Post: #1

A Harvard assistant professor was unable to shoot photos with her smartphone during the protests in Turkey, because she thinks that the Google Nexus 4 was deliberately designed for large male hands in order to keep women from using the latest technology.

https://medium.com/technology-and-societ...6c6bee1b69

Quote:Since officials often claimed that tear gas was used only on vandals and violent protesters, I wanted to document these particularly egregious circumstances. Almost by reflex, I pulled out my phone, a Google Nexus 4, which I had been using on this trip as my main device, sometimes under quite challenging circumstances.

And as my lungs, eyes and nose burned with the pain of the lachrymatory agent released from multiple capsules that had fallen around me, I started cursing.

I cursed the gendered nature of tech design that has written out women from the group of legitimate users of phones as portable devices to be used on-the-go.

I cursed that what was taken for granted by the male designers and male users of modern phones was simply not available to me.

I cursed that I could not effectively document how large numbers of ordinary people had come to visit a park were being massively tear-gassed because I simply could not take a one-handed picture.

I especially cursed that I could not lift the camera above my head, hold it steadily *and* take a picture—something I had seen countless men with larger hands do all the time.

I’m 5 foot 2 inches on a good day and my hands are simply not big enough for effective one-handed use of the kind of phones that I want to use for my work.

Increasingly, on the latest versions of the kinds of phones I want to use, I cannot type one-handed. I cannot take a picture one-handed. I can barely scroll one-handed—not very well, though. I can’t unlock my phone one-handed. I can’t even turn on my phone one-handed as my fingers cannot securely wrap around the phone while I push a button with a finger.

I used to be able to do all that on smart phones just a generation ago. Unfortunately, I can’t just use an inferior, older and smaller phone as I do need all the capabilities of the best phones—except their screen size. What I simply do not need or want is that teeny, tiny bit more of screen landscape that comes, for me, the total expense of usability. Yet, I’m increasingly deprived of the choice.

Not upgrading to new phones is not an answer either. I’m not just after the latest phone for the sake of having the latest phone. However, older phones get sluggish over time as requirements for software upgrades overwhelm their capacity. As phones age, their battery life gets shorter and shorter. In the field, battery life is very important. Soon, certain apps start not working unless I upgrade my operating system to the latest version which will crash my older phone.

As a woman, I’ve slowly been written out of the phone world and the phone market. That extra “.2" inches of screen size on each upgrade simply means that I can no longer do what I enviously observe men do every day: Check messages one-handed while carrying groceries or a bag; type a quick note while on a moving bus or a train where I have to hold on not to fall.

I must put down everything in my hands and use my phone with both hands for everything.

There is no rule that says the screen size must get bigger with each upgrade in memory or capabilities, and yet it does. For most men, it’s just one small, added benefit. For many women, though it’s a reminder that the tech industry doesn’t always remember or count your existence.

Just so we are clear: I don’t want a pink phone, I don’t want “women’s applications” and I don’t want ruffles or hello kitty on my phone.

I merely want a design that acknowledges that women exist, and women often have smaller hands than men.

Tech designer men, especially tall or average-sized men: Imagine a world in which all keyboards were designed for hands like mine—and you had to type all day for work. Or, imagine a world in which you sat in economy class airline seats all day, every day to work. That’s what it feels like to live in a world designed for someone else. (Although airlines do this for profit, the effect is the same: I have little to complain about economy seats because they fit me even though they are painful and torturous for many people).

The scene in Gezi that day was one of chaos and crowds, as people tried to move away from the gas that had enveloped us. Some were buckled on the floor, vomiting in pain. The evening crowd had swelled the numbers in the park, and with one hand, I clutched the bag I was carrying with my research materials as I stood in the undulating crowd, and with the other, I tried in vain to hold the phone steadily and tap on the camera button.

It was futile.

I gave up and put my phone back in the bag.

Online sources suggest that the average adult man’s hand is about 2 cm larger than a woman’s—three quarters of an inch. That is not a small difference for using a hand-held device.

The effect will become more pronounced as the next three billion people come online using their phones. People in the developing world are, on average, much shorter and have smaller hands. When I traveled to the Mayan highlands in the Guatemala-Mexico border as part of my interest in the Zapatista movement and I was practically a towering giant.

Google now has announced the next generation, Nexus 5. With trepidation, I immediately looked at the size: Yep, slightly bigger.

I’m just going to hold on to my already slightly too-big Nexus 4 as long as I can, and hope that a manufacturer out there starts designing good smartphones for people other than average sized men in rich countries. (Free #PROTIP to manufacturers who care about their bottom line: women usually make their own purchasing decisions, and we are a huge market).

Google Nexus was otherwise a great phone for me. I travel a lot for my research and my work so I need an unlocked phone that I can use in multiple countries. I wanted a phone without the “crapware” that comes with buying from intermediaries. I’m a junior academic—and I simply can’t spend my time rooting my phones and then manually updating and configuring everything all the time.

All practical “solutions” out there involve that I pay a penalty for not having a man’s hands.

This is why diversity in technology is not just about optics, feel-good or window dressing. Diversity in experience, diversity in body size, diversity in ability among people who make decisions in tech design influence basic questions of equity and accessibility of products and platforms that are increasingly essential parts of our personal, social and political lives. (Also, hint, Google Nexus 5 designers, just in case these things were too hard for you guys to look up: my middle finger is 2.6 inches.)

