween" size face masks, and they fit. Can't get the VA to get me a child size CPAP mask, then they ask me why I don't use the huge thing!
Load More Replies...
NavyDave 4 years ago
Another thing is that stuff traditionally considered feminine is not made for men. Oven mitts, for example, are often too small for men's larger hands, as well as the handles on vacuum cleaners.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
(sarcasm engaged) Men use vacuum cleaners? (sarcasm disengaged) In seriousness, I'm taller than average for a female, and OMG, the mitts handles, etc.? Hello?! We are not all five-five or whatever height it is they use. Camping gear, fine, great. Kitchen/cleaning, no. UGH. So, even females have the issue, and feel your pain. Literally, at times.
Load More Replies...
Marija Kreckovic Gavrilovic 4 years ago
Carolin Criado-Perez actually wrote a book about this in 2019. It's called "Invisible women - Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men". It's fantastic, but be warned - it will get your blood boiling.
Iapetos 4 years ago
Jeez. If you can't relate to a female protagonist, that's a big YOU problem.
A.M. Pierre 4 years ago
I remember when the Tomb Raider reboot came out. They were so scared that male gamers wouldn't be able to handle playing as a woman that they framed it not as "You'll want to play as this great character, Lara Croft" but "You'll want to protect Lara on this journey" and even added an attempted rape scene so that male players would feel empathy for her. Honestly, every bit of that is such an insult to men.
Load More Replies...
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Speakng from a medical nerdiness perspective, one issue often causing discomfort for females is... relative pelvic girth. The female pelvis is designed by nature to allow the passage of a baby, and is wider in general than a male pelvis. This makes seating (designed with an average man in mind) feel odd to women. And I do not mean "overweight". I mean, it's just wider. Measure from one iliac crest to the other in post-adolescent males versus females. The iliac crests in men are also "higher" relative to women, so they get a narrower "look". Women's sacral curve is also greater than a man's. this means, yes, our butts are different and it does affect things like comfort in airplane/car/train seats; dining chairs; pick something. Half population roughly female, half roughly male, and yet... *sigh*
M O'Connell 4 years ago
Ergonomics may increase enjoyment and productivity, but it also can cost a significant amount of money to implement. Many industrial designers still take the "tractor seat" approach because it creates a one-size-fits-all design that economizes production resources (go out to the factory and find the guy with the biggest butt, sit him in plaster, and use that cast to design your seat). Likewise, customers are less-likely to buy equipment or furniture that may wind up being too small for future employees. This is a fantastic reason to be self-employed, we can buy everything we need for exactly our size.
Load More Replies...
Penny Fan 4 years ago
1.) I have been known to tinker with my motorbike occasionally. There are "ladies" tools but they're overwhelmingly coloured pink or floral and are usually of lower quality than "men's" tools. Now I just use hubby's Snap-On kit... 2.) I'm 51 and have ADD. Only I don't because "women don't get autism"...
Hannah M 4 years ago
But...... ADD isn't autism. They have some similar symptoms, but ADD isn't on the autism spectrum. Unless you meant ASD?
Load More Replies... Iapetos 4 years ago
Yes to everything on this list, though I think a lot of it is also a "tall vs short person" problem. And yeah, the treatment of the one standard human really sucks, and it's everywhere, and it's the main reason we need feminism: That men are just seen as the norm. That women are perceived as "too complicated" to study is honestly an offense to science.
K. 4 years ago
I am sporting a messy bun, reindeer socks, wearing mismatching undergarments, and haven’t been to the gym in ages, but boy do I feel special to grasp basic female physiology. All jokes aside, refusing to include more diverse types of bodies and conditions because it’s “too complicated” in clinical trials is a dangerous ideology for all of us.
Load More Replies... Ozacoter 4 years ago
The worst for me is how medicine has always been focused on men. (I know that this was mentioned I just hate it). Women are rarely studied and diseases that only affect women are barely researched. Doctors still have the idea that women are "hysterical" if they describe pain; studies showed that women need to express much more pain to get the same painkillers than men and that often are prescribed with anti anxiety medication instead of getting a diagnositic. A perfect example is endometriosis; it is as common as diabetes but because it only affects women it was barely researched. The average time for a diagnosis is between 7-10 years because women are not believed when they say that they are in pain and because most doctors arent educated in menstrual problems. It took me 10 years to get a diagnostic and one to get a treatment. In total I have visited 13 doctors between GPs and Gyns and only one ever treated me with decency.
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago (edited)
What was said in the article about medical research only doing tests on men because “scientists considered female hormones too complicated to study” just chaps my ass. It’s been known since the ‘90s that the warning signs of heart attack in women are way different than the classic “numb left arm” in men. Medical researchers gave that exact same excuse why those differences were never researched. W T Actual F? That is the EXACT reason why they SHOULD study how women experience heart attacks, and other diseases!!! FFS, the fact that we experience health conditions differently than men, but those differences have not been as thoroughly researched, published, and taught in med school as men whose physiology never-changes, is probably the root of the evil disservice doctors, especially male doctors, do to women who complain of pain and other concerns. We’re NOT hysterical, hypochondriac, or just trying to get some attention—-we’re in excruciating pain, Dr Asshole, for f**k’s sake!
