AIBU about gender segregation of annuals in WH Smith?

[Catsize]

I think that MN is getting to my inner core.

Photo was taken today in a lovely market town branch of WH Smith. Went in with my partner and 3yr old daughter to see weird subliminal messaging in the display of annuals.

If you are a girl, you'll be interested in the 'Disney Princess, Frozen, pink Paw Patrol(!!), MLP, Beauty and the Beast' shelf.
If you're a boy, you'll be interested in 'Star Wars, Minecraft, Doctor Who, blue Paw Patrol(!!) and Lego Ninjago'.

I've a 5yr old boy and 3yr old girl who like a mixture of these things but the subliminal messaging won't be lost on them.
Tempted to send them an email but want to know if I would be unreasonable in doing so.

My partner stopped me from rearranging the shelves there and then (I felt slightly entitled as I worked there as a teenager).

[Catsize]

Should say - the email would be for the shop, not my children - obviously!

[taratill]

Just buy your kids the annuals they would like! My daughter is happier with Starwars than My Little Pony so I just buy her one of those.

It's like the John Lewis clothing, I don't really get it, if your daughter wants to wear boys clothes or your son wants to wear a skirt they can do so without having a specific gender fluid range.

Coincidentally I was in Waterstones today and I thought that some of the new girls books were really cool/ not too girly.

[Babypythagorus]

Email. I always do, it's the only way they'll change. It is small, but it does all matter. Also - shame them on Twitter! @everydaysexism etc

[taratill]

babypythagorus genuinely can't see how this is sexist. It would be sexist if you were prevented to buy the annual you want because you are a boy or a girl but they are not doing that?

[NevilleBennett]

I can't see what's wrong about it. They're separated by type, but not by gender. I can't see a sign saying "girls here". It's just suggesting that if you like Princess you might also want to look at the other similar ones.

Yes, some children might like Princess and Star Wars, but many won't.

[ememem84]

I don't see the issue here. There are no signs noting "boys" and "girls" they're just by type or as someone said above "if you like this you might like this"

Just buy the ones you want to buy.

[MargaretTwatyer]

They don't say 'boys' and 'girls'. They have simply sorted them in a way which will make it easier for customers to find what they want.

[HoofWankingSpangleCunt]

Really folks? You don't see the issue. Gawd help us

[FrustratedTeddyLamp]

Unless you didn't get the boys / girls sign in the picture you're being silly. This just makes it easier to find things as it's sorted by type it'd be a lot harder if the different types were mixed together

[PassiveAgressiveQueen]

Tweet the photo to lettoysbetoys

[Rachie1973]

Its a shelf of books. They're organised by type.

People do like to make a fuss over nothing.

Actually nothing would aggravate my OCD more than the dark coloured Avengers type books smack in the middle of the pink My Little Pony ones.

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

What's the issue? You just buy the annual/s you want surely.

[iammargesimpson]

Weird subliminal messaging? What? All I see are annuals on a shelf! Yabu.

[taratill]

Good grief the extension of this would make shopping a nightmare, I'm always in a hurry if all boys and girls clothes had to be mixed together and toys for that matter it would be a nightmare.

I have no issue with buying boys things for my daughter who prefers them, I just go to the boys section. No problem.

[FrustratedTeddyLamp]

hoof

There are no signs indicating they are for boys or girls just grouped together by type it's OPs assumption and own opinion that some are boys and some are girls and they are all grouped together. The shop itself has no indication of who it's for

[DeleteOrDecay]

It's like the John Lewis clothing, I don't really get it, if your daughter wants to wear boys clothes or your son wants to wear a skirt they can do so without having a specific gender fluid range.

The problem is that once kids get to a certain age, they are aware that some things are marketed at girls and other things are marketed at boys. Even if they like the design of clothes of the opposite sex, many won't want to wear them because kids receive messages daily, through tv shows, marketing etc that reinforces the message that x is for boys and y is for girls and that there is something wrong with them if they deviate from these 'norms'.

[Aeroflotgirl]

Nope didn't see an issue. Buy the annual you want.

[SpareChangeDownTheSofa]

As someone who works in a shop, we have a ''shelf map''. This is compulsory and must be followed (if someone comes in to check we can be fined for having things stocked wrongly) as brands pay to have their stocked in particular places on shelves i.e eye level etc.

This could be the same in the shop - please don't rearrange as it just means a shop staff member will have to come and put it all back to the way they're told to.

[rwalker]

nothing to do with gender all the same type of annuals are together .All the disney ,all the star wars When you mechanised a shop you put all the same things/themes together. in adsa they wouldn't put oranges in with a box of lettuce would you .there is no massive sign on a blue shelf with picture of a boy .This is equality struggles to move on due to people looking for issues that aren't there.

[AssassinatedBeauty]

They're not arranged by type, otherwise the two Paw Patrol ones would be together. They're arranged by someone at that WH Smith's idea of sex-based stereotypes, rather than alphabetically, or by topic, or by tv show, etc etc. It's subtle, it's not as bad as it has been in the past but it still isn't up to the job.

The conclusions drawn in the BBC two part show about sex-based stereotyping and how it harms all our children don't seem to have reached far enough or wide enough yet! We should be emphasising similarity not creating artificial differences for young children.

[Hotpinkangel19]

Does it really matter????

[butterfly56]

[Runaways01]

This is ridiculous, it doesn't even say 'boys' and 'girls', they've just put similar types of annuals together so you can easily find something you like.

So you would prefer they were spread around randomly? Should WH Smith start randomly arranging all their fiction books rather than separating them into crime, chicklit, horror etc?

[AssassinatedBeauty]

They could do it alphabetically by show/topic, not exactly a tricky or unusual way to put books on a shelf. No need for it to be randomised which would clearly make shopping trickier!

[Aeroflotgirl]

Some people have too much time on their hands.