The gender discrimination over the design of baby wipe package

First of all, let me ask—‘how do you open this box?’

Straight men, especially married with kid(s), may have different answers. Also they would feel unsure of their answers.

Before rushing to the point of where we talk about this, and to give men a little time to think about ways to open this type box, first let talking about its benefit.

For sexual activity, unlike Asians, many American straight men, based on my experience, don’t often take a shower before and after having sex. Even when they take a shower, many straight men don’t clean their ass-crack. They wash only their white butts, but the yellow stain which is tucked in between is never rinsed off.

Baby wipes can be an implement in sexual activity as hygienic cleaning tool, to clean parts of the body, such as the ass-crack, which are unclean, yet it can provide new scents to hide unwanted smells. It is considered a useful bedroom-item, especially before anal-play. (Men never grow up, they still need to use baby wipes for the rest of their lives.)

After finishing sex, many men also don’t take a shower; baby wipes can also be used to clean off the stickiness of semen and spit and stinking smells—it cleans quickly & easily.

So, now to the point—‘how do you open a baby wipe box?’

Believe it or not, most married men don’t know how to open the box?

I bought one box and refill it when it ran out because the refills are cheaper. However, many men often break the box, so I have to buy a new box to replace the old one all the time.

A simply way is to press down the small latch, causing the lid to automatic spring up.

Without instruction, the pressing down on the latch to open the box is normal to female commonsense.

However, instead of pressing down, men try to push it up, until it is broken. Pushing up to open might be commonsense to men; they might be familiar form opening beer can flip-tops. When the latch is broken, the lid is unable to close but remains permanently open. So I always need to purchase a new box, because any exposed wipes will dry up. Many times when I had given a baby wipe box for men to use, to clean off after having sex, I observed that they spent a lot of time; try to pull the latch up. I have to rush showing them how to open it, before they break it.

“Do you have any kids?’ I once asked a married man.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Why don’t you know how to open the box? You must never take care of your kid,” I said.

“I take care of my kid but I don’t have to know this, do I?” he replied.

Another thing I noticed when men pull up the latch and it fails to open, men remove the entire cover.

Sometimes, even after I show them how to open the box, by pressing the latch down, the open area is too small for a man’s hand to fit inside, when the wipes are less than half of the box (while this is not a female problem).

So it is unavoidable for men to remove the whole lid—in this case, it means that the open area of it design is futile for men.

The designer of the baby wipe package may be, for example women. Or they may consider their design based on female commonsense as in past generations, when taking care of kids was considered as a female-only job. Or they may test their final design packages only with housewives—I don’t know, but any/all these reasons are possible.

However, if true, the package designers are biased towards the female gender; and if also true, the packages should be considered a form of gender discrimination. The designers should understand that today, in many families, husbands choose to take care of their kids at home, while many wives are now the breadwinner. The package should be redesigned as a unisex package. Male comfort in using the package and male commonsense should also be part of their future design considerations and provide fairness and equity to all genders.

© 2011, by ½ Lady Lisa. All Rights Reserved.