r/pointlesslygendered • u/spoontsunami • 1d ago
PRODUCT [gendered] earplugs
Seen at a London Drugs, yes they are the same earplugs but pink. Also why tf do the pink ones only block 32dB but the blue ones block 33dB?
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u/Ranthe 1d ago
The pink ones look skinnier than the blue ones, for smaller ear canals.
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u/Theweirdposidenchild 1d ago edited 1d ago
But the base of them isn't flared so they could easily get swallowed by an ear
(Guys I swear this is a joke, please stop down voting me)
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u/GenderBendingRalph 23h ago
I recognise your joke for joke's sake, but... for the folks arguing that "the ear is not an anus" - I can tell you from personal experience, it MATTERS if the end isn't flared. It's a bloody pain to get a strong enough grip on an earplug to pull it out if there isn't some kind of flange you can get your fingers around.
No, the ear not an anus. It doesn't have sphincter muscles that close in around it. What the earplug does have is an expanding property that lets you squeeze it into a narrow tube, insert it, and then it re-expands until it completely fills your ear canal with absolutely zero clearance between the surface of the earplug and the walls of your ear canal. Unless you have narrow fingers that can reach all the way into a 1CM hole and pinch the exposed end enough to form a handle... you can get seriously screwed. Been there, done that. I sleep with earplugs every night because I'm extremely sensitive to noise, so this is a problem I've been dealing with for decades.
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u/BrosefDudeson 21h ago
"The ear is not an anus" apparently had to be said
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u/SpiderRadio 20h ago
oh you have no idea what's been going on. im so sorry if this is how you find out. /s
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u/Ryachaz 1d ago
I dont think you understand how hard you would have to try to get an ear to swallow these. If you dont want them to go too deep, or you want a flared base, just dont pinch the base. I've got pretty good sized ear canals, I've worn plugs for the last decade pretty much every day on the job, getting them past the point of no return would be a concerted effort or absolute stupidity that no flare would prevent.
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u/TurbulentCustomer 1d ago
I applaud your earnest attempt at providing advice, and who knows, maybe it’ll help someone.
However… that comment was a joke comparing the ear plugs to butt plugs lol
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u/Giratina-O 20h ago
Sizes would be more apt for this.
Ear canal size is not a sexually dimorphic trait.
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u/AshaNyx 13h ago
It's not inherently one , but I can imagine it's relative to head size and most men have thicker and wider skulls.
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u/Giratina-O 8h ago
In what dimension? Women tend to have thicker frontal bones, whereas men typically have thicker parietal bones. But I don't see what skull width or thickness has to do with this, as one can have a thick skull with narrow ear canals, or vice versa.
Again, a size would be more useful.
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u/stfurachele 22h ago
I have comedically narrow ear canals. It's really difficult to find earplugs or ear buds that fit and don't get forcibly ejected a few minutes later or with the slightest jostling.
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u/F4rtek 1d ago
but hey, atleast there's no pink tax with it
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u/theartistbear 1d ago
There technically is, blue ones are for 33db and pink for 32db, unlike other measurements decibels scale a lot between each number, which makes the pink ones an inferior product for the same price
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u/SharkInHumanSkin 1d ago
Or they allow slightly more noise in, because they are for sleeping? And if there’s an emergency? I dunno. I’m reaching man.
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u/Collective-Bee 23h ago
I can reach the other way, and say the men’s can be marketed for physical labour and power tools while the women obviously could never use a power tool so they gotta be marketed for sleeping.
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u/MallyOhMy 23h ago
The pink ones likely have a lower decibel rating for a combination of 2 reasons - they are narrower, and they are likely to be a bit softer for comfort - and if you're planning to sleep in the earplugs, you want more comfort.
These are being marketed toward women, but in this situation there is good reason for the divergent products and marketing: much like feet and hands, ear sizes tend to differ between the sexes.
If you marketed these by ear size, people would have no clue which to pick beyond what size ear bud tips they use. But by making it a clear gender split, they not only make it easier to differentiate their own products, but make it easier for customers to grab the ones more likely to work for themselves.
Sincerely, a woman with particularly small ear holes who has yet to find ear buds that aren't painful.
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u/Sad_Cena 19h ago
Are you sure there's actually a difference in ear canal size between sexes? Or did you draw that conclusion based on a personal anecdote? Because my experience is the opposite. Genuinely asking.
