If Freedom Reconnection is the only website you’ve visited today, you may not have heard about today’s Apple event where they unveiled new products like the latest model of the iPhone, some new version of the iPad, and the new iLiner or some such.
But at the moment, a lot of the buzz involving today’s Apple event has to do with what happened during one of the product demonstrations.
First, let me preface this by mentioning that Apple has been criticized as of late for its lack of sexual and minority diversity. This headline on Wired.com’s website last month illustrates the grievance that the grievancemongers have with Apple:
“Apple Wants to Be Diverse, But White Dudes Still Run Things”
Around half of Apple’s new hires last year were minorities or women, but it wasn’t good enough for some because most of the employees at the tech giant were still white men. There’s no pleasing some people.
So anyway, that sets the stage for today’s product unveiling event. Some in attendance or perhaps those paying attention to the event online noticed something most normal people wouldn’t have when some white dude demonstrated the Adobe Photoshop Fix app on the iPad Pro. He used the application to tweak a photo of a female model’s face with a neutral expression so that it had a smile instead.
Well, hoo girl, did that set off some people. It was already bad enough to them that she was the first female to be represented in the already lady-sparse Apple event, but the womyn and the submissive pajama boys who love them became righteously outraged because the so-very-sexist Apple used a photograph of a woman to make her (it) smile against her (its) will.
Here’s a rundown of a few of the online reactions to this oppressive act by Apple. None of these headlines or quotes from the articles have been manipulated much.
Mashable: “Apple, let’s not force women to smile at your Keynote event”
Changing the otherwise neutral gaze of the woman’s face — or, some would say, her “resting bitch face” since she doesn’t have a naturally upturned mouth — is not insignificant. Even though he may have made the change innocuously, it points to a recurring problem of women being harassed for not smiling on the street or being labeled as “bitchy” in their jobs or personal lives.
Mic.com: “Apple’s First Woman Onstage Was a Model They Photoshopped to Smile”
Adobe’s choice to present its tool in this way overlooks the deeper double standard associated with forcing women to smile. Women commonly face street harassment should they dare to buck the stereotypical cheery feminine standard and instead appear emotionless or — god forbid — upset. …
Perhaps if more female industry insiders had been involved in the event in the first place, the first woman on the stage wouldn’t have been a two-dimensional figure subjected to such tired treatment.
Fastcodesign.com: “#Smilegate! Adobe Demos How To “Fix” Resting Bitch Face During iPad Pro Event; NEXT UP: HOW TO MAKE FAT MODELS THINNER, AND LIGHTEN DARK SKIN, ALL ON YOUR IPAD PRO!”
It was a particularly tone deaf, arguably sexist note, especially for an event in which Apple seemingly took pains to bring more women on stage. …
Women being told they need to smile more to be pretty is a particularly sensitive subject, even without Apple and Adobe making a tool that “fixes” ladies’ smiles a focus point of their iPad Pro demo.
And keeping with the theme of oppressing those with hearing disabilities…
The Verge: “Tone-deaf iPad Pro demo photo-edits a smile onto a woman, gets applause”
[T]he way they [demonstrated the app] was creepy and tone-deaf. They could have manipulated any photo, and they chose a woman’s face. With a twist of the pin, the Adobe demonstrator manipulated her relaxed lips into a smile. It was heckling reimagined as art, and it was icky. That the audience applauded for glamour photoshopping didn’t help.
Coincidentally, every person in the audience was male. Had to be.
Bustle: “Apple Demonstrates Adobe Photoshop Fix By Digitally ‘Fixing’ A Woman’s Smile”
It’s a benign demonstration, certainly, but to suggest that she should wear “a little bit more of a smile” — that this is the ideal use for an app intended to “fix” errors — was a poor choice of words for [Adobe’s] Eric Snowden, to say the least.
A woman refusing to smile is never an error that needs to be “fixed.”
Tech Insider: “The demo for the iPad Pro involved a man Photoshopping a woman’s face to make her smile more”
[W]hile an Adobe demonstrator was onstage showing off the new stylus and a program called “Photoshop Fix,” he made an odd choice by announcing he would Photoshop a woman’s face to give her a bigger smile. …
Why is that a problem? A man telling a woman to smile or “smile more!” is highly and widely-regarded as a form of harassment, and a line many women find uncomfortable and inappropriate.
International Business Times: “Apple Inc.’s Diversity Struggle On Full Display At Apple iPhone 6S Event”
It took nearly 45 minutes, multiple demos and several product announcements before a woman appeared on the stage at Apple’s iPhone 6s event Wednesday. And it was another 15 minutes before a female Apple employee was included in the presentation.
Like most things in Silicon Valley, Apple’s iPhone, iPad, Watch and Apple TV event was dominated by white men, once again illustrating the tech industry’s problems when it comes to including women and people of Hispanic and African-American descent. …
For every four men who took the stage, one woman was included in the event, which is pretty par for the course in Silicon Valley employment. …
Adding insult to injury, Adobe Director of Design Eric Snowden offended many viewers during his demo when he adjusted the face of a woman in one of his designs to “give her a little bit more of a smile.”
Just to make sure the main -isms were covered, the writer of the article added:
Capping off the event’s lack of diversity, few minorities took the stage, and it appears that few if any of the presenters were Hispanic or African-American, which are the two ethnic groups that are typically the least represented in the tech industry.
USA Today: “Seriously? Apple live-Photoshopped a woman to make her smile more”
We’ll chalk this truly embarrassing fumble up to Apple’s 70%-male employee base. …
Yep—the best Photoshop example Apple could think of was digitally manipulating a woman to smile more.
With bonus femplaining:
And the great empowering fun just kept coming. Having the female Apple TV presenter clarify that “you probably wouldn’t have guessed” that she listens to metal? Tacky.
Oh, and then this happened during the Gilt presentation:
We get a woman on stage when we're talking about … shopping. &, her script has a line about her husband not wanting to go to the mall. :-|
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) September 9, 2015
There’s more social media stupid to read in the articles above as well as here at Twitchy.
And what would a collection of today’s outrage-o-rama be without an entry by the…
Huffington Post: “Apple Turns World’s Oldest Catcall Into Product Demo; This is what happens when there aren’t enough women in tech.”
Catcalling dudes have been imploring women to smile since the dawn of the sidewalk. Catchy one-liners include: “You should smile more,” “Aw, it can’t be that bad,” “C’mon girl, smile!” and worse stuff I have fortunately blocked from my long-term memory.
But on Wednesday, Apple and Adobe turned the timeless and offensive notion that women should look happy all the time into a product demonstration. …
[T]his women-smiling product demo is the kind of thing that happens when there aren’t any women around who can say, “Um, that kind of creeps me out.”
So the next time someone tells me–a white man–to smile, I should be grateful that I’m being treated equally bad. At least I think that’s the message here. Someone pass me the feminist rulebook on this, because I’m not sure how I’m supposed to react.
Y’know what? That’s okay. I think I’ll be fine. Because I’m a dude of the Caucasian persuasion, which means I have special privileges.
Update: Adobe’s VP of Products & Community responded to the fuss via Twitter.
@rachelsklar missing context is that demo was of new facial recognition feature for retouching. in a selfie world, big deal.but wrong photo!
— Scott Belsky (@scottbelsky) September 10, 2015
