Let's talk about sex toys (well, ads for them on Mumsnet), please

Helen - I think I would have to say any site, actually. Even Ann Summers, which is a little bit more 'mainstream'. But then I suspect it's also a generational thing. The whole sex toy/Ann Summers in the high street seems to be so much more acceptable these days, whereas I'm still always vaguely shocked when I walk past the one in Wimbledon.

tbh I would prefer them to the happy family type ones.

All/any sites that sell items that demean women.

Er, that's probably it for the sex sites.

I don't care about sex aids per se, people can get their jollies however they want, I care that advertising things as mentioned above implies acceptance and condones and normalises the demeaning of women.

To be fair to mn I have seen posts where members have linked to lovehoney to recommend items. Think they really need to review the sex/adult topic again. Afterall any trolls on thee would be far more obvious and less damaging than the current ones that inhabit relationships etc.

To go with the nurse's outfit, perhaps:

Budget priced smooth plastic speculum with 6 stages of opening right up to a width of 6.5 inches. And it glows in the dark too!

Like the Glow In The Dark Pussy Opener Speculum? You might also like:

Medical Play Metal Hole Spreader

Only £79.99

Stainless Steel 100cc Enema Syringe

Only £34.99

Kinklab Forceps With Rubber Tips

I took great exception to the ads being on the Relationships board. I thought I wouldn't mind them being on Chat, but actually I found that I did.

I'm aware that this may seem prudish, but it's not for me. Particularly now I know more about what is on that site.

The baby diapers are particulkarly attractive. I think they'd double as a shower cap.

MNHQ - you have a fab brand here, strong women talking and discussing and rowing and supporting. Don't soil it with this crap.

I don't think it's fair to ask the Mumsnet audience to make this decision either.

It's not as if Mumsnetters were beating down your doors asking for sex product (please don't use the word toys) advertising was it? So did you really think you were fulfilling a demand by allowing LoveHoney to advertise here?

Also, if you don't mind me asking, did you actually look at their site before agreeing the deal?

oh Christ, that asylum patient straightjacket ad

that actually makes me want to cry.

It's been downhill since McD's came.

Dear lord. Asylum woman has a dolly on the floor too....

I agree with Nuns, (and Hully). Tacky at best, unpleasant and demeaning at worst.

There must be advertisers knocking down your doors surely? Must be better companies to deal with.

lubey, as Hully said, they normalise the sexualisation of women in stereotypical and utterly tasteless ways.

I would add that choices are not made in a vacuum. They are made in a societal context.

Sex toys is a bit of a euphemism. LoveHoney, who've been allowed to advertise here, sell BDSM torture instruments, sub-paedophile schoolgirl outfits, medical fetish gear and as someone put it on the other thread - plastic arseholes. They also sell porn in plain wrapping. It seems like you were happy for Mumsnet to be taking advertising from shops selling this kind of stuff.

Are you happy for the Musment brand to be associated with this:

glow in the dark pussy opener speculum
ball gags
strait jacket worn by a model with blacked eyes
adult plastic baby diapers
strap on
www.petrajoy.com/shop/index.asp?prod=PJF04

It's not exactly Mark Warner or the Great Little Trading Company is it?

site needs to make money, therefore so long as a rampant rabbit dosen't strart hopping roundthe screen evey so often ala cbeebies ads I don't really care !

But there are plenty of things on that site that aren't gender specific, and plenty of things aimed at being used on males who are submissive in the bedroom. It isn't just items aimed at being used on females (who are submissive in the bedroom)

lubey - the point is they come from, and contribute to, a perception and presentation of women as passive and lesser. If they are advertised here, it implies that they are accepted and condoned.

But nethunsreject the people who use those things are consenting adults. They are not being used as some kind of weapon - they are pleasure enhancers. Ok so that kind of thing isn't for you, and you might not be able to understand how someone could possibly find it exciting, but plenty do! and what they get up to is up to them and not for anyone else to judge it as 'demeaning'

Each to their own.

"Toys" (vom) that are mutually fun for both partners are ok. Absolutely anything that contributes to the demeaning or objectification of women isn't. That includes films, stereotyped outfits: nurses, schoolgirls etc

It really does undermine what is good about this site and makes it look a bit shit and desperate

X post there a bit lubeybooby excellent name!

If MN had a Friday Night topic then it would be appropriate to have sex toy ads in there.

I know you've been reluctant to create a Sex topic because of the attraction for trolls, but surely posters who are robust enough to discuss the more colourful aspects of their sexual reportoire are also robust enough to discourage any piss-takers and flag up troll activity to HQ.

I don't really think that sex toy ads would be particularly appropriate anywhere else. Maybe Toys Reunited?

I've no objection to a site which sells sex toys.

I DO have a problem with a site that sells stuff which perpetuates stereotypes such as sexy schoolgirl or sexy nurse. And which sells items which (imo) go way beyond the classification of 'sex toy' I'm talking speculums, chastity belts etc. Stuff which is really demeaning to women.