Deodorant Discrimination Stinks

This holds true with dry cleaning as well. Men's button down dress shirts are a mere $1.50 each, while my button down dress shirt (no frills, just a suit shirt) costs me $3.75. What gives? What's a girl to do? 

As far as the deodorant, I have found that my local Dollar Tree (everything is $1 or less) sells lady speed stick for a buck. Descent brand at a great price.

ManyMoneySavers.com ( http://www.manymoneysavers.com/ )   ManyMoneySavers.blogspot.com ( http://www.manymoneysavers.blogspot.com/ )

Someone with a little more time than I have atm (Arg, homeschooling +soccer +new job +wrapping up the garden for the year/canning +a new an exciting political issue I'm fighting...) needs to do some poking around online to see if they can find info on a discrimination case awhile back related to how much men and women pay for the same hair cut/trim.

Can't tell you where it was, or even when it was, but it was very interesting to me that women in some city were paying quadruple what men were paying for the same time in the chair with the same quality of cut.

No, I can't be any more vague! lol

This does not surpise me in the slightest, but I sure wish we had had this conversation right before BlogHer 09, when we had those reps in the palm of our hands lol Look also at the price of hair products (gel, etc) that men and women use.

Great post. I am certainly passing it on! I wonder how many other products are priced this way, really. I like buying oversized long sleeved button down shirt for working out in the sun with the horses. If you try to find them in the women's section of the department store, they will be $30.00 and up. I have been getting them from the mens department for as low as 9.99 for a couple of years.

TJ Smith

www.downturnliving.com ( http://www.working-with-women.com/ )

It happened after I left Canada, and Always doesn't exist here, so I didn't see it myself. But I saw the backlash all over the Internet.

The general conclusion is that the marketing department had to be all male. :)

Laurie in Sri Lanka

Chilli & Chocolate ( http://food.laurieashton.com ) | A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court ( http://srilanka.laurieashton.com ) | LMAshton on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/lmashton )

Let us know what you find!  I'm very curious.  If you also find price discrimination and get upset, hopefully you will have on a product that helps your body in such "emotional moments."  Heh.

Suzanne Reisman ( http://www.blogher.com/member/suzanne-reisman ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://blogher.org/topic/feminism-gender ) Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Oth ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

Man, that cracked me up!  I agree with both of you - there are a lot of sweaty layers here.

One thing that also fascinating me was that one deodorant for men (can't remember which one, though) noted that it was formualted to get through arm pit hair.  This made me surprised that other deodorants aimed at men didn't say that, and also reminded me that adult men are supposed to be hairy and adult women are not.

Suzanne Reisman ( http://www.blogher.com/member/suzanne-reisman ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://blogher.org/topic/feminism-gender ) Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

Seriously?  I'm a tampon or generic pad user, so I've never seen that - thank goodness!  I'd have a very "emotional moment" and throw the whole thing out while screaming.  Idiots indeed!

Suzanne Reisman ( http://www.blogher.com/member/suzanne-reisman ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://blogher.org/topic/feminism-gender ) Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

That whole "emotional moments" crap reminds me too much of the "Have a happy period!" message that Always imprinted on their pads. Idiots.

Personally, I'm in the camp of using a deoderant stone to eliminate the smell associated with sweating by killing the bacteria that produces that odor. I feel it's a much healthier alternative for me. I'm going to sweat regardless, whether it's through my pits or everywhere else, given that I'm always hot living in a tropical country.

But if I used products such as you describe, you can bet yer sweet bippy I'd be using whatever's cheapest, and if that means switching to a men's brand, so what? As long as it was unscented - I'm not fond of the constant scent assault of such products.

Laurie in Sri Lanka

Chilli & Chocolate ( http://food.laurieashton.com ) | A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court ( http://srilanka.laurieashton.com ) | LMAshton on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/lmashton )

First, I'm sure my husband is delighted that I am sharing this but I find it interesting.  It is true that all women are taught to be more in tune with body odor than the athletic, outdoors man, the corporate man is very much pressured to smell fresh and old-spicey sophisticated.  

I see that my hubby uses deodorant liberally, going through double the amount of deodorant that I do.  I think sociological pressure has a part to play on why he overuses, in my opinion, doeodorant.  

Backpackingdad has a good point that there are many layers.  Men and women are compartmentalized by hungry marketers looking for the next way to convice us that we need their products.

http://www.thecluelesscrafter.com/

Good post, Suzanne.  I remember in my women's studies courses we use to talk about how much tampons would cost if men needed to use them. There's a really good article out there called "If Men Could Menstuate" that talks about many of the same issues you discussed in this post. 

I also agree with your later commenter  who talked about how this is a much larger problem of sexism than just the deordant and talked about the economics of it.

I agree with this comment.  Personally I don't like wearing the scent of men's deordant.  It's just too strong for me and I find it overwhelming.  I like the way that mine smells, I use Secret, and so yes, the deordant companies have got me because I will pay more for it because it works for me. 

Alex Elliot, Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting
( http://www.flexibleparenting.com )

...even though you wondered if it was a time-waste :}

Because although the discrimination may appear to be on the surface (Women have to pay more for the same product) I think it exists at a different level. Someone might be sitting in an office somewhere thinking "We can make women, emotional women, pay more for the same product because they are X...." but the real reason for the price difference might be sexism at a totally different level.

