Has this been done? Sexist laundry label.

[AnnieLobeseder]

I follow A Girl's Guide to Taking Over the World on Facebook (and I recommend it highly), and today they had posted a picture of this

Has this been covered on here before?

The link on FB gives details on how to contact the customer services department of the company:
0208 952 8801

or

[email protected]

I think an email will be winging its way to them from me along the lines of "substitute 'woman' for 'black person' and see if it's still funny".

It's so sad how sexism seems to be the last socially acceptable 'ism'. So many women on that FB page though it was hilarious and couldn't understand what the uptight feminists were upset about.

[AnnieLobeseder]

OK, I've done more research (sorry, was sloppy not researching before posting) and the clothing is actually made by a company called Grip King, Madhouse just sell them.

[JosephineCD]

Why give it attention? That's the purpose of a label like that.

[AnnieLobeseder]

Because I don't see the point in Shutting TF Up when confronted by sexist bullshit, basically. You can't ignore misogynistic issues an hope they go away. What would that achieve?

[AnxiousPanxious]

I think that label occupies the difficult territory where it is so obviously a joke to make your jaw drop, but of course some (a few?) people won't get the irony...therefore it can't really be allowed, even though it's made many people laugh and think.
Tricky.

[sandyballs]

'A girls guide to taking over the world' - why should girls take over the world?

[AnnieLobeseder]

sandyballs - perhaps not the best title in the world, but they post good stuff.

[AnnieLobeseder]

Anxious - I think that if we lived in a society where no-one was really of the opinion that laundry is women's work, it would indeed be a joke. But as long as it's "funny cos it's true", it's not funny at all IMO.

Co-incidentally, a friend of mine's DH put his back out doing laundry today, and when he went to the doctor, he was asked why he was doing laundry in the first place.

[ScorpionQueen]

That's a bit sexist isn't it? Surely girls, boys, men and women should be sharing the world equally- as in equality?

[AnnieLobeseder]

Yes, OK, point taken, I didn't invent the group! It's about feminist activism, though street art, yarn bombing, and just plain old posting links to feminist issues. A Girls Guide to Reclaiming the World, would be better, perhaps someone will suggest it to the creators.

[JosephineCD]

I think feminism should be starting from the top down, not the bottom up, because getting upset about things like this just makes feminists look humourless. It's a joke. Very few people today have the opinion that laundry is "women's work". You might as well be getting upset about Yorkie being the chocolate bar that is "only for men".

[AnnieLobeseder]

Well, I still don't see why we would sit back and accept a 'joke' that wouldn't be acceptable if any group of people other than women were printed on that label. But then I'm of the opinion that you'll never get anywhere tackling the 'top', big issues of feminism unless you deal with the little issues at the bottom that insidiously dehumanise, demoralise and sexualise women daily, because these are the issues that are the cornerstone of how women are valued by society.

[JosephineCD]

Women are not a "group of people" in the same way that black people are.

It because that laundry is not womens work anymore, that the label was put on there. If it still was, it wouldn't be a joke.

I think some feminists really need to find some self awareness and realise how others see them. Getting upset about really petty examples of sexism just makes it easy to be ridicule, especially as there are just as many examples of minor anti-male sexism nowadays. It's the big stuff that people take seriously, and the big stuff that has no anti-male equivalent.

[LapsusLinguae]

JosephineCD - I assume that you are not JosephineB from this thread

So I will repeat what she posted there:



Quote:

'... the idea that addressing "the little things," like being told to smile or misogynistic t-shirts, somehow demeans feminism or distracts from "real" or "serious" sexism is utterly, completely, devilishly wrong.

Feminism seeks to address all manner of issues, big and small. That women can (and do) utilize the tenets of feminism in every aspect of their lives does not undermine the history of the feminist movement, but instead does it a great honor. Feminism was never meant to be restricted to suffrage and equal pay, held in reserve like a finite quantity that could run out if it's used for "the little things." Feminism is a renewable resource.

The idea that feminism should be kept under glass, broken only in case of a "real" and "serious" emergency, is predicated on the erroneous assumption that "the little things" happen in a void, as do, presumably, the "real" and "serious" things, when, in reality, they are interwoven strands of the same rope. And as soon as one begins to judge the worthiness of feminists' attention on a sliding scale, even generally-regarded "serious issues" like equal pay are dwarfed by global concerns like sex trafficking or government-sanctioned use of rape as a tool of war. It doesn't have to be one or the other?feminists can multi-task.

And, in a very real way, ignoring "the little things" in favor of "the big stuff" makes the big stuff that much harder to eradicate, because it is the pervasive, ubiquitous, inescapable little things that create the foundation of a sexist culture on which the big stuff is dependent for its survival. It's the little things, the constant drumbeat of inequality and objectification, that inure us to increasingly horrible acts and attitudes toward women.

Irrespective of intent, the recommendation to "ignore the little stuff," so often intertwined with accusations of looking for things about which to get offended, is not just ill-advised, but counter to the ultimate goal of full equality. It's like a knife in my gut when I see feminists accusing other feminists of "hurting the cause" by focusing on "the little stuff," because that's It?that's the stuff, that's the fertile soil in which everything else takes root and from whence everything else springs, that's the way that the fundamental idea that women are not equal to men is conveyed over and over and over again.'

[LapsusLinguae]

You might as well be getting upset about Yorkie being the chocolate bar that is "only for men". - yes that is also sexist and upsetting.

[LapsusLinguae]

- my emoticon above was meant to be as whilst I do love a Yorkie bar myself find it sexist and upsetting it doesn't warrant a face

[AnnieLobeseder]

JosephineCD - at risk of repeating myself: if we lived in a society where no-one was really of the opinion that laundry is women's work, it would indeed be a joke. But as long as it's "funny cos it's true", it's not funny at all IMO.

Many, many do still think laundry is women's work. Sadly, 'their wimmin' accept this too. That is why this 'joke' is not funny.

[sunshineandbooks]

Of course women are a group the same way black people are a group. The defining characteristic for the former is the female sex just as the defining characteristic for the latter is the colour of their skin. There is no universal experience for black people any more than there is for women. Both comprise many individuals with all the difference that encompasses, but what will have most influence on their life outcomes is the defining characteristic - sex or skin colour. Of course, if you don't believe that women's life chances are affected by the simple fact they are women, that's fair enough. But you would be wrong.

[skrumle]

"It because that laundry is not womens work anymore, that the label was put on there. If it still was, it wouldn't be a joke. "

really?? when did it stop being women's work - was a memo put out explaining the date it was decided and that's when the jokes started?

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Loads of people still think laundry is women's work, especially in countries that don't have such good [insert snarky comment here] records for women's rights as the UK.

Even right here in the UK, I know plenty of men - and used to date one - who, with no irony, felt laundry was women's work. Of course, they joked about it down the pub and would have enjoyed this label. Possibly you wouldn't realize, until you got to know them, that for them that joke isn't funny because of its post-modern irony or something - it's funny because (for them) it's funny to joke about women and domesticity. It's funny, and it's true.

Next time you hear someone joking about this sort of stuff, take a minute to consider whether they might actually believe it too - I think it happens much more than some of us would like to believe.