Apple technology has become a major contributor to our everyday assets. Ever since it released its first iPod in 2001, Apple has released everything from computers to phones to smart watches. Apple’s newest release, the iPad Pro, strung up controversy at Apple’s annual September event.
Eric Snowden of Adobe showed off an app now offered by Apple that allows users to touch-up their pictures quickly and easily with the swipe of a finger. Snowden proceeded to bring up a picture of a woman, not smiling, and exclaimed, “I wish she had a little bit more of a smile. I think it would warm up the design a bit. Luckily, we have an app for that.” He then edited the picture so she was smiling.
Spectators were surprisingly angered by this comment as well as the fact that only three women were brought on stage during the release. This brought up complaints of “fixing women to make them prettier,” and accusations toward Apple, among other technology companies of being sexist.
Feminism and sexism have been major areas of controversy over the last decade. Apparently using a female model as an example of how an app works stirs up arguments regarding both issues.
Users and unhappy clients have brought to the attention of Tim Cook, Apple CEO, that not enough women are employed or seen as presenters at Apple. Cook took this to heart, and over the last year, Apple has hired 11,000 women, 65 percent more than in recent years. Why is it still so much of a problem? Women’s equality has often been an issue in the U.S. What do we expect? Miracles? You can’t fix everything regarding equality in less than 100 years.
In 1920, feminism and gender equality focuses were simply the right to vote and to own land. We achieved that. Feminism has been taken to a whole new level, a level that can make just about anything appear to be “sexist,” whether it really is or not.
I understand the need to be proactive and have complete equality, but is that really what women are striving for anymore? In our society, it’s considered sexist by many women when a man opens a door for a woman. A man can no longer show chivalry to a woman without being accused of thinking she is unable to do things for herself. Somewhere along the line, feminism got all mixed up. Equality is no longer equality, it’s independence.
That’s what’s at play in the Apple issue. Women are angry that men are able to fix their smile. However, let’s be real, no man is going to fix a woman’s smile in their picture. The woman will fix her own smile. This app is no different than Photoshop, which is used regularly to make the user look or feel better. Snowden was simply demonstrating how the app works, not shaming women or trying to be sexist.
Spectators are looking far too deeply into the motives of Apple, turning an innocent idea of perfection into a sexist act of inequality. Snowden and Apple are at no true fault here, our society is. The way society thinks is what keeps sexism around, not companies trying to demonstrate how to use a product.
