Pink - It's Not Just for Games

I was reading my news this morning when I came across Pink Magazine off the Forbes site.

What. the. fuck.

First of all, the generic name "Pink" says absolutely nothing about the content of the magazine except that it's targetted oh-so-subtly at women. But what sort of women? Girls? Is it fashion? Is it about the many shades of our gender's favorite color? Carly Fiorina is so fucking happy right now - finally, something that she can relate to. If only Patricia Dunn had this before she made her little boo boo!

Secondly, it irritates me that Forbes is now implicitly saying that women have a "special" place to go to that is not Forbes.com. Forbes.com publishes sexist articles describing what terrible spouses educated "career women" make for the executive male. Forbes.com is clearly not for women.

Except that it was, once. I used to enjoy all the career features, particularly, which could appeal both to men and women. We all have issues with finding fulfullment in work, with dealing with difficult bosses. Once in a while there was a feature like "100 Most Powerful Women" or a feature that described more specifically the challenges of being female in the workplace, which I imagine was just as valuable for men to read as for women. After all, we're all in this together, right? We all need to learn how to get along.

Look at this random article I picked up off Pink: When and Why to Sell Your Company. A good idea for a feature, I thought - I would like to have my own company one day, and this is something I will need to consider. Reading the one-page article I learned that I would want to sell my company if 1) I wanted to spend more time with my kids 2) If I wanted to spend time traveling with my kids and 3) If I'm really not cut out for the harsh business of running a company and I want to move into a more nurturing role serving clients and making them happy. How much more fulfilling all of these are for a woman! There's nothing in here about moving on to start a new company, about when the market is ripe to sell a company; it's a pure fluff piece that celebrates the ultra-feminine.

Now look at the "Art of the Business Lunch." Apparently women are naturally good at this - we're born hostesses! And we love to serve! I love number 8: When dining with a male, avoid misunderstandings by taking a colleague. What the fuck - now we need chaperones for business lunches? If an exec you arrange a business lunch with thinks "something else" is going on, then either you failed to communicate, he's a pig, or your skirt is too short.

I'm not saying that there isn't a place for a publication that serves women in business; and I think something that did that seriously would be successful. But I also think Forbes could have done that ably, if they wanted to. "Pink" is a joke and frankly, it makes me wonder if Forbes isn't deliberately trying to sabotage women in the workplace. "Pink" is the ghetto Forbes thinks women belong in.

Comments

[Girl_from_Mars]

good lord.
first, i thought that maybe with a name like 'pink' it would be aimed at lesbians - pink triangle and all that.
was there a section on how to please your man?
have dinner for him when he comes home from his hard day or real work? i reitterate: good lord.

[Char]

At first I thought the list of reasons to sell your business was a joke. I mean not all women that own a business have children. Also most women that have children and a business can manager their time where they can travel with their family and be with their children. Sometimes the reason they have their own business is to be able to be with their children more and travel with them. Pink Magazine sounds like another lame a** way a publisher is trying to get into the women's market.

[CommanderTso]

Blech.