It's clearly patriarchy that keeps her from buying a smaller phone.

Post: #2

Quote:I cursed the gendered nature of tech design that has written out women from the group of legitimate users of phones as portable devices to be used on-the-go.

And she teaches at Harvard? Got help America.

Post: #3

if she thinks smartphones are too big to shoot photos, god help her when she decides she wants to take real photos with a DSLR.

Post: #4

Quote:As phones age, their battery life gets shorter and shorter. In the field, battery life is very important.

Dumb bitch does not know you can buy a new battery for a fraction of the price of a new phone.

It takes a little effort with a Nexus 5 or an IPhone, but not very difficult. Still, I swear it's a design feature to force dumbasses like her to buy new phones.

Post: #5

Maybe get an actual camera then? And a fucking clue?

Post: #6

Post: #7

Quote:I used to be able to do all that on smart phones just a generation ago. Unfortunately, I can’t just use an inferior, older and smaller phone as I do need all the capabilities of the best phones—except their screen size. What I simply do not need or want is that teeny, tiny bit more of screen landscape that comes, for me, the total expense of usability. Yet, I’m increasingly deprived of the choice.

Gentlemen, I present to you the first world problem to end all first world problems.

Truly, this woman suffers.

Post: #8

First world problems.

These broads have it so easy and comfortable because of the patriarchy, they have to manufacture grievances from minutia like this ( or guys who take up too much space on the subway).

The fact is the patriarchy makes their life so easy and comfortable and gives them so much wealth and idle time, the hamster goes into overdrive to find shit that "opresses" them.

Post: #9

Post: #10

Favorite comment:

Lucas Morales Wrote:I tried to fit an iPad in my pocket but couldn't fit it. They are designed for women I guess, because women have purses. Let's ban Apple for this sexism!

Please tell me this is a joke.

And the Nexus 4 is a pretty small phone with an easy to use camera.

She has small hands and instead of blaming her (very, very, very slightly) bad genetic luck, this woman who grew up without ever having to compromise on anything major and never found 'happiness' because all her needs were taken care of mommy, daddy & the alphas in the bar, blames society.

The same society that mollycoddled her and probably ensured that she got a job at Harvard at the cost of a more intelligent and hard-working man simply because she is a woman. The same society that ensured that she would never know what true hardship is while not ensuring men the same, simply because she's a woman.

And pray, why did society, not Google or LG but society, design such a nefarious phone? Because it 'systematically discriminates against women'. This gentlemen, is a perfect example of the hamster.

Post: #11

Hey guys, today I ordered an espresso at the cafe. It came in a tiny cup with a handle too small to comfortably handle with my large man hands. Why did the cup maker exclude men in their designs? This is sexism and I won't stand for it.

Post: #12

BTW, she is not a professor at Harvard. That is some resume inflation by omission. She's at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. If you look at the list of people there, they actually have academic positions at other places, and Berkman appears to be some kind of network institute organized by Harvard. But she is not Harvard faculty.

Post: #13

The discussion should not be about size, hands, or the phone.

We should be talking about the selfishness and narcissism of such women: Men invent something and instead of being grateful such a thing even exists, women whine over the details.

Without patriarchy there would be no phone at all.

I'd like to leave this comment at Medium.com where she posted this, but I don't want to leave it under my Facebook name. If anyone doesn't care about that, feel free to steal my thoughts above and repost them there.

Post: #14

Post: #15

Help help, I'm being repressed!

I'll have to find that Monty Python gif later tonight.

Post: #16

What. A. Bitch.

Post: #17

Apparently learning a different grip is harder than whining on the internet for the entire smartphone industry to be changed.

Post: #18

Why don't they make tampons for men!

Post: #19

Basic, typical shit. Instead of faulting herself for buying a phone that is apparently too fucking big for her to use comfortably and chalking it up to poor decision making - she has to scapegoat and blame some imaginary power out of her control so she can just bitch-away this minor inconvenience of her day-to-day problem-less white, affluent, middle-class life. Just buy a fucking smaller phone.

Patriarchy? What the fuck. Take your life.

Post: #20

#nopatriarchalproducts. No power, automobiles, phones, computers, or running water. All of them were made by the EVIL patriarchy, which is arguably the worst patriarchy in the world.

Post: #21

On behalf of my nation, I'm truly sorry for this self-entitled dumb bitch. She probably inhaled too much tear gas during the protests.

On a different note, this is a perfect example of how woman will always find something to whine about no matter how perfect and privileged her life is. She's doind better than the 99,9% of the world, but no, she has to complain about her latest tech smartphone being too big.

Post: #22

Can we please harness the power from her hamster as a renewable energy source?

Absolute nonsense.

Post: #23

Quote:I cursed the gendered nature of tech design that has written out women from the group of legitimate users of phones as portable devices to be used on-the-go.

I cursed that what was taken for granted by the male designers and male users of modern phones was simply not available to me.

Post: #24

Truth Teller Wrote:the EVIL patriarchy, which is arguably the worst patriarchy in the world.

Can't.... stop.... laughing...

Post: #25

In Saudi Arabia, women say things like "I wish my husband wouldn't beat me" or "I wish my genitals weren't mutilated" or "I wish I wasn't going to be stoned to death for the crime of bringing dishonor to my family by getting gang raped."


Get some fucking perspective, lady.