http://faerye.net/tag/spam 2008-09-12T10:30:47+00:00 Felicity Shoulders http://faerye.net/ http://faerye.net/post/the-masculonormativity-of-spam 2008-09-12T10:30:47+00:00 2008-09-12T10:32:27+00:00 <p>One observation I failed to make in my <a href="http://faerye.net/post/maleness-is-the-human-default" target="links">general masculonormativity post</a> is this: spam is for men.</p> <p>This is precisely the kind of thing I would guess is hard to notice if you&#8217;re a man, but I estimate my spam (when I do see it) is almost 50% Viagra/Cialis offers, 20% (gender-neutral) offers of cut-rate software, 10% (gender-neutral) nonsense or Nigerian scams, and 20% (male-oriented) porn ads. That means 70% of spam assumes that I am a man. Some of that is likely capitalism at work: if men are more likely to click on spam, or if porn and ED drugs are the main ways to make money off spam, that may be what&#8217;s driving it. But it may also be an easy assumption for spammers in Russia or wherever to make &#8212; that men are the primary users of the Internet or the primary spenders of money.</p> <p>All I know is that last year when, briefly, I got spam advertising knockoffs of designer handbags and heels, I was almost pleased. Spam that assumed I was a woman! Amazing!</p>