gender exploitation and greed: deodorant as a technology of gender

Before leaping into another gender studies induced tirade, I thought you deserved a disclaimer. For completely selfish reasons, (it is my blog afterall) I have posted my assignment on technologies of gender. Technology is not discussed here in the traditional sense of mechanical or electrical products used to advance science or industrialization. It is rather examined as both an object and the skills/knowledge required to use it to uncover something about gender constructs in the technology's culture. In this way, deodorant is technology. If you're not fully convinced yet, that makes sense. It took me an entire essay to completely convince myself. If you're interested, read on and leave me some comments. I'd love to discuss your take on this, or any other, technology of gender. Also, take a look at the websites after reading...it'll shock your socks off how gendered deodorant can be!

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Deodorant and antiperspirant giants Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive are responsible for many of the most popular and profitable brands such as Degree Men, Degree Women, Axe, Speed Stick, and Lady Speed Stick. As deodorant and antiperspirant are primarily designed to mask body odour and inhibit perspiration, it is not readily apparent how they can be technologies of gender. After all, sweating is a process common to all humans. One may even question the need for deodorant at all. Is body odour not a stigma only in certain cultures? The biologically un-gendered “need” for deodorant is, however, culturally and socially divided into male and female camps, with products requiring different knowledge bases for both of these genders. The corporations who develop the products, whose executive teams are entirely male (Colgate, Unilever), do in fact display a “capitalist exploitation of the consumer” and a “patriarchal disregard for women’s concerns” (McGaw 19).

While considering McGaw’s take on necessity and progress, this essay will investigate the ways in which this mundane technology reinforces gender constructs such as the passive/objectified female and the prestige male (Ingham) and even suggests a masculinity in crisis (Ouellette). This phenomenon is seen most clearly in the technology’s Internet promotions and physical and chemical properties.

The Internet promotions of these everyday products subtilely and blatantly reinforce the image of the prestige male and passive/objectified female in effect preying on the insecurities of consumers to increase sales. Axe Dry focuses on the affirmation of heterosexuality, Degree men focuses on risk taking, and Speed Stick focuses on athletic performance. Upon entering the Axe Effect website, after “your mojo is load[ed]”, The Gamekillers appear. The Gamekillers consist of 14 stereotypes “whose sole mission in life is to cause you to blow your cool and lose the girl” (The Axe). These types include British Accent Guy, The One Upper, Sensitivo, and The Baladeer who are all under-30 white men who “colonize your girl” and “make you look like a wuss” (The Axe). Two other “enemies” include The Baller and Man Candy, both black men. These two are dumb, rich, athletic, and well endowed. The Pace Car is beautiful and “out of your league” (The Axe). Looking at her leads to “bulging eyes and pants” causing “you [to] lose your date” (The Axe). This woman is only a threat in that men can’t have her-she resists the prestige male’s authority. The Mother Hen is “annoying”, “pushy” and “possessive”. The target consumer is advised to be nice to her or “you [are] not getting any” (The Axe). The website also includes several downloads where users can “command” “entertaining naughty supermodels” and become qualified as “touch expert[s]” (The Axe). The online promotion notes that Axe is “carefully engineered to make sure your game is always on” and provides the consumer with “so many ways to get some” (The Axe). The company states very openly that the user is a “bed-wetter” and a “bitch” if he doesn’t “stuff his bird” and “keep his cool” (The Axe). The position of power, to be defended and easily lost, is always given to the prestige male while the “other” is powerless. “Chicks” are only mentioned as “annoying” objects to be obtained and gay men go completely unrecognized, therefore being acknowledged as the biggest threat of all.

Degree Men upholds the image of the prestige male thereby removing power from the female in much the same way as Axe. The website begins loading while a stick of deodorant smashes through a plane of glass beside the phrase “Degree Men. Protects Men who take Risks” (Degree Men). The site also provides an online version of a commercial played during this year’s Super Bowl. While Bond-esque music plays, men in “Stunt City” hang off of helicopters and jump through glass to get to work. One driver even hits a helmeted cyclist signifying a lack of respect for men who are not risk takers. The website also outlines Risk Taking Poker Tips as the product is the official sponsor of the World Series of Poker, a male dominated event. The tips put the consumer in “the Shark Tank” teaching him to “create fear and doubt in the mind of [his] opponent”, “earn other players’ respect”, and cause a “weaker player” to fold (Degree Men). Degree teaches men to “go all in” and describes poker hands such as the German Virgin, Dinner for Two (a 6 and a 9), and the Dolly Parton, defining women by their sexuality. The image of the subservient female is re-established when the consumer is asked if he would like to be sent “a new Degree Women sample for [his] leading lady” (Degree Men). No parallel question exists on the Degree Women sample request form. By connecting the product to this game, Degree Men reaffirms the prestige male’s status as heterosexual and risk-taking/unafraid and the female’s status as a sexual object.
Speed Stick, by Colgate-Palmolive, uses Alex Rodriguez to sell deodorant. A link to his bio indicates that he is the ultimate prestige male, “[b]aseball superstar, philanthropist, and oh yeah, SPEED STICK USER” (Speed). A-Rod is described as “displaying a combination of power, speed, and superior defense”, terms also used to describe the product (Speed). The website depicts large athletic men hugging beautiful women while describing the product as having “powerful formulas” and “powerful sweat fighters” (Speed). An online commercial depicts young men playing seven different sports with the tagline “competition demands protection” (Speed). These men are sweating profusely as a veritable male badge of honour. Colgate even tries to widen its market by suggesting that:

[c]hildren do not typically have a need to use an antiperspirant
product until they start perspiring, which will be around puberty.
On the other hand, they may want to use a deodorant at an earlier
age to provide a pleasant smell, like an older brother...has.
(Speed)

By teaching men and even young boys that Speed Stick is used by powerful heroes, Colgate increases their profit while preying on the insecurities of millions of men who’s masculinity is not as secure as that of Alex Rodriguez.

