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Original poster

Have I hit peak feminist or am I reading too much into this

108 replies

NothingOnTellyAgain · 18/08/2018 17:02

In paperchase today I was browsing with DD (8) who liked some notepads (obviously aimed to appeal to the girl / teen girl market).

I looked at the display and as a bit Hmm.

There were 3 designs,
1 an avocado (ok - unless I am missing something)
1 an aubergine (widely accepted text speak for penis)
1 a peach (widely accepted to refer to bums, and drawn like a bum really, and with a heart stamped on one cheek so it looked like an arse tattoed with a heart)

Are they doing this on purpose? It seems really odd. Lots of people (mums and kids) might not realise especially with the dick one.

Someone did a thread the other day about girls tshirts with cherries on as well.

It's deliberate isn't it. Why do they do this? Any ideas?

OP posts:
AngelsAckiz · 19/08/2018 12:03

Dunno why but this reminds me of the time where playboy bunny logos where marketed to little girls. Pencil cases, folders, wallpaper, clothing, all kinds of things. And I remember seeing a story where a vicar went I to a supermarket and staged a protest. It woke people up and since then, playing has stopped marketing to children (how paedophilic!!!!)

But yeah. It's subtle and many might miss the real meaning.

I completely agree with you OP.

BabyTeeth · 19/08/2018 11:55

Some more Philip Normal at Paperchase gems.
These are kind of ok as it's so obvious they are sexualised comments so presumably most adults won't get them for kids that are too young for them. Unlike the aubergine/peach one which is not so clear. They are naff though and make Paperchase look tacky IMO.

  1. ‘Size matters’ ruler – www.paperchase.co.uk/collections/philip-normal/philip-normal-rainbow-ruler.html
  1. Jumbo water pen ‘Omg hun your pen is huge’ www.paperchase.co.uk/collections/philip-normal/philip-normal-jumbo-water-pen.html -
  1. Sassy wallets, another outing for the ‘‘Omg hun your pen is huge’ slogan www.paperchase.co.uk/collections/philip-normal/pn-set-4-sassy-zippy-wallets.html
  1. ‘Over easy hun?’ giant egg keyring www.paperchase.co.uk/collections/philip-normal/philip-normal-giant-egg-keyring.html

All fine at the right time, in the right place, but I don't think that time and place is Paperchase, really, more on brand for tacky seaside shops, or more niche shops, not high street mass market.

As their core market is young women it would be better if they partnered up with young women designers.

P.S. this one would be an ideal gift for the young bully in your life:
www.paperchase.co.uk/collections/philip-normal/philip-normal-mini-365.html

Sarahandduck18 · 19/08/2018 11:00

It’s grooming.

Original poster
NothingOnTellyAgain · 19/08/2018 10:43

Having looked at Phil's merchandise

He seems to be heavily catering towards the gay market which these would make more sense

He also doesn't seem to like women very much ("Kill Jill" with a pic of Jill Dando????).

So why are they flogging stuff that makes perfect sense for adult gay men, to little girls?

OP posts:
littlbrowndog · 19/08/2018 10:37

But for sure shouldn’t be on pencil cases or stationary
The company being just I don’t know how to say it but it’s like having a smary secret laugh at customers maybe

littlbrowndog · 19/08/2018 10:34

I game. I see it a lot
But it’s mostly men or boys that game

Chat can be be censored so like u can’t say dick or cock so that symbol is used

Original poster
NothingOnTellyAgain · 19/08/2018 10:33

So I walk into my new job with a notebook that has the emoji for "penis" on it.

What woman or girl just out of school / uni is going to choose to do that? A vanishingly small minority I'd have thought. Unless you work in the adult sector. Someone upthread suggested that might be the market - millenials for work. Who the fuck takes things that mean "dick arse (avocado??) to work???).

OP posts:
littlbrowndog · 19/08/2018 10:31

Agree

Original poster
NothingOnTellyAgain · 19/08/2018 10:29

Not saying this is the motivation in this case

But boys / men have always found it funny to make their own "code" and then use it to laugh at women / girls

A large minority of men and boys like laughing at women / girls and also upsetting them / sexually humiliating them.

Selling "pretty things" with sexual meanings to girls and teen girls who understandably don't know this code is giving the boys and men who enjoy behaving like that victims on a plate.

I imagine they will say that they didn't intend for that to happen (what - girls / women who didn't know what it meant to buy it? Or men / boys to be horrible when they see it?) but both are entirely predictable consequences.

OP posts:
littlbrowndog · 19/08/2018 10:28

The raindrops doesn’t mean that the use is coming on someone

littlbrowndog · 19/08/2018 10:27

The company knew what they were doing

littlbrowndog · 19/08/2018 10:26

It’s for coming

Original poster
NothingOnTellyAgain · 19/08/2018 10:26

pissing on someone?

coming on them?

