The internets are aflutter with the announcement of Apple's new tablet, which is apparently called the iPad. I just have to call out what a lot of you are probably thinking, too: Are there NO women on Apple's branding team? Not a single person who might have said, "Hey, this sounds like a menstrual product, not a revolutionary piece of technology?"
Or, for nighttime protection, iPad with wings. No word yet on whether they're developing a version with a moisture-lock liner.
Nothing against ladies who prefer to use pads (I mean, the i'Pon is an equally awful name...). But wow. Can we get some investigative reporters to figure out whether there were any women involved in this decision?
On a related note, check out the prior wikipedia entry for "iPad." And, more seriously, this interesting post on Apple and class signaling. (h/t Lauren.)
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OMG. Honestly almost vom'ed on the keyboard from laughing so hard. Does the iPad come programmed with the capabilities to handle light to very heavy flows? Does it turn menstrual blood into translucent blue gel like in the commercials? Will I have to change it more than once a day? Women want to know, Apple!
The funny thing is, it DOES! It comes with wifi, or wifi + 3g, and in all different sizes! Something to fit all sorts of flows. There's probably an app for the blue gel situation...
What were they thinking??
HA! The iPad allows for a heavy "flow" of information. That should be in an ad campaign.
^^ this.
MENSTRUATION LOLOLOL
... seriously?
My laptop is a lenovo ideaPad, it even says so in bright glowy light-up letters on the keyboard. It is a kickin' rad pad, and the only person who i think would make a joke about the fact that it contains the word "pad" is maybe a grade school boy going through sex ed for the first time.
If indeed there were no women involved with the iPad's design/naming, i'd have more of a problem with regard to gender inequality in the tech industry rather than the names for the devices that come out of it.
Not sure how I feel about the video all around. But it's a bit humorous that mad tv made this exact joke back in 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjU0K8QPhs
I knowwww, I flipped out when I heard it was called iPad. I kept imagining a magical electronic device that you put under your bloody vagina and when all the blood is soaked, the device will suck it in and make it clean again. You don't have to change or clean the pad at all!
now THAT would be awesome and eco-friendly, too.
...that sounds like a vacuum.
D:
Love it, but what about an iCup? Would it be easy cleaning and, as jellyleelips asked, have great capabilities to handle changes in flow? Maybe it could BE that lovely blue gel color. Vaginas like designer colors, too ;)
Should have gone with iDildo, would have perked up my vagina much quicker. Would have definitely considered the $500 asking price :)
I wonder if developers are deliberately picking names that are double entendres as a sort of weird manipulative viral marketing ploy? I thought the same thing when Nintendo announced the Wii.
I call dibs on trying to use it as a menstrual pad and having the disclaimer "not to be used as a menstrual pad" put on the packaging!
I love silly product warnings.
Haha! MENSTRUAL PRODUCT! That was my first thought exactly. I was hoping for iTab or iTablet. So ripe for Sarah Haskins...
How awesome is it that iTampon is not only a trending topic on Twitter, but it's also higher up on the list than the topic of the actual "iPad."
um, hello feministing. some women actually don't menstruate. some women also don't have vaginas or ovaries or wombs. some women didn't grow up with the notion "pads are things for your dirty bits during your dirty days". the word "pad" can refer to many other things as well.
there might very well be women on apple's team, maybe they just didn't care about that name.
sorry but i think this post just reinforces stereotypes of what women have to be like and what they can't be like. there's better ways to problematize the lack of women in tech fields.
Really? I'm a girl, but I'm also a geek, and the first thing I thought of was the "padd" from *Star Trek: The Next Generation* (to wit: http://www.flickfilosopher.com/blog/2010/01/012710the_star_trek_world_has_arrive.html) The period angle never occurred to me, and I'm mystified by it. Is the word "pad" so irrevocably tied to menstrual hygiene products that there's no other connotation?
It makes me think about those jokes about men who are so demure they blush when "chicken breast" is on the menu...
I am so glad there was another female who definately did not catch the pun.
Seriously guys- pad means so much more than than menstruel releif. A pad is used for the bottom of the laptop cooling. It has a space connotation and aerial landing.
I don't mind everyone finding it funny...After the pun pointed out I find it hilarious. But just to point out there definately could have been females on the team who didn't catch that connotation.
