double standard

Anyone heard of Groupon? It's this site where there's a different coupon deal every day, like pay $20 for $50 worth of books at Powell's, for example. You can sign up to pay the $20 or whatever for the groupon, and then if enough other people also want it, you actually get the coupon and use it like normal. If, on the other hand, not enough people want it to make it worthwhile for the company offering it, you don't get charged and you don't get the coupon. It seems like a pretty good deal.

The problem is that all the coupons they email me about are things like "endermologie treatments" (which I learned today are "treatments designed to reduce the appearance of cellulite while tightening and toning the body"), spa treatments, laser-hair removal, and airbrush-tanning sessions. I could really give a shit about that kind of stuff. So I sort of just figured that groupon was a lame deal, since the only companies that offer groupons are stupid vanity things.

Today, however, I got an email from a friend telling me to go buy the newest groupon. Understandably, I was a little confused as to why he would want to endorse an endermologie treamtent--but it turns out that the groupon deal that was emailed to him was actually for a a good deal at a local restaurant. So apparently we're getting different groupons emailed to us. What?

All I can figure is that there are actually a few different potential deals per day, and because I said I was a woman, I get the ones tailored to what they think women want: beauty aids. Is anyone other than me incensed by that? Come on now, do women really need yet another source of media telling them that they're not good enough as is?

So as an experiment, I switched my paltry groupon profile to say that I was a man. We'll see if I get better deals now:)

EDIT 11/15:
My groupons really have been way better! Admittedly, the first one I got--for an oil change--was a bit lame, but since then I've been getting all sorts of fitness and restaurant coupons! Not that I've bought any, but I've been appreciating the possibility of them much more. Clearly, I was meant to be a man--or, at least, the Groupon conception thereof;)