I'm furious about a remark made at a UU conference I attended not long ago. Our UU legislative ministry has made an app for iPhone and iPad, which, according to the spokesperson, "is easy enough that even your grandmother can use it."

WTF???

The comment, in just a few words, was able to incorporate a stereotype about older people (we don't understand/can't use technology); a denigration of women (notice that it's grandmother, not grandfather); and I guess some sort of allusion to having given birth.

I take it personally, since I have always been an early adopter. I drifted away from Apple products early on because my workplace was exclusively IBM. Early in the development of the products, they didn't talk to each other, and users were forced to make a choice.

I have since, thanks in great part to Kramer (see astrofish.net), come back to Apple via iPhone and iPad, and I couldn't be happier.

No, I did not need somebody's grandchild to teach me how to use them. Though I do confess to occasional bafflement with less-than-user-friendly moments. However, my skill level has nothing to do with my age or my ovaries, and everything to do with lack of recent familiarity with Apple products.

Even your grandmother can use one...the very idea!