Changing culture, one gamerscore at a time.

Do you ever look for stuff online? Presents, stuff for yourself, and other things? I did a post on odd recommendations like this earlier this year. But in this case it’s not an annoying, simply quite hilarious, as if you look at the stuff Lex and myself tend to enjoy, you’ll find she buys from the boyfriend pile, whilst my tastes verge on the girlfriend pile. Surreal, isn’t it?

She’s into games, big time, she loves her mp3 player, and she’s very into the automotive industry (along with its associated, shiny, and very expensive products). Me on the other hand? I read Audrey Niffeneger, I have around ten different bags, and I think heart-shaped jewelry is adorable. But as far as I’m aware I’m not a woman.

I suppose it’s part of the growing change in our perceptions of what does and doesn’t constitute masculinity and femininity. What’s weirder still is that we’re still inundated with antique ideals in the form of books like “Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus.” Are you kidding? Have you seen Hilary Clinton? The day she was compared to her husband in that press conference, I almost hid behind a pillow. That is one angry, angry lady, and I’m pretty sure anger is a emotion of a certain war-mongering Martian patron.

On the other hand, I think men are steadily becoming more and more divided between feminine and masculine. Of course, geeks like myself still proudly sit “outside the circle,” as it were, but there is a growing difference. On the one hand, you’ve now got foppish young lads with pointy shoes and jeans that look like they were painted on. On the other, you’ve got what I like to call “BLOKES, YER?” – a stunning display of raw masculinity and aggression contained in a Burberry and Reebok Classic package.

I suppose for shops and online markets like eBay, Amazon etc, it’s simply a balancing act of stereotypes versus actual cultural demographics. I’d say we’re leaning towards a divided society, with Artic Monkeys-loving, romance-reading, TopShop wearing humans on one end (in London, anyway), and Halo-playing, page-3-of-the-Sun-obsessed, beer-swilling contemporary Vikings. It sucks to generalise so much, and I’m aware there are exceptions, but I’m beginning to wonder if, in a few years, we’re simply going to have a men’s section of Amazon that sells videogames, pornography and sandwiches, and then the women’s section bare because THEY DUNT YOOZ THE INTERWEBS.

*flounces off to read about Jaqueline Wilson, middle finger firmly poised in the direction of his Die Hard collection*

I bought it to see Kevin Smith, all right? Don’t look at me like that.