Is the new iPhone video sexist?

Disclaimer: This is my blog and I’ll bitch and whine if I want to.

I watched the new iPhone video last for the first time last week and paused for a moment after it ended, wondering if there were any women on the team that built it. “Where are the girls?,” I wondered. Based on the proliferation of white males in that video, the girls were one step up from barefoot and pregnant; i.e., at home, watching babies.

While in grad school, I took several seminars from design critic Natalia Ilyin. For one entire semester, we looked at the semiotics of stock photography and how stock photo houses like Getty and Corbis shape societal perceptions by controlling the images we see. We talked about imagery – of course – and about power and politics and stereotypes. About the signifier and the signified.

I learned many things from Natalia’s guided inquiries. One was to never take anything at face value. Another was that in imagery, what you don’t show can have as much effect on meaning as what you do. I wondered what she would say if this video were something brought to her class for discussion.

Through this filter, I critique the iPhone video. As a female who has spent the last 10 years in the design + technology industry, the omission of my gender in this video hits a nerve. Why this video, I’m not sure. It’s not like white male domination in Apple’s upper management is new. Or any other tech company, for that matter. Every tech company I worked for in Seattle was the same; guys who dominated the tech conversation every chance they got. Nice guys who weren’t guilty of sexism via commission, but via oblivious, status quo omission instead. When I worked in the product design studio at Teague, I was the only female designer. The rest were short Asian guys or Brits. Needless to say, I felt out of place and grossly underrepresented.

When I worked at another Seattle firm, one of the first questions they asked me during the interview was, “Can you make things look wet and shiny?” Excuse me? Wet and shiny?? Like what? Like a 20-something pin-up’s baby-oiled ass in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue? Like Angelina Jolie’s juicy, gloss-dripping, fallatio-prepped lips? Or maybe a Playboy centerfold’s lubricated vagina in a porn spread? Don’t even get me started on this whole “wet and shiny” UI style that’s been every male designer’s wet dream since who-knows-when. It warrants a feisty discussion all by itself.

Anyway, just look at this video. And notice what isn’t there. No women, except for the beautiful brunette who, based on my western stereotypes and assumptions, is a housewife. Just note the lighting. She’s portrayed in mid-daylight playing with a baby and then filming a toddler; i.e., a stay-at-home mom. And look at the guy we’re led to assume is her husband. Most likely in a hotel on a business trip. While she’s a kept woman, taking care of the beautiful white babies –his perfect little contributions to the gene pool– he’s off somewhere else, taking care of more important things. Like wet and shiny interfaces. And all of this is narrated to us by…white guys. Reverse discrimination, you say? Stop picking on white guys.

Whatever. I’m sick of it.

I write this post out of frustration, knowing there must be other female designers in the tech industry who share my feelings. Don’t get me wrong, I like guys. Really, I do. The two other product designers on my team at NPR are both male and they’re awesome. I value their expertise, critique, and collaboration. They’re both younger, too, and aren’t as guilty of some of this bullshit as older guys are. And my husband is an amazing man whom I’m very lucky to love and be loved by in return.

But really, I’m just tired. I’m tired of being ignored in meetings, tired of not being tapped for my technical knowledge or perspective because I don’t have a penis, tired of being talked over and looked through. Tired of wishing my breasts weren’t so close to my face because then maybe some of the guys at work wouldn’t have such a hard time looking me in the eye.

And I would love to know the make-up of the Apple design teams. What percentage are women? What role do women play in the design of these life-changing products we use? Why were there none featured in this video?

Hopefully, women at Apple mean more than beautiful kept things and making things “wet and shiny”.