That's all well and good, and you're right that there are more neutral connotations for the word "pad." However, for me and I'm guessing many other women, the feminine hygiene product connection is the first one I make.
Besides, even if there wasn't the iPad = maxi pads connection, the name iPad is still awkward. It sounds like Marge Gunderson from "Fargo" saying "iPod."
There are very few other uses of "pad" alone. People keep saying "notepad" and "launchpad" but duh, NOTE and LAUNCH.
Isn't it a sanitary pad and not just a pad?
A apartment/home is often referred to as a pad. Most people I know say pad rather than notepad. If you play cricket there is no other word for the pads that protect your legs; they are simply called 'pads.'
According to Merriam-Webster there are 13 different distinct meanings of pad, not all of which form part of a compound word. The first meaning is to traverse on foot. Others include: a path, a horse that moves along at an easy pace, the foot of an animal, a floating leaf of a water plant, a collection of pages glued at one end, a soft muffled or slapping sound.
One of the compound words is: touch-pad: : a keypad for an electronic device (as a microwave oven) that consists of a flat surface divided into several differently marked areas which are touched to choose options.
I'm pretty sure it was this that Apple had in mind when they named the product, and given that there are other similar and similarly named products on the market (thinkPad), surely that should be the first thing people think of. This definition has been around since 1979, so we've had plenty of time to associate 'pad' with electronic devices.
I'm a big TNG fan but that never occurred to me!
The first I heard about this was a friend's comment on my wall: "Well, looks like it's that time of month again. I could certainly use an iPad."
Pfft...as if girl and geek are mutually exclusive...:P
I posted about this on the community blog, but it really bugs me that people find this so funny. If menstruation was not treated as a punchline, nobody would.
It's a pad. Some women use them during menstruation. Now can we, as a culture, please move on? (Apologies to xkcd.)
I don't agree with the article on Apple and class. I may be an Apple fan, but I do not think that "Apple's biggest strengths is aesthetics", as the article says. Apple's biggest stregth is its design; it puts a lot of thought into the functionality of its products, and aesthetics happens to be byproduct of that.
Sorry to digress.
But somehow I don't think "menstrual pad" when I hear iPad. Like a pad of paper to write on? Sounds simple and to the point, like all the rest of the apple product names (imac, ipod, iphone). I'm a woman and I would have suppported the name choice.
We've been making jokes all day: does it have wings to hold it in place? Will it handle my heavy flow?
Next in production: iTampon!
And what's so bad about menstrating and pads?
Nothing at all, but I don't think I'd name my cool new electronic product after them and suffer all the jokes that will follow if I could pick a better name.
Exactly. I doubt that the men on the marketing team think there's anything wrong with their penises, but I'll bet you my entire bank account that they'll never come out with a product called iPeen.
Although the jokes have had me rolling all day, they're totally making a killing over at Jezebel.
Thanks for linking to the entry on Apple products as status objects and flashing them as a form of subtle classism. Classism is so rarely addressed.
My first thought when I saw the name was "It's too bulky. I'm holding out for the iTampon." Then I logged in to Twitter and saw my thought wasn't exactly original. All the period jokes have been cracking me up all day.
I reserve the right to be amused by juvenile humor once in awhile. You have the right to not find it funny. Is my giggling at the iPad really offensive to anyone? Because I can't see why it would be. And dammit, I'm gonna giggle every time someone brings it up, because I will have that doctored photo in my head :)
A menstrual pad? Seriously? I don't see the connection at all. Yes, we call the sticky things we put in our panties "pads," but not all pads out there are meant to catch sloughed off tissue. There's a strong enough association of the word "pad" with other things to carry it.
And even if it does sound like the period catcher, who cares? It'll help demystify the whole "women use these things but we men have no idea and don't want to talk about ick tings" state.
I was just thinking a pad of paper.
My thinking is, however many women might be on the branding team, there are a lot more Trekkies on the branding team.
There are these ubiquitoes PalmPilot-esque things in Star Trek called PADDs (Personal Access Display Device) which, I suspect, was looming large in their minds.
And I really couldn't have hung a bigger NERD sign over myself could I?
You have "Dalek" in your user name. I think the NERD sign - glowing neon and blinking - comes standard with that.
Solid.
Not just Dalek but a specific Dalek form the show Dalek Sec!
And now I've just outed myself.
Nerd Pride :)
I'd like to add my voice to those who thought first of pads of paper and then of products like the Thinkpad.
