So the iPad was unveiled yesterday, and the means by which it is being degraded is to link it to menstruation and sanitary pads. This is fascinating to me, that menstrual humor is the vehicle to make the jab at this new technology. As the cultural logic goes, what could be worse than a menstrual association with a new computer artifact, and naming it pad when “sanitary pad” is the dominant meaning? But, there are note pads, pads on the bottom of your feet, carpet pads — the list goes on. Yet, this is not what the jokes refer to. Not only is it about menstruation, but it is gendered humor. The female specific act of menstruation is decidedly not masculine, and computer technology is usually gendered masculine, thus the iPad must not be a good technology if is discussed in terms of female bodies. Yow! I suppose this one is doomed…
