I'm apparently not the only one who has a problem with this. Visit http://www.wired.com/news/news/email/tip/culture/story/14585.html for an interesting article on the topic. The article quotes the CEO of New World Technologies, Jonathan Glaser, as saying that there's a "category of people who find it inappropriate."

One wonders what this "category of people" is. Is it the women who are tired of being dissed that find it inappropriate? From discussions I've had with some of our authors (male and female), I also know there was a big uproar about this on the PalmPilot listserv. I'd give you the URL to go check it out, but it appears that references to this topic didn't make into the archive.

I'm aware that Brave Palm is positioned as a "lifestyle" type publication and that the Palm organizers are applicable to a wonderful array of activities outside the business world. But I also happen to know that according to numbers we brought home from the Palm Developer Conference last year, 61% of PalmPilot users are professional people. A lot of those people are women. I know I speak for a number of them when I say we don't want to be sold to in this way.

In an essay about sexual harassment in her book, Miss Manners Rescues Civilization, Judith Martin says, "Gestures that call attention to the gender of some workersÉundermine their professional identity".

I'm not necessairly trying to make a case that Brave Palm is sexually harassing, but as a professional who uses and writes about the PalmPilot, I feel that this form of "lifestyle" portrayal attempts to subtly undermine the professionalism of women PalmPilot users. It's just another way to make us feel uncomfortable, to make us feel as if we don't belong or aren't wanted in business situations. And it really pisses me off.

Speaking of etiquette
Don't think I want to beat up on Brave Palm alone. After running what we thought was a cute, lighthearted article on PalmPilot social etiquette a few months ago, I received an email from a woman who complained that the article (and by extension, the magazine) was too male-biased. I had to take a look at that criticism honestly. The article really was a "guy's eye view". It should have included examples from a woman's point of view, as well. Mea culpa!

I was glad to have received that email. I want to make PalmPower friendly to all our readers. If anyone has any suggestions or concerns, please don't hesitate to send email to wecare@palmpower.com.

Lessons learned
At PalmPower, our job isn't to preach but to teach. So for me to just stand here and vent may make me feel better, but doesn't contribute to the solution.

I'm going to assume that the makers of Brave Palm had the best of intentions. There's no reason to assume otherwise. They obviously invested a considerable amount of money to support a platform we all love. So I'm going to assume they're simply missing the point. I'd like to help those misdirected marketing moguls understand how to sell the benefits of the Palm platform without selling half the population out.