Man shops?!?

Good point well made somuch my little female brain had forgotten that

BUT I WANT A ROBOT VELOCIRAPTOR !!!!!!!! NOW!!!!

A pink one obvs....

Don't be silly Rufus, women have a purpose. We must stop doing daft fun stuff at about age 2 as we need to learn to be useful (or so I gather from the pink toddler toys like mini kitchens and dolls and so on).

Sorry, what shops are specifically marketed at women

And I don't mean fashion shops, or posh knicker shops or sex toy shops, or shops that sell baby stuff or cooking stuff (or any other "traditional" female occupation shops)

I mean shops that sell stupid fun stuff, because people have mentioned women's shops on here a few times...and they all seem to be shitty boring shops...I still have a few presents to buy

I prefer Mamas and Papas myself.

Yeah, in and of itself, the name is sexist.

But it's a very old chain that's been around for donkeys years and the name has stuck. It doesn't specifically stereotype women in what it sells - apart from products for breastfeeding etc where it's a reasonable justification to target women.

The difference with Menkind is it's new and it DOES reinforce stereotypes, e.g. this is 'stuff' for the boys. By default, Menkind is saying women aren't really into that kind of thing.

Except, of course, Mothercare feeds into the stereotype that women are responsible for childcare. Again women stay at home, men play with stuff.

I'm sure everyone here against the name feels the same way about Mothercare...

Its sexist because it promotes gender stereotypes. It suggests that fun gadgety stuff is for men, even though women are interested in this stuff. And as SoMuchForSubtley says it also feeds into the idea women will buy men's stuff. Men don't buy from shops marketed at women (unless they are buying for a woman) because obviously they won't be interested in that stuff. Which also feeds the gender stereotypes.

Neither scenario is positive for women. It helps continue the hierarchy of men as default and women as other. Neither scenario is particularly damaging for men. They get their gadgets to play with and stuff for women is still considered beneath them.

YY alicemalice. And there is plenty of evidence in Susan Faludi's Backlash that companies will continue to try and sell sexist messages even though women aren't interested. She did some interesting research around clothing and how simple work suits were incredibly popular (the most popular type of outfit bought by women over a couple of years in the 80s) yet clothing and fashion lines continued to promote other, less appropriate clothing for work, far far more than suits. Even though they weren't being bought.

Of course the marketing eventually worked.

I don't find it sexist, sorry. I've seen way more shops targeted specifically for females.

"If we stopped buying then they'd stop making."

This isn't entirely true, companies have stopped selling stuff that has sexist messages on things, even though many people still buy them.

Yes, because no one ever had an opinion shaped by marketing. We spring whole and fully formed from birth with all of our product preferences in place.

"If we stopped buying then they'd stop making."

Exactly. Someone should say that to the feminists who want to ban newspapers that print pics of topless models.

"Can't blame the patriarchy for that one."

We blame the patriarchy for everything else so why not? Patriarchy is the perfect scapegoat for anything and everything we feminists don't like.

I think that marketing strategy is dependent entirely on the actions of consumers.

Men buy that kind of stuff far more than women do, so if you're in the business of making money by selling products, then it makes sense to market it towards men.

If women shopped there more, this would reflect in their market research and they'd rebrand with a more representative name.

We as consumers are ultimately responsible for what's advertised to us.

I got annoyed many years ago when I saw a mobile phone that was marketed towards women... is was a smaller, pink and sparkly version of the standard model (which was for men, obviously) but with less features. But then I thought... well who is buying them? Women, probably. Can't blame the patriarchy for that one.

I suppose it's the same for many things. Who keeps Victoria's Secret models employed? Who keeps the magazines who air-brush their cover models in business? Who pays the TV and film producers who sexualise and objectify female characters? We, the customers. If we stopped buying then they'd stop making.

If that's addressed to me, yoffwoba, then it may have escaped your attention that I haven't actually stated my opinion on Menkind.

I think Woman's Own is crap although I haven't read many copies of it recently so could be wrong on that. Menkind sell a load of pointless tat. I find both to be promoting tired stereotypes of gender, but I don't find them sexist in themselves.

Do you think magazines like 'Womens Own' are sexist as well?

This is a discussion forum for people to chat about feminism. It's reasonable for someone to post "I think this is sexist, what do others think?". This is a informal discussion group not a formal debating society or the House of Commons. No one is saying that one poster is representative of all feminists, or that everything discussed here has to represent your idea of what feminism is.

Why don't you explain why it isn't sexist and why it isn't particularly important without resorting to snide snipping about other posters?

Then go ahead and complain and continue to show people just how petty feminism is these days.

People have a right to complain about things that annoy them, and try to explain why. You have the right to disagree with them, and try to explain why you think they are wrong. You don't get to tell other people what they can or can't complain about.

having looked at the website if anything it is more offensive to men

@ClartyYakker, it looks like you aren't feminist enough. You need to go take a feminist studies college course that has a very radical feminist lecturer. When you're done, come back and I guarantee you will be seeing sexism and misogyny everywhere (including names of shops) and be furious 24/7 about everything.

I'm just not finding any reason to get outraged about this, sorry OP and others.

Don't think it really helps the cause to get irate about it either. The name of of a shop doesn't stop women going in there just like it is perfectly acceptable for us to go into Topman or any other menswear shops, nor does it suggest in any way that only men are allowed in or that men are in any way superior to women...

am I missing something to be outraged about?

I really don't think feminists have a right to complain about this.

There are plenty of shops that are women-only, and even more shops that are for both genders but once you get inside 95% of it is the women's section and the other 5% is the men's section.