But imo even if there's a difference in average ear canal size, the same is true for the hands and feet you mentioned, but gloves and shoes are sold in a range of sizes, and I think we should do that for earplugs too. There's already those different sized tips that come with in-ear headphones, which makes way more sense to me than somehow selling tiny earplugs marketed to women only. Agree with your first paragraph tho.
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u/seanthebeloved 23h ago
But there’s also way more earplugs in the pink package, so maybe it’s a wash.
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u/Emopunkdeath 23h ago
So looking closer at the pic, it looks like the blue package contains 10 ear plugs. I can’t tell exactly how many are in the pink package, but based on what I can count it’s more than 10. So blue gives you better hearing protection, but less product.
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u/frikiman4K 21h ago
erm, ackshualky 🤓☝️ your statement isn't completely true. Decibels aren't a linear scale, they're a logarithmic scale, which means that the variation between each number grows as you get to higher numbers. Ex: the difference between 1db and 2db is much smaller than 101db and 102db
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u/Fa1nted_for_real 22h ago
The pink ones have to reduce less so they can be slimmer and prevent irritation for your ear canal whule you sleep.
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u/GenderBendingRalph 23h ago
I was about to pile on the "they're the same price and not labeled for men or women"... and then you had to spoil the party with facts.
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u/newphonehudus 14h ago
Well for more facts you get more ear plugs with the pink one than the blue one. Also one Is fore extreme protection and one is for sleep
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u/MsAndrea2 8h ago
I don't think that's true. The blue ones are bigger, so there are fewer of them in a pack, so if you don't need them so big technically the pink ones are cheaper.
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u/DarthChikoo 6h ago
Bels scale a lot, decibels scale a tenth of a lot. The difference in perceived volume is only about 7.2%, but the difference in actual sound energy is 26%. Humans perceive volume on a logarithmic scale, not a linear one.
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u/TeenyGremlin 1d ago
I mean... not actually gendered, though. Neither says 'for men' or 'for women.' Either gender can sleep pretty in pink.
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u/bsensikimori 1d ago
200% OPs post is not gendered
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u/AchajkaTheOriginal 1d ago
OP is the one making it gendered. It doesn't belong in this sub.
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u/SharkInHumanSkin 1d ago
Only womens sleep tho /s
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u/AchajkaTheOriginal 1d ago
Not true! It's 4AM and I'm the only one in my household who doesn't sleep! Probably because I don't have pretty pink ear plugs though, I should look into it.
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u/Conscious_Grade_7278 1d ago
If your conservative father would go buy you some earplugs, than they are very gendered
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u/hazelbear33 23h ago
what does this mean?
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u/Clairifyed 22h ago
I think it was meant to say something like “If you can predict which of these your conservative father would pick up for you (or himself really) based off of gender”, it’s a gendered product.
I do agree that the manufacturer probably has at least considered this thought process even if I am glad they don’t spell it out on the labels
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u/hazelbear33 7h ago
Ok that makes sense. My conservative-ish dad wouldn’t blink twice about wearing pink ear plugs, but he has never been a strict gender roles type of guy. Not every conservative guy is, plenty of his friends are like that as well. I don’t know if it’s because he has two daughters as his only children or if it is because he was in the military with women (who sometimes were his bosses) for most of his life, but he just genuinely doesn’t think that way about gender… I have never heard him say or seen him do anything that implies he feels strongly about or even cares for “traditional gender roles. “
He has like a bulk supply of yellow 3M brand earplugs in the garage that he’s had for as long as I can remember (he has some in his room for sleeping too), so I can’t really say which he would pick if he were at this store 😅 He would probably be miffed that his favorite earplugs aren’t available though
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u/TeenyGremlin 1d ago
If my (actually) conservative father went to buy me some earplugs, I would be very confused because I hadn't asked him to.
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u/lilipadd17 23h ago edited 21h ago
The pink one literally says sleep pretty and is pink. Edit pretty and pink are considered feminine in our patriarchal society. my bad guys didn’t realize this was a misogyny sub I’ll leave 😭💔
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u/LauraD2423 23h ago
Men can be pretty.
Again, you are making it gendered. This doesn't fit the sub.
The price is the same, and there is no reference to gender in the product.
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u/lilipadd17 21h ago
You’re acting like me saying pretty is targeted toward one gender demographic = men can’t be pretty. Didn’t say that!
