“If you want to sound like a creep, add the word ‘ladies’ to the end of things you say: Thanks for coming to my show… ladies.” — Demetri Martin on his hilarious comedy album, These Are Jokes
All kudos to Canonical for selling women’s form-fitting t-shirts at their new online store — they’re smart enough to know that their brand recognition rises faster on Pipka’s ample bust than mine — but why the cutesy variation on “Linux for Human Beings”?
21 Comments
Ugh. So, what next? “Linux for MEN!”?
And “Linux for human beings” set such a standard for non-wossname thingumajiggery, too.
Well, it’s a good joke. Just enjoy it. Hmmm, what about “Linux for cats”? With images of birds and mice as wallpaper? And the corresponding sounds?
That’s annoying. Why do they feel the need to split out women in this way? Stuff like this just makes me feel like I’m not accepted into the general populace of Ubuntu (again).
Thanks for posting about it.
Next up: a muscle shirt with the slogan “linux for REAL men”
Wolfger: That’d be *awesome*.
Elizabeth: I’m not certain why you feel “like [you’re] not accepted into the general populace of Ubuntu”. Rather, it seems to me to be more likely to have the potential to exclude *men*, as Ubuntu has now been labeled as being “for ladies”. (Also, I rather suspect the sentiment behind it was to attempt to *encourage* women’s participation, but intent never has been a very good predictor of impact.
Holy crap. What kind of world do we live in when a freaking t-shirt has to be analyzed for political correctness. Did anyone see the boobs on the picture of this t-shirt… ? I would think that would mean that this t-shirt would be for ladies. I think everyone in the Ubuntu Community is awesome no matter what their gender, race, religion, etc… A t-shirt is not to hurt feelings. It is to brag that you are part of this community. I would wear “Ubuntu for blonde haired, blue eyed, male, that likes to cook and ski on his free time” if it would make a difference. The neat thing about freedom is that you could add anything you would like to the back of that t-shirt and it will be o.k. My wife agrees with me on this and so does several other woman that use Ubuntu only with no Windoze in their life. Most of whom are probably going to order this shirt just to piss off the ones that think it belittles them…. Move on to bigger and better arguments.
Jeremy, I didn’t point out the words on the t-shirt because I thought it belittled women… In fact, you’ll note that I praised Canonical for producing the women’s cut t-shirt.
The issue here is the subtle discrimination involved every time we point out that a woman is… a woman; that she is defined by that difference.
(Contrary to what you suggest, “freedom” doesn’t mean that doing or saying anything is okay, and please understand that from the position we’re in right now, this is a more important “argument” than most of the other silliness we deal with day to day.)
So are we saying that a woman is not a woman? Who ever said that a woman is a woman and because of that can’t be smart or can’t do this or can’t do that? The only person that can make anything of any words is the person hearing the words. If you think (male, female or any other supposedly distinguishing marks that people like to group by) that you are bigger than the words another says, then you are. If the argument is that the shirt should say “Ubuntu for Human Beings” also. Then I would say you are right…. Funny thing about t-shirts though…. People can make their own just as easy. Doesn’t anyone else think the world is getting to be too flimsy? Flimsy meaning that a little thing can hurt our feelings and make us hurt. I don’t think we should walk through life fighting all the time or be numb about everything, but come on we are talking about a t-shirt that is describing the kind of person most likely to wear it because it is a LADIES shirt. I would not wear this shirt because I don’t need to wear a woman’s form fitting shirt.
a)
See, Ubuntu is simple and easy, so perfectly suitable for women, unlike all those difficult manly Linuxi out there.
b)
Ladies are, well, boobs with body attached to them, not really human beings
c)
Any publicity is good publicity
d)
This t-shirt was designed by a 15 year old boy
Thanks for posting about it Jeff
Yes, we have reached that point in time where it is totally incorrect to acknowledge anyone as individual or any sort of identifying traits. For instance, if you guys ever point out my blond hair I am going to have a fit. Blonds have a negative stereotype, and as such, if anyone points out that I have blond hair, you will suffer the wrath of my blog posts.
Jeremy, you’ve missed the point again. It’s not about “being hurtful”, it’s about always making women feel “different” or “separate” from everyone else. You might not understand it, but there’s a behavioural and social cost when it’s the same tune day-in, day-out.
I like the picture it was taken while someone was wearing it and they just removed the face… but you can still see some hair. on the left shoulder.
well and the seam line of the bra.
doesn’t all women’s clothes have something which draws attention to there breasts ? (i don’t see how this shirt is out of line with society )
Gabriel, the “Linux for Ladies” banner is on the back. My post was about the words, not the image.
Ubuntu is full of discrimination:
* SABDFL vs. all other ubuntu user
* Members vs. non-members
* Canonical developers vs. other core developers vs. MOTU vs. other developers
* Translation team members vs. other users that speak that language
* (Native) English speakers vs. those who know some English vs. those who don’t know English
* etc.
Whether those discriminations are mostly good or wrong (positive or negative), I leave that to everybody’s own judgement (and I’m sure there will be different opinions on it), but at least they *do* divide the Ubuntu community into groups that are treated differently all the time.
Personally, I don’t think that discriminations like this T-shirt, that are not negative towards women, nor negative to non-women, should be considered as “bad” and “not-done”. It would be different if that slogan would be on all items in the shop, but now it’s on one piece of clothing that’s obviously meant to be worn by women (which of course is a form of discrimination too; should we forbid everything but unisex clothes in shops?).
PS: actually nobody forbids men to buy & wear those T-shirts. After all, OpenBSD guys are allowed to wear an OpenBSD bikini too, as people who were at Chaos Communication Camp know…
O.k. Last time I post on this… well unless I change my mind. Women are different from men. Just like each individual man is different from other men. Is the real question where this discrimination is being held? For one I will get past that this is a woman’s t-shirt with a saying on the back of it that says that it is a woman’s t-shirt. (Last I looked women are covered under the label “Human Beings” also.) I am really trying to understand this and I am not trying to be a pain in the butt… I have been in the IT field for around 20 years and I have not seen women be put down or degraded based on the work that they do or who they are. Now if you have been then I am sorry, but the fact that this is a t-shirt, and that we all are different in some way or another, and that a woman is a woman a man is a man, then I don’t see a problem with this advertisement. I would like one made “linux for grandpas/grandmas” but then we may get attached by the elderly saying they aren’t human beings because they are old?
I think this t-shirt was intended to help female linux users bond with each other. Many female-only clubs at uni have hoodies and t-shirts that emphasize their sex and I think many women will buy and enjoy this t-shirt.
I think any discussion about discrimination and what is appropriate to go on a t-shirt has to be relative to the world outside free software and computers. When I step outside I see a lot more of women flaunting their femininity than this t-shirt ever could - i.e. Many women enjoy doing it.
If you would feel an outcast wearing this t-shirt then don’t wear it. As long as it is not offencive to women then I don’t see the problem.
Thanks, Jeff, I am with you.
I’d agree with you Jeff; esp. the “ladies” bit.
I just think of Little Britain myself.
I guess the thing is, that there is a different between “Linux for Women” and “Linux for Ladies”.
I wouldn’t mind a nice Ubuntu shirt actually, but why is it that when a ‘cool’ company offers shirts of their brand, they allmost never offer the simplest of shirt:
Black regular shirt, big logo on the front.
Why ALLWAYS place a tiny logo/brand on a silly location, accompanied by a silly catchphrase???