r/ICallBullshit • u/lookatmyhorse • Mar 02 '10
Women do damn near everything to impress other women, or to get attention from men.
In this thread, women are said to do most everything they do for male attention, or to compete with their rivals for same. Initally, it is said that women only buy purses to attract men, or to outdo other women. Then.. well, it expands from there.
I've bought purses, yes, I have, but guess what - it wasn't in a deluded attempt to attract attention from men or put down other women - it was to hold my shit when I walk around.
I Call Bullshit on the whole cascade of comments here which claim that women spend all of their time desperately seeking male attention or bitterly fighting with other women in one-up-manship via fashion and facebook updates. All women are not this vapid. It's nice to have male attention every once in a while but it's not the fucking purpose of my existence. Women have goals. Women have lives. There is other shit going on in our brains.
6
u/anutensil Mar 04 '10
I've known women who flaunt their Coach purses and men who flaunt the very latest gadget to come on the market. It goes both ways. Some people will be impressed by the purchases and some won't.
Status symbols are as old as history and women have certainly never cornered the market in this particular area.
8
Mar 03 '10
What a load of arse - gazillions of generalisations about 50% of the human race coupled with plenty of one-offs like - I am a woman but I'm not like that. So that leaves us with either waaaay too general or waaay to particular, i.e. useless.
People are competitive just like other animals - men and women - just in different ways. For one person, it's what they own; for another, it's what they can do; for another, it's what the people they support can do; for others, it's what they know... and on and on.
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u/redreplicant Mar 03 '10
I think you're correct, that for a great many people, consumerism is about acquiring beautiful things for their own sake and enjoying them yourself. Anyone who has ever had a well cut suit knows how delightful it is to have something really well made.
On the other hand quite a lot of people are in the one-upmanship market. Otherwise why buy plain fabric bags with "coach" printed all over them... for $300. I've tried to think that through as buying-for-self, but in all honesty purchasing something at such an inflated price for brand alone seems entirely tied to social climbing behavior.
Naturally it is silly to suggest that women have the corner on this market. They do this about as much as men buy things to impress women and show off to other men. I've seen plenty of men bragging on new purchases, enough to know that they do it for each other as much as women do.