Give Women Your Money: Shoppable spreadsheet of women-led businesses

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/11/20/givewomenyourmoney.html

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I had a quick look at the spreadsheet. There is nothing in there I would ever need to buy.

If you want men to buy at women led businesses, it would help if the list of products was not 100% gendered.

It’s right there in the copy, my dude. Although I suppose it is entirely possible the women in your life don’t want gendered stuff either…

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First as tragedy, then as farce, finally as a boing boing blog post.

Edit- adding the shorter, animated version of the video.

This video came up recently in the comments, and never was there a more appropriate place for it than here. This is capitalism turned at last into religion.

Where absolution from original sin can be washed away through the transformative power of online shopping.

Those of you with have already been programmed with guilt for the sins of your fathers, who have already donned your sackcloth and ashes and confessed your made-up sins into the mobile confessional of either Android or iOS denominations can now purchase your indulgences by shopping with our selection of carefully curated retailers.

Don’t mention class, don’t talk of solidarity, and certainly don’t question the dogma. The priests of pinkwash need their tithes!

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It must have been a very quick look. :slight_smile:

Fair enough. I thought the same thing but then I think there is very little I need to buy.

This is certainly not the case. Unless you think that knives and electronic doodads are exclusively a female concern.

That’s two that leaped out at me.

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You lead an interesting and dangerous life.

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Well now I desperately want that black suede dress from B Yellowtail but I don’t know if a large would fit, might be too loose. That is actually an amazing deal. I started to whine because I was like “oh man is money worth less now or am I just getting poorer… both, it’s both? Ok…” Actually also appreciate the sustainable wool products. A good wool sweater should last for years but these days fast fashion is so the norm that brands will charge through the roof and sell you a loose poorly made sweater that unravels in a year and probably was made by an actual slave. Also for the people saying these are too gendered, sweaters man… unless they’re itchy sweaters are where it’s at. Kind of does my heart good to know that many of these brands are not only woman-owned but focused on ethical fashion and trade. Yes please… I’d rather spend more at the outset but know I’m helping to push back against the overwhelming force of “disposable clothes made by disposable humans.”

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You’ll find class and solidarity mentioned quite a bit on this blog

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Yep it’s all about u man. This being the gift giving season.

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Men don’t wear clothes, uses knives, or buy shit for their kids?

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I also know some men who use makeup.

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Sure, but until we live in a different system (and can make that happen), are we not supposed to spend any money at all because its’ supports a system? What are our options? Is it better to support mainstream businesses owned by white men or to support smaller businesses owned by women or minorities or any gender?

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Or skin care products, even? Or they might buy this stuff for their wives, girlfriends, sisters, cousins, daughters, granddaughters, etc, yeah?

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Adafruit, if you don’t already know, is purveyor of all the flavors of Raspberry Pi. Not knowing it was woman-run, I hit them up for my last Maker project, and now have a Raspberry Pi Zero for my white noise generator. They are also less expensive than buying Pies from an online distributor; buy from the source!

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I think the argument boils down to the idea that you shouldn’t feel good about spending money.

Is it really helpful to feel bad about spending money on a consumer good that might actually bring us a bit of joy in an otherwise depressing world? Is denial of a little personal pleasure helpful in getting us to a fairer, more egalitarian system? If there exists no clear option for a non-capitalist model, is it better to just spend that money on a larger corporation owned by men instead of a corporation that goes to a company owned by women or a minority of any gender instead?

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No, it’s pretty shitty actually. I was very close to writing a fuck that noise response to the OP but I found myself being unable to tell if it was serious. So much hyperbole and purple prose.

So then we should all feel bad all the time, because that will fix it all in the long run? Should we not buy food or live in a house, either, or have health insurance? Should we all just move into the forest and live off the land? Even a few thousand rainbow tribe types showing up in the woods for a week long gathering can have pretty catastrophic local consequences, so there’s that.

My point is that none of us live outside of the system that we didn’t build in the first place. I’m not saying we just be resigned to that, but that dropping out never fixed anything either (and it’s pretty hard to do for any of us, even those of us with means). Then again, buying ethically is often an activity that people of means of privilege can afford to do… There are NO good answers to the problems created by capitalism, if you ask me, and we’re not going to fix it individually. All we can do is try and mitigate the effects and keep pushing for larger systemic changes.

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I agree with you 100%

Buying ethically definitely is a privilege, and even if something was made by people you align with (and that was affordable) there’s so much noise out in the marketplace that finding them might be difficult. Still is a worthwhile goal, I try to support small artists I believe in when I can afford to do so or spread the word.

If anything prefer to follow people rather than products. If someone here has recommendations for kick ass female artists, makers, authors, etc don’t be afraid to share! :smiley: there are a few I follow: Amanda Palmer, Zoe Keating, Melora Creager (from Rasputina), and probably a few other ones… Hmm…

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