Imagine that the setting of the price is completely economic: in order to get men to spend as much per year, or month, or over their lifetime, on Degree the price has to be set lower or else men just won't buy. (I don't know that this is the case, but I'm assuming that the sexism isn't on the surface for now.)

So, in that scenario, why is it the case that men won't buy Degree in the same quantities unless the price is lower? Men are probably made to feel as smelly, or even smellier than women, so it's probably not a question of them not feeling in need of it. But I'd venture a guess that men are definitely NOT made to feel as paranoid about being smelly as women are. THAT little bit of sexism, I think, is going to do more to affect prices down the line than someone in an office trying to figure out how to manipulate and rip off women for a buck. That's a systemic sexism that marketers can take advantage of: they don't have to manufacture it.

So although one response to this is to feel like the COMPANY is doing something sexist in its pricing, I think that probably the company is at worst taking advantage of a sociological trend that results, not in them thinking they can get away with pricing higher for women, but that they need to price lower for men to get them to buy. The result isn't any less sexist, but I'm not sure the company gets the hit for it.

Now, as for the "emotional" bit....yeah, that's completely on them.

http://www.backpackingdad.com

who buy men's deodorant.

(My blogs are http://flightkeeper.blogspot.com and http://cutefuncool.blogspot.com)

Wow! Well, now I'm pissed. They just nickel and dime us at every turn, don't they? Thanks for the great info. I'm going to pass this on and do some price comparison at my local supermarket (Big Y) and see what the story is there.

That emotional moments crap is just priceless. What is this, the 1950's? In the advertisers' world, sometimes I think it is.

Thanks.

Willful Woman www.besidethestonewall.com ( http://www.besidethestonewall.com )

Interesting timing! I recently bought my husband Mitchum and myself Lady Mitchum. I have no idea what I paid for each stick - I just grabbed them off the shelf. After a week, my husband really likes his deodarant however I have found that mine doesn't really work well and I am all sweaty. Maybe I should take a look at the ingredient list. I won't be surprised now to find that he has more sweat-stopping stuff in his (whatever that ingredient may be). And to the person who posted that you should "just buy the man's deodorant" I don't want to - they make the man deodorant smell too manly for my taste.

Marilyn (MBels)

well thanks for the information, I haven't really noticed, or i didn't have the slightest idea that deodorant for men and women have exactly the same ingredients but cost higher for women. But one thing I noticed that deo for women smell better than those for men.

Personally, I don't use the stuff unless I have (gasp, dare to dream,) a date or a very important meeting. So I eagerly bought the "Little Black Dress Approved" version of Degree - almost as bad as the emotional moments marketing. Indeed, that may be worth the extra buck, and and a real gender issue. Except that it doesn't work, unless your little black dress is white. Just as many smudges, smears and streaks, no matter how I used it. Back to the clear, unscented men's version for me. Because I'm just that manly.

Nothing else ground-breaking to report. ;)  Except the obvious fact that your body sweats because it needs to, stopping it doesn't make much sense unless you're in a situation in which it would be particularly bad. Like that date. Other than that, those toxins want out, let them out!

____________

Alyssa Royse

Just Cause It: ( http://www.justcauseit.com )A Web Site To Save The World

READ the magazine http://www.zinio.com/justcause ( http://www.startherup.com )

I've been using a Mitchum men's (unscented) product for over a decade. It works better than Lady Mitchum. I had never noticed the price difference on other brands, but frankly it doesn't surprise me. The "emotional moments" label, is yet another example of niche marketing causing more trouble than it's worth.
- Lisse

@ ( http://homeintheworld.typepad.com ) Home in the World: International Adoption and Other Travels

Not only that but many deodorants still have paraben in their list of ingredients, which mimics the estrogen hormone. One more thing you should also add to your list of discrimination, clothes. Men's cloths are always cheaper than women's even though more material is used to make men's cloths, who usually are larger than us. http://www.WomenOnGuard.com/contact_us.htm

I think you should send a copy of this posting to the makers of Degree (probably the marketing department would be best.) And while you are at it, point out the enormous number of women bloggers who belong to BlogHer and are reading this post.

I have always had a sharp eye turned to the tricks that marketers use to get "emotional" women to buy their product at the same price with less product.  

I often have loud discussions with my husband in our Duane Reade about the lies we are supposed to buy into.  I have been wearing my husband's deodorant since we've been together.  

We should all ditch women's products until they find more acceptable ways of communicating with us AND not ripping us off.

Great article!

http://www.thecluelesscrafter.com/

And the comment below seems to echo those sentiments exactly.  :)  I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thinks that it is wrong to charge women more money for things than men.

Suzanne Reisman ( http://www.blogher.com/member/suzanne-reisman ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://blogher.org/topic/feminism-gender ) Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Oth ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

Suzanne, I'm going to 100% agree with your first point: "here is proof that I have too much time on my hands these days."  Just buy the man's deodorant and move on.

My daughter's taking a women's studies course. She's on the lookout for this sort of thing. I'll pass it on. She has some people in her class who think the battle for female equality or equity has been won and so women's studies for them is a history class, I guess.

Nordette Adams ( http://www.bookotopia.com ) is a BlogHer CE ( http://www.blogher.com/haystackprofile/viewprofile... ) & you can find her other stuff through Her 411 ( http://her411.com ).