Masculine Spam?
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
I receive a lot of spam. Gmail filters it out pretty well, but I have this OCD problem with seeing that I have unread messages, even if they are in the spam folder. I clear out my spam folder almost daily, just to get rid of that annoying nagging feeling.
I've noticed that most spam is geared towards men. Maybe it's just that most spam is geared towards sex and most sex is geared towards men. But anyway, here's a small sampling.
More inches and more force - Your gf is liable to go out of her skull when she sees your new huge wand!
SPECIAL Pharmacy Discount! 10Viagra+10Cializ=$69.99, You pay & we ship, No questions asked
Anxiety, depression and low self-esteem have no chance against a big penis and rockhard erections that last much longer than before.
We have you been, honey?
Then there are the ambiguous, gender-neutral messages, although they still seem somewhat masculine (career and status), but could really be aimed at both men and women.
blaming for LOW salary/wages? with our Dip1oma/Degree/MasteerMBA, You will get good offer
Swiss Branded Watches from $206, save you $5000-15000+ for any brands, No.1 Swiss QualityRep1ica
And finally, here's the one type of spam that I get that I think it probably aimed at women.
Lose weight with this miracle supplement
Isn't it funny how the internet defines men by their sexual prowess and women by their body type? I guess it's a good thing that spam focuses on stereotypes. It's easier to ignore that way.
And now I'm going to go dump my spam folder.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 6:51:00 AM CST
Although surely enough of it must work to for them to continue using the methods?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 8:51:00 AM CST
Could it be spam is geared towards the village idiots among us?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 10:14:00 AM CST
I've thought about posting about this same thing. It seems like more than 80% of the spam I get is about products to improve the girth or performance of one's masculine organ, and the remaining ones are mostly for fake Swiss watches or fake diplomas. I haven't seen the weight loss ones or anything that appears geared specifically to women and not men.
What does it mean??? Are women less likely to try to solve their problems by clicking on spam?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 12:52:00 PM CST
I feel so embarrassed for the entire male gender every time I see those damn Enzyte ads with that idiot BOB!
And these ads and your spam MUST be working because they obviously have the money to fund a LOT of it.
For a guy to fall for these, they would have to be both ignorant and insecure.
The ignorant part doesn't surprise me. There are lots of ignorant people in the world, both men and women.
The huge number of insecure men does surprise me. My only guess is that this is a result of the internet age where guys have easier access to porn which can give you unrealistic body-image expectations....much like women who look at abnormally skinny models and think they are supposed to look like that.
Anyway, on behalf of men everywhere, I sincere apologize for our idiocy. :)
(On a related subject, check out the site www.spamusement.com sometime)
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 8:49:00 PM CST
I feel so embarrassed for the entire male gender every time I see those damn Enzyte ads with that idiot BOB!
Hear, hear! That guy makes me want to hurl.
Friday, January 9, 2009 at 2:42:00 PM CST
Spam really doesn't cost much. Almost anybody responding would make a profit.
My "favorite" is the "we guarantee you will sleep with a lonely married woman this weekend!!!!!"
Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 2:03:00 AM CST
Relevant.
My theory is that 90% or more of spammers are male, so you get this bias.
It's sad... I know three people that I consider friends that were taken by online scams. One sent his MacBook to England in an Ebay escrow scam, a woman I know embezzled over $60k from my company and sent it to Nigeria, and another fell for this newer low-interest secured loan scam.
Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 2:04:00 AM CST
HTML dint take...
1 month of spam
Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 10:23:00 PM CST
I get those types of spam, too. Gradually the spam filter catches them--but then there's always "new" stuff.
Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 1:43:00 PM CST
Sean: Yeah, it only takes a few. I imagine they don't cost anything at all.
Paul: Yep. But women are stereotypically easier to trick. Why not prey upon more women? Or is that just the Nigerian bank/lover trick that seems to pay off?
CL: Or the thought is that fewer women use the internet. But I was under the impression that no one thought that anymore.
Vistaluna: No reason to apologize for me. Who says that the spammers aren't women? Maybe they're having a good laugh over it as they're making some money.
Thanks for the link too. Pretty funny!
Chappy: Yeah, Bob creeps out every guy I've ever talked to. Who would want to be either Bob or his "female friends"?
Venjanz: Thanks for the link to 1 month of spam. It's pretty much what I see. I've never tried official stats on my spam folder before.
PBS: GMail does a good job of filtering. I rarely get spam outside my spam folder, but it just takes one time and they pick it up. Most of the spam I get these days has no text, just a link to a site that's probably going to install spyware/viruses. I never click.