"Supermanket" and an excess of "quotation marks"

[firecat]

http://mashable.com/2012/09/17/supermanket/

Here's an article about a heterosexual dating site where men sign up as "products," declaring themselves to have certain characteristics (for example: Flavor: Intellectual; Packaging: Skater;
Bonus Pack: Vegetarian) and women sign up as "clients" to "browse" and "buy" the "products." The idea is pitched as giving women more control over dating. I have heard that on most het dating sites, women rarely contact men, so I guess this is also an attempt to overcome that tendency.

I think the buy/sell metaphor is really offensive.

But the first thing I thought when I heard about the site was "Whee, now there's another online store where I can put things in my cart and not buy them."

A lot of the comments on the article say "OMG, can you imagine what people would say if there were a Superwomanket?" I guess the people saying that have never typed "escorts" into a search engine.

Comments

[sasha_feather]

Superwomanket

Is Superwoman on it?

[mama-hogswatch.livejournal.com]

Yes, treating people as things is always, always offensive. How awful and degrading.

[ckd]

"And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."

Granny Weatherwax gets it right again.

[mama-hogswatch.livejournal.com]

*grin* Exactly.

[sabotabby]

Well, I for one want an executive Pokemon who's a dying millionaire. And how else am I going to find him?

(Seriously, fucking gross.)

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

Their booth at TechCrunch was right next to our CNBC live shot position. It was creepy.