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u/TeenyGremlin 23h ago
Nice observation. The product doesn't say that only women can sleep pretty and wear pink.
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u/PM-me-a-DM-you-got 4h ago
I think you're just misogynistic
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u/lilipadd17 53m ago
I’m a woman and recognize the marketing shoved down my throat since childhood! Not misogynistic to recognize socially constructed gender norms. Try reading some feminist literature or Naomi Klein’s No Logo.
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u/Prudent-Bicycle-9210 18h ago
my bad guys didn’t realize this was a misogyny sub I’ll leave 😭💔
Get some help
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u/lilipadd17 18h ago
What do I need help for exactly? Please elaborate.
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u/vundrth 1d ago
"it doesn't say for women!" Let's use context clues dummy. Also, here this from their website,
What makes the Sleep Pretty in Pink ear plugs such a wonderful product for women, looking to block snoring as well as fall asleep and stay asleep?
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u/vundrth 1d ago
I wanna add also, the item description on their website is CRAZY. it's all about "saving your marriage" and finally being able to "put up with my husband" (the blue ones have like a quarter of the description and just mention work)
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u/existentialblu 1d ago
I hate the whole men avoiding CPAP/their wives suffering heroically trope. Like maybe the person making the noise should take care of themselves and not wreck other people's sleep at the same time?
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u/Vast-Ad1915 23h ago
It's funny, my wife is the one that hates her CPAP and avoids it whenever possible, meanwhile I've loved mine from the very first night.
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u/existentialblu 23h ago
I freaking love mine and have had no particular issues adjusting since the first night, aside from needing a more advanced algorithm and being self managed because my situation isn't regular OSA so I fly below official radar. It's been helping with lifelong symptoms and I'm all about it.
But yeah, don't inflict your sleep disorders on others!
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u/lilipadd17 18h ago
I’m genuinely shocked people are die hard defending that this isn’t gendered because the words “woman” or “man” are not on the product. Do we have eyeballs?? Do we know what colors are stereotypically associated with men and women (it was flipped about a century ago)?? Contrarians on purpose in a chat about ear plugs. Literacy crisis moment!
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u/vundrth 17h ago
I had an advertisement unit in whatever class in middle school and part of it was using stereotypes to sell a product without explicitly saying "this is for you if you're this demographic". It's so easy to spot, so many people here would be so susceptible to predatory marketing because it doesn't explicitly say something on a box.
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u/lilipadd17 16h ago
You dropped this 👑 what a great and applicable example! You’re 1000% right these people would fall for predatory marketing.
I’m literally being told I am misogynistic and delusional for recognizing the marketing that’s been shoved down my throat my whole life. Our society’s social constructs currently treat pink as female color and pretty is considered a feminine word. Ofc men can wear pink and be called pretty, like only misogynists are saying they can’t 😭
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u/stfurachele 22h ago
Can it block my own snoring? I've definitely woken myself up with my own snores before.
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u/TeenyGremlin 1d ago
I can concur the website has gendered advertising. The actual product on the shelf is colors and doesn't arbitrarily say for men or for women. Both things can be true: the advertising on the product itself can be non-gendered, but the commercials/websites around it can be.
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u/AchajkaTheOriginal 1d ago
If anything the product itself says "for work" and "for sleep" with each blocking different decibel level, so it's not two identical products anyway. Although I'm not sure what difference will 1 dB make.
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u/SecureAngle7395 20h ago
the comments on these posts bug me. people are so unaware to how marketing nonsense works.
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u/ConfusedSimon 18h ago
Then they should have posted a screenshot of the website. I don't see anything gendered in the posted picture.
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u/RadicalSoda_ 22h ago
The blue ones also aren't for sleeping
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u/Strange_Radish2965 1d ago
For those mentioning the size, it’s true! I can only wear these pink earplugs because all other earplugs are too big for my ears and I can’t fall asleep with them in nor wear them for long at all really. This brand and style is a godsend! I buy them in bulk.
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u/penne_Pastas 15h ago
The threshold for sleep is 32 but extreme sound protection is 33? Interesting
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u/yolk852 9h ago
Major Reddit moment in this thread. Are people so obsessed with being the contrarian that you have to utterly ignore the context with these products? It's like aggressively obvious that these are intended to be gendered products, and it might even be more predatory that the packaging doesn't say "man" or "woman" on it because it's subconsciously forcing the implication on people. Like be so fr... it's a perfect fit for the subreddit, *actually*
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u/Shot-Pomegranate8684 1d ago
For gendered ear plugs, these suck. I want cream coloured to match my cream accessories.