I still prefer "Macbook Touch" I wish they had went with that D:
Yeah, there's no way to make a joke out of that one. ;-)
Just because it's called in iPad means there's no women? 1 + 1 = 5 now?
I was reading the dimensions and it sounds like it's roughly the thickness of a pad of paper -- like, a legal pad.
While I can appreciate a dirty joke like the rest of them, I've gotten a bit tired of the "omg I want an iTampon" meme going around the internet. Because the iTampon is already out, it's called the second generation iPod Nano. Have you seen that thing? Srsly.
Add me to the list of people who almost had tea spurt out their nose when they first read about this. I pictured an app that will allow your vagina to make dinner reservations for you. This is discriminatory towards those who don't have vaginas, or don't menstruate, so I can't approve. Plus, my genitalia just isn't down with multi-tasking.
I totally understand that many women out there might not have made the same connection that I did, though.
@ColoKris - I think the product you're looking for is the Dildo controller for Nintendo Wii. It's both fun AND educational.
I feel so ahead of the times. Someone already mentioned the "Fargo" accent ... I've been calling my iPod an "iPad" for years. Not even for any good reason except that I like to use accents sometimes.
But seriously, come on, "pad" means so many more things than just a menstrual pad. If it were an iTampon you'd have a point. Or an iSanitarynapkin. But iPad? Did the Thinkpad have this kind of problem?
This is kind of ridiculous, I hope the original poster was partially joking about the "lack of women" on the design team leading to this name. I shouldn't have to point out that "pad" has more than one frequently used meaning.
It's posts like these that make this site, and in many ways the feminist movement, look foolish and oversensitive to outside observers.
What bothers me about this is underlying attitude that seems to be causing people to find this funny. The "Oh, how embarrassing, they named it after a menstrual product, isn't that funny!" attitude is perpetuating the thought that menstruation is embarrassing and funny. Isn't this what we've been trying to get away from? It's a biological process, it's not something to be laughed at or embarrassed about.
That's what really gets me about this whole thing.
Well, I don't know what they made. xxxjjj... It's really looks like a panty liner. DalekSec said, it's nerd. I don't know why Apple build such a product? Confusing a lot. ???
And what were natue lovers thinking when they called those nice plants that floated on a pond 'lily pads,' - I mean lily is a girl's name, how could they not make the connection? Or back to the tech people: 'mouse pad' - OMG!
Shin pads, shoulder pads (clearly sporting people don't know where to put them), ink pad, note pad (no more trouble with ink leaking through the page), launch pad (you kow for a rocket - great imagery there), bachelor pad (weird), Padawan learner (that George Lucas)...
Have I made my point yet?
See, they already have this moderately popular product named the iPod.
When I heard iPad, my first thought was menstrual pads. I'm just glad I'm not the only one. Of course I think the name makes sense (like everyone else said, there are many other types of pads out there) but I'm not the only one with my mind in the gutter! Woohoo!
That was literally the first thing I said when I heard the new name. Highly unfortunate choice. Right after that I pictured the future where our maxipads are digitally controlled with a little status bar on the side letting us know how much use is left. Gross I know, but thats how my brain works.
really? we as feminists are still doing the pad=menstruation=har har har? I had hoped for better.
I honestly didn't thought about this. For me pad is just a word...
It is like laughing to 'homo erectus', incredibly stupid.
I just have to call out what a lot of you are probably thinking, too: Are there NO women on Apple's branding team?
Because as always, all women everywhere take their lead from Feministing. If they don't think like you do, then they're not women!
Apple actually knows a great deal about marketing to women: http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/top-tech-brands-for-women-apple-1-9226/
Apples' propriety development of software is also a violation of reaching social justice:
http://www.fsf.org/news/ibad_launch
A Canadian lingerie company, Coconut Grove Pads, has the right to market iPad padded bras.
I guess they musn't have had any women on their marketing team either eh?
I had the same thought as this post when I found out the name - seriously, do women not count in how they tested this name? To me I took the name as a blindness to women, that they really may not have thought about it's connotations at all, like the products some women use (pads) were completely off their radar - it made feel kind of angry, actually, and like yeah, wow, are there really no women involved in their marketing or market testing? I totally get the problem with some of the period jokes that have followed the ongoing logic 'ew periods gross' but the name feels more like women's experiences were just a blind spot.