Remember that scene in 40 Year Old Virgin where Steve Carell gets ready to masturbate by lighting a bunch of candles and turning on some mood music? When I saw it, I didn’t get the joke and someone had to explain to me that it’s funny because this is how women pleasure themselves, and Steve Carell is a guy.
Since then I’ve been kind of fascinated by the mores of masturbation among men and women. So it struck me as noteworthy that Firefox employs 2 features that seem to accommodate both the classically male and female approaches to self-pleasure.
The “Clear Recent History” feature (inexplicably found under Tools, not History) is decidedly masculine. It’s like the tissue torn too late from its box. The deed has been done, all that’s left is to shamefully try and clean up the mess you’ve made. It’s a feature designed for spontaneous outbursts of onanism.
In contrast, Firefox’s “Begin Private Browsing” feature has a more feminine touch. It requires thoughtful foresight - it’s the internet equivalent of closing your silk curtains or softly locking the door of your bedroom before you dim the lights and get down to it.
PS: I enjoyed reading Mozilla’s reminder that pornography is just one of many illicit use cases for these features:
Many people believe that the primary use case for private browsing mode is viewing pornography. While viewing pornography may be a popular use case due to the nature of content on the Web, assuming that this is the only reason that users need private browsing trivializes the overall feature. For instance, users may wish to begin a private browsing session to research a medical condition, or plan a surprise vacation or birthday party for a loved one. Use cases will range from users cheating on their spouse, to users buying engagement rings. Given the breadth of our user base, specific use cases are likely to be extremely varied.
