Apple has disallowed certain words from being engraved on its iPads. And, worryingly, they all seem to relate to female sexuality, not male. A shocked Radhika Sanghani tests it out and finds an undeniable gender bias
Apple will not let users have the word 'vagina' engraved onto iPads
That same error message pops up if you ask for ‘clit’ or ‘boobs’ to be engraved on your product. But, where female genitalia is deemed inappropriate, male genitalia is not. ‘Penis’ does not bring up any error message at all.
I know this because I just tried it.
No 'inappropriate' message here
I decided to test out this list of words after coming across a blog post by Just Lust. The writer attempted to have her favourite song lyrics engraved onto the iPad - and was duly rebuffed. The song, Witches by Alix Olson, featured the words: “I’ll give myself a lube job, / shake my broomstick til my clit throbs.”
She was told: “This message may contain inappropriate language. Please call 1-800-MY-APPLE.”
That happened in America. But, turns out that the UK site won’t allow it either. Bizarrely, it doesn’t allow ‘boobs’ but will let you have ‘penis’, ‘willy’ and even ‘dick’ engraved on to your tablet. It also allows 'breasts' - but we could easily be talking chicken.
I tried it out using an iPad Mini and lyrics by Azealia Banks. In 212, a song that has been labelled filthy but feminist, she sings: “And fit that tongue tongue d-deep in / I guess that c*** gettin' eaten.”
Okay, so I wasn't that shocked that Apple wouldn't allow the c-bomb to be engraved on its iPad. But when I swapped the lyric to ‘vagina’, it wouldn’t allow that, either. As a last resort, I changed to ‘vulva’, which was finally accepted, as was 'clitoris' - although that ruins the song somewhat.
ext, I tried the line: “What's your dick like homie? / What are you into?” and it went through without a problem. It left me with an uncomfortable feeling that Apple favours male genitalia and pleasure, over female.
It also reminded me of an incident earlier this year, where Apple rejected a female masturbation app from its iTunes store. The HappyPlayTime app was “designed to eliminate the stigma around female masturbation.” But according to the app’s designer, “the concept was not something that Apple [wanted] to go forward with.”
At the time, Apple was accused of sexism and not supporting female sexual pleasure. So, out of interest, I wondered whether I could have the word ‘orgasm’ engraved onto my iPad. To my surprise, it turned out that I couldn’t.
Hmm. Just like ‘vagina’, ‘orgasm’ is a scientific term. It isn’t an inappropriate word in any context. Apple’s decision to ban it from engraving requests is downright bizarre.
But more than that, it also feels gendered. Yes, both men and women can technically orgasm and ejaculate - but colloquially, the term ‘orgasm’ tends to be associated with women. So, dutifully, I typed 'ejaculate' into the search box, expecting to be told this was also 'inappropriate'.
I wasn't. The engraving request went through, no problem.
I contacted Apple for an explanation, but at the time of publication, hadn’t received a reply. It means I’m left guessing as to whether the company is operating a deliberate policy, or whether there's some sort of error. Either way, it feels uncomfortable that so many words associated with female sexuality are rejected, while all those commonly associated with men are fine.
And it seems like social media agrees. After reading about Just Lust’s experience, Twitter users have already accused the company of sexism, using the hashtag #MyClitMyChoice.
It isn’t the first time Apple has been accused of sexism. Apart from criticism over the female masturbation app in May, there was a bigger controversy in 2011 when Siri - the voice-activated command software for iPhones - was launched. Siri has a female voice. When users asked the software about male oral sex, it came up with suggestions for escort services. But when female oral sex was discussed? Nothing.
It led journalist Amanda Marcotte to write: “Siri behaves much like a retrograde male fantasy of the ever-compliant secretary: discreet, understanding, willing to roll with any demand a man might come up with, teasingly accepting of dirty jokes. Oh yeah, and mainly indifferent to the needs of women.”
I’m not sure I’d go quite that far with Apple’s engraving service. But it clearly has a male bias.
Dr Christine Welch, of the Centre for Gender Studies at the University of Winchester, says: "It sounds to me quite gendered. It's effectively saying it's OK to use some words that are about the male body and not the female body. What if you wanted to give it to someone as a present saying, 'Well done for the Vagina Monologues?'"
She points out that words like 'clit' are acceptable on a Scrabble board, so why not an iPad? But more than just being unfair, says Dr Welch: "I think it's quite problematic. A vagina is just as natural as a man's penis. It tallies with the idea that women's bodies can't be talked about."
So, if anything, Apple's approach - deliberate, or not - highlights a larger problem when it comes to our relationship with gender and genitalia.
Christina Hopkinson, author of The A-List Family, agrees.
She says: “They’re reflecting this historic sexism in our language - that we have been unable to talk about female genitalia, but fine when it comes to men’s. What’s interesting isn’t that they’ve done it, but probably haven’t noticed. Whoever’s designed the software is either a man, or a woman who’s so brainwashed and immune to inbuilt sexism that she hasn't even realised.”
Well, the issue is finally being raised. Now Apple has a chance to change this ‘historic sexism’. By allowing ‘vagina’, ‘vaginal’, ‘clit’ and ‘orgasm’ - even 'boobs' for God's sakes - onto its engraving system, the company can make a wider statement about equality. Simply, that there's nothing 'inappropriate' about our bodies: male, or female.
Don't even think about trying to have these words engraved on your iPad
Clit
Vagina
Vaginal
Boobs
Orgasm
C***
Appropriate words:
Penis
Dick
Willy
Ejaculate
Breasts
Vulva
Clitoris
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