Load More Replies... Nubmaeme 4 years ago
At the risk of getting downvoted in oblivion, I must say that this why we need more women in STEM studies than in gender studies. More women engineers/designers/etc would mean better clothing, equipment, and facilities.
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago (edited)
If anybody downvotes you, it’s probably a man who’s scared shitless of competing with a woman—-he knows he’ll lose, because he really isn’t qualified and/or was a D student in school (whereas the woman was most likely both highly qualified and an A student), and has been getting by ONLY because he’s part of the “old boys network”.
Load More Replies... John Louis 4 years ago
This post is among the most effective post on gender that boredpanda has ever presented. We need to see more of this and keep it at the forefront.
Celeste Grant 4 years ago
Completely agree! This needs to be more widely researched and more people need to be aware that 50% of the population are not catered for!
Load More Replies... Jonathan 4 years ago
Regarding PPE, I don't know who the model was for the sizing because our aprons at work go down to the top of my shoes! Covid has shown us that PPE has been designed terribly but it had mostly gone unnoticed.
Brandy Grote 4 years ago
This. I buy "tween" size face masks, and they fit. Can't get the VA to get me a child size CPAP mask, then they ask me why I don't use the huge thing!
Load More Replies... NavyDave 4 years ago
Another thing is that stuff traditionally considered feminine is not made for men. Oven mitts, for example, are often too small for men's larger hands, as well as the handles on vacuum cleaners.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
(sarcasm engaged) Men use vacuum cleaners? (sarcasm disengaged) In seriousness, I'm taller than average for a female, and OMG, the mitts handles, etc.? Hello?! We are not all five-five or whatever height it is they use. Camping gear, fine, great. Kitchen/cleaning, no. UGH. So, even females have the issue, and feel your pain. Literally, at times.
Load More Replies... Marija Kreckovic Gavrilovic 4 years ago
Carolin Criado-Perez actually wrote a book about this in 2019. It's called "Invisible women - Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men". It's fantastic, but be warned - it will get your blood boiling.
Iapetos 4 years ago
Jeez. If you can't relate to a female protagonist, that's a big YOU problem.
A.M. Pierre 4 years ago
I remember when the Tomb Raider reboot came out. They were so scared that male gamers wouldn't be able to handle playing as a woman that they framed it not as "You'll want to play as this great character, Lara Croft" but "You'll want to protect Lara on this journey" and even added an attempted rape scene so that male players would feel empathy for her. Honestly, every bit of that is such an insult to men.
Load More Replies... Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Speakng from a medical nerdiness perspective, one issue often causing discomfort for females is... relative pelvic girth. The female pelvis is designed by nature to allow the passage of a baby, and is wider in general than a male pelvis. This makes seating (designed with an average man in mind) feel odd to women. And I do not mean "overweight". I mean, it's just wider. Measure from one iliac crest to the other in post-adolescent males versus females. The iliac crests in men are also "higher" relative to women, so they get a narrower "look". Women's sacral curve is also greater than a man's. this means, yes, our butts are different and it does affect things like comfort in airplane/car/train seats; dining chairs; pick something. Half population roughly female, half roughly male, and yet... *sigh*
M O'Connell 4 years ago
Ergonomics may increase enjoyment and productivity, but it also can cost a significant amount of money to implement. Many industrial designers still take the "tractor seat" approach because it creates a one-size-fits-all design that economizes production resources (go out to the factory and find the guy with the biggest butt, sit him in plaster, and use that cast to design your seat). Likewise, customers are less-likely to buy equipment or furniture that may wind up being too small for future employees. This is a fantastic reason to be self-employed, we can buy everything we need for exactly our size.
Load More Replies... Penny Fan 4 years ago
1.) I have been known to tinker with my motorbike occasionally. There are "ladies" tools but they're overwhelmingly coloured pink or floral and are usually of lower quality than "men's" tools. Now I just use hubby's Snap-On kit... 2.) I'm 51 and have ADD. Only I don't because "women don't get autism"...
Hannah M 4 years ago
But...... ADD isn't autism. They have some similar symptoms, but ADD isn't on the autism spectrum. Unless you meant ASD?
Load More Replies... Iapetos 4 years ago
Yes to everything on this list, though I think a lot of it is also a "tall vs short person" problem. And yeah, the treatment of the one standard human really sucks, and it's everywhere, and it's the main reason we need feminism: That men are just seen as the norm. That women are perceived as "too complicated" to study is honestly an offense to science.
K. 4 years ago
I am sporting a messy bun, reindeer socks, wearing mismatching undergarments, and haven’t been to the gym in ages, but boy do I feel special to grasp basic female physiology. All jokes aside, refusing to include more diverse types of bodies and conditions because it’s “too complicated” in clinical trials is a dangerous ideology for all of us.
Load More Replies... You May Like 44 Rage-Inducing Pics You Might Not Be Stable Enough To See Someone Asked Women How They’ve Destroyed A Man’s Confidence, And 41 Savage Ladies Didn’t Hold Back
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