“80% of 13–20-year-olds, or “Gen Z”, believe that gender did not define a person as much as it used to… and only 44% always bought clothes designed for their own gender”
https://uxdesign.cc/designing-forms-for-gender-diversity-and-inclusion-d8194cf1f51
I wish I could remember what I was buying online, something innocuous like a toaster, and when I went to fill in the form to complete my purchase they asked for my gender. “What the hell do they need to know that for!?” I fumed. I couldn’t even skip the question to prove a point.
I understand that marketing departments like to know who is buying their products, but forcing anyone to answer this question may very well backfire and turn potential purchasers away. Gender can be a loaded question for many different reasons, particularly if the only options on a form are male or female.
And even if a marketing department found out that 80% of people buying that toaster identify as female – what are they going to do about it? Start producing it only in pink?
Young people increasingly feel that gender doesn’t define them, so capturing this somewhat arbitrary information can make companies look out of date.
It’s probably just as well I can’t remember the name of the gift company that I saw lots of adverts for on YouTube last year. A man was unboxing loads of neat tech gadgets. “That’s cool,” I thought. “I wonder what the woman is going to find in her gift box?”…. Makeup. Groan. If I hadn’t valued my laptop so much I might have thrown it out of the window.
A world that is, thankfully, moving away from gender stereotypes, benefits not just for the trans community but absolutely EVERYONE. So lets stop asking this question unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary.
electric - angel 