OP posts:
Original poster
NothingOnTellyAgain · 19/08/2018 10:25

what is raindrops

OP posts:
littlbrowndog · 19/08/2018 10:24

They are sex references.

Would not be appropriate for them t9 be on kids stationary

Sometimes the aubergine one has raindrops next to it

Don’t even think they appropriate for adult stuff

Original poster
NothingOnTellyAgain · 19/08/2018 10:19

I mean I'm not calling for them to be banned or shut down or anything Grin I'm just a bit surprised and can't really understand the motivation.

Hence, I have asked them, and will share the answer if I get one!

I wonder how the sales assistants feel about selling stuff that means "penis" to smiling little girls out with their mums, or 12 yo counting out their pocket money. I I worked there I think I'd be quietly checking that they knew what it meant before the sale.

OP posts:
Original poster
NothingOnTellyAgain · 19/08/2018 10:12

The thing that I find mildly bothersome about this is that even if it is aimed at an "in the know" market

There is no indication that it is "rude" other than you having to know

My DD (8) didn't know (I advised her not to as "lots of people use peach to mean bum" and she nodded sagely - I avoided the aubergine, as it were Grin)
My DH bless him had no idea about the aubergine

While all the 20 somethings might know, loads of poeple who shop in there will not and it is very easy to imagine little girls getting bought these by not clued in parents, or younger teen girls buying them with pocket money.

And they would know this would happen, right? They explicitely market to schoolchildren and it's sequin and glitter central, the themes are very "childish" (we'd been in smiggle first and it was not a massive difference). Themes like animals etc. Obviously for kids.

The claim that it is not at all aimed at, what under 18's? Under 16's? Under 14's? (What age is the cutoff for knowingly buying a pencil case that says "Penis" on it?) is simply way off.

Anyway the point is that girls may well end up with this stuff with no idea what it means and what does that open them up to at school / in the library / wherever in terms of being lauged at / being upset / having some weirdy use it as a "conversation opener"?

I just think it's a fucking weird thing to have done. It reminds me of how porn takes words that people (sometimes specifically women) use and gives them different meanings, and when girls say them innocently all the boys start giggling... Water sports, facials, sure there are more.

Dunno that's probably not very well expressed.

So a 13yo girl goes and sits in the library with her new aubergine notebook. That's a golden conversation opener for a creepy man or two isn't it. And when she finds out what it means, she might well be mortified.

Maybe that's a stretch but I just don't understand why - as with playboy and tops with cherries on - marketers are so keen to put sexual references on things specifically aimed at, or they know will be consumed by, young girls.

Rant over!

OP posts:
MaisyPops · 19/08/2018 08:33

Fabricwitch
The design of that of that pencil case is more school aged.

I also use paperchase a lot and love lots of its stuff, but both stores near me have some very distinct 'school aged' stock.

Rebecca36
I don't think they are sex references, they're pretty
Do try to stop reading too much into stuff.
With the best will in the world you can say they arent sex references all you like, the fact is aubergines and peaches are fairly standard text speak for penis and bum respectively. It's not reading into anything l. That is how those emojis are being used.

FruitOnAPlatter · 19/08/2018 08:12

Aubergines have been penis in txt speak for ages.

and that peach is definitely a bum shaped peach, rather than a peach shaped peach - it's not even subtle.

Avocado - I'd assume was an hipster reference if I saw it (like that flamingos are everywhere too)

I, personally, would think this was over the line into not something I'd give a child personally.

Tanith · 19/08/2018 08:07

Some of the single covers for “Peaches” had a peach wearing knickers. One version had hands pulling them down.

The Stranglers were quite blatant. They wrote much worse songs and were accused of misogyny at the time, though they always denied it.

thebewilderness · 19/08/2018 02:34

The point is that they are viewed as sex references by a large segment of the student body so kids who carry them without knowing that are likely to be teased unmercifully by older kids.

Rebecca36 · 19/08/2018 02:26

I don't think they are sex references, they're pretty. Do try to stop reading too much into stuff.

Pythagonal · 19/08/2018 01:45

Old gimmer alert!

I always thought that peaches referred to breasts, at least in The Stranglers' song 'Peaches'. Interesting to find out that other people think it refers to another part of female anatomy.

thebewilderness · 19/08/2018 01:21

Raunch culture never left. It was mainstreamed into pop culture.

BabyTeeth · 19/08/2018 01:20

I hope raunch culture isn’t coming back - do you remember the kids pencil cases in WHSmith with the playboy logo on them?
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/media/2005/aug/15/pressandpublishing.genderissues

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