Today we are giving thanks for small gains on the gender front, in the form of an admission from household product makers that men, in fact, are capable of buying and using soaps and detergents and cleansers and cleaners and powders and pastes and waxes and bleaches. The New York Times has the scoop in a story about a new book called Clean Like a Man:

Men, in fact, are on the radar of the cleaning products industry. "Today, more and more men are participating in home care," said Carol Berning, a consumer psychologist working with product development at Procter & Gamble. "It's generational. As we talk with younger families and empty nesters, we speak with more and more men."

Berning claims that more and more ads are being directed at men -- something that I haven't noticed -- that makes me a bit warm and fuzzy on the inside. Still, the undercurrent behind all this remains that men are more or less idiots around the house and are ideal consumers for new, idiot-proof products (think pre-measured laundry soap and single-use duster). But given my past rants on the subject, I'll chalk this one up to the forces of progress.