Are there any companies who treat women as the default human?

[Orangio]

So I was on the lookout for a new waterproof, and I googled 'Montane Garwhal' (random waterproof where Garwhal is a model name for both men and women, but I'm sure you can replace with any other brand). All the results on Google images and shopping were of the men's model. To get women's jackets I had to search 'Montane Garwhal Women's'.

We all know that men are the default human 🙄 But I've just been thinking about this a bit. Is it JUST the naming of the products that's at fault? So men's products are called eg "XXX Trainers" and the women's version is called "XXX Trainers Women's", but both pairs of trainers are actually designed from scratch to fit male/female feet and needs? Or is the entire design process aimed at men, so they design a pair of trainers for men and then just make them a bit smaller and change the colour and call them women's trainers?

I realise nobody can answer this for all products everywhere! But I wondered if this male default was very pervasive at the design stage generally.

Are there any companies which design products for women and then adapt them for men?! And call them "XXX Trainers" and "XXX Trainers Men's"?

Tampons, though apparently wear them now too 🙄

DH has never even read a book written by a woman because “that’s a girl’s book”. Drives me crazy

What a sexist pig.

Are women's bikes made for women's proportions? I've had boys'/men's bikes since I was 10 as I don't wear clothing that means the crossbar is a problem.

There are often physical differences so yes a women's coat will be cut different and not fit most men
Yes there are tena men
And most search sites are based on most hits / searches
I always search mens tops or ladies in filter as on sites i use like next, nike , addidas etc if i piut red top it will being up mens womens and kids red tops

They should be. Saddle design may be different too.

DH has never even read a book written by a woman because “that’s a girl’s book”. Drives me crazy

What a sexist pig.

Absolutely. I've heard of young boys brought up by sexist parents refusing to read books written by women ("Ugh, girls!"), but a grown man old enough to be married? Really?

This one may be slightly niche, but the Smurfs Movie. You have all of the Smurfs with their own individual characters, quirks and particular nuances of character; and then you have one whose 'interesting' personal attribute that marks her out as unique is that she's female - and instead of an individual name, her name is just effectively 'Girl Smurf'.

Actually, cartoon characters in general. Always male by default, unless they have a bow in their hair or something.

So the smurfs is the opposite of what the OP is asking for (just depressingly familiar!)

There is of course

manwhohasitallshop.com

I'm somewhat tempted to get this for dd and her bf

manwhohasitallshop.com/product/his-hers-engineer-bundle/

The Smurf thing has reminded me that it happens the other way sometimes. I quilt and there are a few men who quilt but they are minority. They tend to have 'male' as part of their branding, eg ManSewing, Mister Domestic or The Quilting Marine. Whereas women have branding that is more reflective of their genre or a play on their name because female is assumed in quilting.

Protected Species? They are designed for women, not men. I think.

<Googles>

Yes. Outerwear designed by and for women!

As an aside….I remember years ago a large bill board poster for female condoms being displayed with the slogan “Created for women” . Someone with a spray can of paint added “Designed by pricks” 😂

Screwfix! Excellent range all for tiny hands 🙌

Caroline Criado Perez has covered this - the whole Pink IT and Shrink It thing. Some of her newsletters have details of companies which design for women - because we are not just small men.

Anything to do with sports, outdoor activities/hobbies... anything active, basically, is heavily marketed to men first. It has started to annoy me.

At least I am not mad! Sometimes I wonder if I see misogyny where there is no misogyny, but in this at least it does really seem to be there.

The link to Caroline Criada Perez is great, thank you! I'll have a better look later when I've finished doing the dishes with my tiny little women's washing up gloves.

I can think if a couple of terms that have female as default.

“Handbag” is for women - “Man-bag” is for men.

Hair in a “bun” is for women. “Man-bun” is for men

Only seeing females if I google images on these terms
ponytail
dressmaker

Mostly females if I google these terms
pensioner
cat lover
nurse
pretty
childcare
interior decorator

Try seeing how many people of colour come up if you google the same words, though

Boohoo and Boohoo Man?

As an experiment i started to send out employment contracts to men with she written in. Men noticed and mentioned it. Women never the other way round. I the. Stopped and stuck to sex.
Today a woman commented that I had a spelling mistake in the contract and maybe that was because I had feminised it (it wasn't in English) and that I could solve by just putting the male and that was standard. I replied with thanks but in principle I didn't believe the default human is male.
The smile on her face was worth gold. Gold! She clapped her hands. Magic!

As an experiment i started to send out employment contracts to men with she written in. Men noticed and mentioned it. Women never the other way round. I the. Stopped and stuck to sex.

Along the same lines, I never understood why it's considered 'correct' to address legal letters (with an unknown recipient) as 'Dear Sirs'. Not just 'traditional' but actually accepted as 'correct'. You never know - one of these days, a woman might just qualify as a lawyer/solicitor/other legal bod and then they will have to change it, surely....

In the same vein I've started writing "Mrs and Mr Smith" on envelopes just to make a point. Nobody has noticed yet which is frustrating!

? I was taught to always write them as
“Dear Sir/Madam” or
”To Whom it May Concern” or

I am a runner and when I enter a race they often include a tshirt in the cost, and you generally chose out of (occassionally xs) s, m, l, xl.
I am short and a size 8. I'd rather pay slightly less and not have a men's tshirt. When they say small it generally means a small mens tshirt.

A lot of women runners are fairly slim so a "small" mens tshirt is still way too big....but I think I've done one race that differentiated between mens and womens fit tshirts.

It's the same with sports teams: eg there's the England rugby team and the England women's rugby team as just one example. It drives me nuts.