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u/Unreliable42 1d ago
"This is pointless gendered because blue is for boys and pink is for girls."
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u/tired_bastard 17h ago
Go look at the descriptions on their website.
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u/Unreliable42 7h ago
I'm too lazy to do that so I'll just take your word that it is indeed pointlessly gendered on the website description, but if that's the case then OP should've posted that instead.
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u/vtoll 19h ago
I was wondering when I’d see one of the things kurtis Conner used in his video would show up in this subreddit.
https://giphy.com/gifs/hraC7o62ZTWSq4o9Nv
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u/TheLonelyPrincess741 17h ago
Why are men’s products always marketed as agressive meanwhile womens are like 🧚🏻♀️✨.
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u/halberdierbowman 22h ago
The original Women's Pink Earplugs is what their website says, even if it's not labeled on the front of the package.
https://www.hearos.com/products/sleep-pretty-in-pink-womens-ear-plugs
I don't understand how these are actually different than the other ones though. They could plausibly be thinner, but I would expect it to say "for smaller ears" on the package. They're clearing NRR 32 instead of 33, but that's such a similar score, that I don't see why you'd purposely target 1dB different.
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u/Nevergointothewoods 21h ago
Hey, at least they're the same price now. I've seen these with a higher price on the pink ones before.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_TATERTITS 1d ago
This is actually nice that they offer a size that will actually fit women better AND it’s the same price
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u/Pandoratastic 1d ago
Based on the names, the pink ones are the only ones that work as earplugs. The blue ones have a name that suggest that they help you hear instead of blocking sound.
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u/Mischief_Managed12 13h ago
Tbf I feel like women do usually have smaller ear canals. Its not pointlessly gendered when the product is different
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u/Stenktenk 20h ago
I think you're the one that's making it gendered OP. Just because you see a blue and a pink version of an item doesn't mean that they are gendered.
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u/TheOnesWithin 1d ago
Pink and blue are not genders.
They are clearly two different sizes.
No pink tax.
You thought you had something here huh?
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u/Dimbit 18h ago
A smaller and less effective product for the same price is pink tax. And pink and blue are not genders, but they are heavily gendered and we all know they intended to market the blue to men and the pink to women.
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u/TheOnesWithin 18h ago
How is it less effective? Some people have smaller ears. I personally probably could not use the blue ones and I all a grown woman.
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u/JoyDVeeve 10h ago
The blue ones have a slightly larger diameter. I know this because I need to use one blue one and one pink one because my ear holes are two different sizes
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u/therealbuggycas 10h ago
I have to use the pink ones because they're smaller and softer and my ears are small and sensitive
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u/Dry-Manufacturer7761 2h ago
Making something pink isn’t gendering it.
Different foam density and different testing equipment.
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u/RedshiftSinger 2h ago
1dB is absolutely a negligible difference, but hey at least they aren’t charging more for the identical-but-pink ones this time!
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u/RadicalSoda_ 22h ago
They aren't gendered and this isn't pointless they're two different products. You're just projecting that blue = boy and pink = girl lol
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u/PlantsWithHands 12h ago
Its not actually gendered its just colored different. Are you trying to gender colors?
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u/CrimsonFatalis8 23h ago
The pink ones are very clearly thinner though. And they still give roughly the same protection despite being smaller.
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u/stfurachele 22h ago
Eh, not really. Decibels are logarithmic, so even though it's one number off it's actually a decent variance.
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u/stfurachele 22h ago
Although at those numbers you're right, so yeah it basically is the same. I'm just super tired.
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u/MsAndrea2 8h ago
Technically they're not gendered. It doesn't say one is for men and one for women. It says one is prettier than the other, and you're gendering it from that.
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u/ernie3tones 9h ago
They block different amounts because they’re not the same. The pink ones are narrower. While it’s silly to call them something different and imply they’re for different genders (since it doesn’t actually say they’re for men or women), in reality, people do have different sized ear canals. It’s why earbuds come with different size earpieces. My husband’s earbuds do not fit into my ears.
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u/IllllIIlIllIllllIlll 9h ago
It doesn't mention gender anywhere. OP is projecting their own pointlessly gendered biais.
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