Crowdsourcing

Since Aristotle, there has been a sense that social freedom and equality are linked to the "rule of the many" and to this day ideals of democracy remain largely based on majority consensus.

So if you present a problem to a vast number of people and ask for their opinion and input in creating solutions, isn't that the utopia we're all striving for in so many different ways?

Enter Crowdsourcing.

Shortlist is from Mars, Stylist is from Venus

I like to think that I’m a woman. I’ve got all the right biological bits, pink was my favourite colour when I was a girl and no one has ever complained about me ticking the “female” box on a form.

But there are times of confusion: like when I walk to the London tube on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

On Wednesdays, someone tends to offer me the free magazine Stylist, which I studiously avoid because I know from previous experience that my book of the moment is likely to entertain me more. On Thursdays, I have to corner the nearest vendor and pull the free Shortlist from their hands in order to enjoy the one morning read that distracts me from my book of the moment.

I love Shortlist, but it always causes a twinge of gender confusion because the magazine is blatantly targeted at MEN. The magazines are partnered and mirror each other in many ways, but one is blatantly intended for women and the other is for men.

So I thought I would pick up both magazines this week and find out what a “real woman” or “real man” should be.