The representation of the prestige male becomes even more pronounced when contrasted with the Lady Speed Stick and Degree Women websites. The main page of the Lady Speed Stick site portrays a thin, young, blonde, blue-eyed, tanned woman in a tank top. She is smiling with white teeth and red lips. By creating an ideal for women and connecting her to the product, Colgate increases sales. The caption “specially formulated for the woman on the go” pictures a woman on an exercise bike (Lady). She is not sweating and is wearing more make-up than the other women, reinforcing her femininity. This, among other similar images, indicates that women using Lady Speed Stick do not require the “powerful protection” of Speed Stick and somehow sweat less than men (Speed). Colgate has also created a special Teen Spirit for female teens, whereas male teens use regular Speed Stick. This underscores the division between girls and women, whereas there is no division between boys and men. Even the fact that the male Speed Stick does not require a gender designation such as “Lady” indicates that the female is other and the male is deferred to as the norm.

The Degree Women’s website mimics a magazine cover called “Ultra Clear” indicating that the product is “100% little black dress approved” (Degree Women). The entire website is dedicated to “get[ting] noticed for the right reasons” and eliminating white marks (Degree Women). There is only one mention of the actual purpose of the product using the word “protection” and leaving out the un-feminine words odour and sweat (Degree Women). The female deodorants are advertised mainly as clothing-savers, indicating that a woman’s main concern his her appearance (cosmetic) versus that male’s desire to eliminate sweat (practical). Using gendered cultural and social expectations, these corporations use the consumer’s insecurities to bring in revenue.

Furthermore, the physical properties of deodorants strongly indicate a masculinity in crisis. Speed Stick’s red and white boxy package indicates that the product is “the official deodorant of the NBA” (Speed). This antiperspirant includes purely cosmetic black rubber grips on the sides and a scent called “Intense Sport” indicating that the previous “regular” scent and unadorned packaging are no longer masculine enough to uphold the prestige male’s image (Speed). This “technology’s masculine dimensions” are made even more apparent when contrasted with the purple curvy “new look” of the Lady Speed Stick packaging (McGaw 15). An examination of scents is equally revealing. While Arm and Hammer delivers “bursts of power”, Lady Speed Stick offers “Powder Burst[s]” (Arm, Lady). Male deodorant’s “powerful scents” such as Sport Talc, Kilo, and Summit are indicative of the prestige male’s need to mark his territory, in this case taking up scent space (Speed).

The myths of necessity and progress can be seen clearly in the technology’s chemical properties as well. Some argue that men require more protection due to more active sweat glands (Medline). In reality, all of the antiperspirants discussed have the same active ingredient, Aluminum Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrex 18% plus or minus 0.5% (Degree Men, Degree Women, Lady, Speed, The Axe). Some of the women’s deodorants have an even higher amount of AZT than the men’s. This very clearly “reveal[s] technology’s social construction” indicating that a gender based division in products is due to entrepreneurial preference and not biological need (McGaw 17). The inclusion of these harsh chemicals indicates a “system so divorced from biological reality” that it “threatens the biological” (McGaw 31). There are rumours that the aluminum used in antiperspirants poses a threat of Alzheimer’s and Breast Cancer (CBS). Whether or not there is any grain of truth of this statement, it is representative of issues requiring consumers to constantly adapt their knowledge base to choose a product that is safe and effective.

Nanci McArdle, Associate Editor of Happi, an online personal care magazine, indicates that:

Marketers have realized that one of the major challenges women
face when it comes to underarm skin is irritation caused by shaving.
To address this issue, they are offering products that emphasize
added moisturizers-along with wetness and odor protection-to keep
underarm skin soft and reduce irritation from shaving.
(Happi)

This is representative of “the inherent tendency of the system to create more work” (McGaw 31). This hearkens back to McGaw’s question of functionality regarding the Brazier. This can be adapted to ask: does your deodorant work? In the case of women’s deodorant, it is simply a question of less irritation, fewer white marks, and less overpowering scents. Even in the more practical use of eliminating wetness and odour, each person must find the deodorant that works best for them. Antiperspirant is another case “where living things and people are concerned, apparently functional technology is inherently flawed” (McGaw 20). This technology is only serviceable through a constantly changing and adapting body of knowledge to address issues mainly problematic for women. It would follow then that no woman’s deodorant works (McGaw 19).

The Internet promotions and physical and chemical properties of deodorants and antiperspirants indicate a reinforcement of gender constructs such as the passive/objectified woman and the prestige male and also indicate a masculinity in crisis. This “technology...embodies the perspectives of its creators...serv[ing] the interests of those empowered to make technological decisions”, in this case the corporations (McGaw 17). Part of Colgate’s core values is to “achieve and sustain profitable growth” (Colgate). With this information “purchasers and users” need to use their buying power to “determine the ultimate form of [this] technological activity” and eliminate gender hierarchies used for capitalist gain (McGaw 16).