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Original poster

This is wrong right?

642 replies

DukeOfSussex · 18/09/2018 19:31

If your teenage daughter had her first week at the University of Sussex this week this is what found in her welcome bag.

A Pot Noodle, A tablet of washing detergent, a sim card and an individual sized portion of instant coffee.

AND

A picture of a woman designed to look like she has spunk dripping down her face to sell toothbrushes. "whether you spit or swallow during your twice daily oral regime..."

She'll also find a drinks night event by the Student union being advertised all over campus. It has a picture of a dead eyed half naked woman laying in an empty bath...which advertises what? Fuck knows.

She will also find a copy of the student newspaper in her bag. On the front cover at the very top of the page is an article entitled "Transphobia and toilets". This is discussing the recent words of University of Sussex philosophy professor Kathleen Stock who dared to very (politely) question some aspects of trans theory.

Your daughter, if disabled, will also be concerned to see that some of the disabled toilets have been declared "for all genders". Which is lovely and inclusive but not ideal if you're disabled and need a wee and need to wait for an able bodied non binary male wearing lipstick to go for a shit first.

She will find that the "This Sussex Girl Can" all women only classes are open to all "women, trans gender people and non binary individuals" so just mixed classes basically .

So far so expected of university in general but what upsets me is that people wanted Kathleen Stock's job for having an opinion. She caused students to feel "unsafe" with her very words, but in a world where women are literally unsafe and sexual assault is endemic in universities, Sussex student union didn't think twice before objectifying its female students. If your employer gave you a goody bag with this card in it you could rightfully be making a formal complaint to your HR department. Why is it appropriate for university?

We can't discuss why it's always a woman advertising drinks, or toothbrushes without discussing women and the group of people who actually deal with the real repercussions of being women. It's a bloody joke.Why don't people care about actual sexism, real life objectification of women.

OP posts:
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Original poster
DukeOfSussex · 20/09/2018 10:12

At least they'd be actually useful for oral hygiene and the female students could sit around class absent mindedly chewing on the end the way you do a pen while the male students cringe and cross their legs in terror.

OP posts:
Ihaventgottimeforthis · 20/09/2018 10:08

NothingOnTellyAgain when I showed this ad to DH he wondered where they would go next - toothbrushes shaped like penises perhaps so it even looks like you're giving a blow job.

Original poster
DukeOfSussex · 20/09/2018 10:06

I mean if lesbians and gay men are interested in pictures of women engaged in toothbrush fellatio I do apologize unreservedly. I genuinely hope I haven't #toothbrushkink shamed. Flowers

OP posts:
NameChangedAgain18 · 20/09/2018 10:01

Has she explained why she thinks it's "gross"?

That person is a TRA who pops up on Twitter constantly. Trying to understand their trans logic is a waste of time.

NothingOnTellyAgain · 20/09/2018 09:58

DukeOfSussex yes

the mental contortions people will go through to justify this shit

men
BANTZ!

women
but some men are gay!
but some women are gay!
it could be a man!!!
I like giving blow jobs!!! Kink shaming bastards!

etc etc etc

Yada yada heard it all before, some of us may have SAID it all before when we were younger :D

BabyTeeth · 20/09/2018 09:56

Beauty blogger Jessicat asks

‘Brushbox, yes or no?’
jessicatbeauty.blog/

@BrushboxUK,

Jessicat as marketing person = good as authentic member of community you wish to target

Bros as marketing creadivs = bad as no idea what women want.

NothingOnTellyAgain · 20/09/2018 09:55

tell her she's sex negative Grin

and in libfem speak this makes her either a radfem or a right wing prude

lolololol

NothingOnTellyAgain · 20/09/2018 09:55

Has she explained why she thinks it's "gross"?

What does that mean, in this context?

if she is seeing the woman in the pic as an active participant in consensual happy activities rather than a passive receptacle/object whose consent or otherwise is irrelevant

Then isn't she "shaming" a not even very nonstandard heterosexual sex act?

Original poster
DukeOfSussex · 20/09/2018 09:51

And she's not the first first person to say that might not even be a woman. So it's all OK. No, maybe brushbox are so woke they hired a man with feminine facial features and put lipstick on him and it's actually a bloke. Maybe. But in the context of the actual world we live in most people will see a woman. Men will not be looking at that picture and seeing a man.

It's not less sexist to conflate the idea of "femininity" with a being sexually available cum dumpster either though I know many people do. This is all part of the wider problem of not being able to use the correct terms for people as you can't name sexism.

Pregnancy isn't a woman's issue. So you can sack that guy for getting pregnant. It's fine cause he's a man.

OP posts:
gendercritter · 20/09/2018 09:48

How ridiculous is that response? Of course it's sexism

buckeejit · 20/09/2018 09:47

Disgusting and depressing in equal measure

Original poster
DukeOfSussex · 20/09/2018 09:46

Gross but not sexism. Not all students are heterosexual women. I'm not even sure that's a women's face. . . . It shows how radfems are always looking for things to take offence at.

From twitter^

I have literally no idea what point she is making. Is she saying because some students are gay men and some are straight men it's OK? Or is it because some women are lesbians they aren't objectified by this too? Because they are. What does sexuality even have to do with sexism?

OP posts:
NothingOnTellyAgain · 20/09/2018 09:23

I could be wrong of course.

It may backfire and their profits will go through the roof with the subscriptions from men who see women and girls as holes

And then their imagery will get even more porny and extreme

We'll have to wait and see!

@brushboxUK if that happens, I suggest you take the imagery of little girls off your twitter feed. Blow jobs + primary schoolgirls are not a good look.

Ereshkigal · 20/09/2018 09:22

OralB is the number one toothrbrush brand in the UK and I don't remember one spunk advert.

Quite!

NothingOnTellyAgain · 20/09/2018 09:21

Well when stuff like this happens you do get women turning away but a certain type of man supporting to show those miserable bitches what's what

However

I dont' imagine even the most hardened MRA is likely to pay through the nose for a regular toothbrush delivery just to get one over on women Grin

Original poster
DukeOfSussex · 20/09/2018 09:19

I guess it's up to you OP if you want to test the accuracy of the adage "all publicity is good publicity" on Brushbox's behalf.

If you're selling Pornhub maybe, but I'm not convinced someone who sells family boxes of toothbrushes will enjoy the publicity.

OralB is the number one toothrbrush brand in the UK and I don't remember one spunk advert.

OP posts:
Original poster
DukeOfSussex · 20/09/2018 09:17

ould be interesting - if you were a psychologist type - which I'm not :D - to try and measure the effects of unexpectedly being given this image in a "welcome pack" for a new university or job or volunteering position or whatever (I suppose they set the scene somehow) - and see what effect it had on the comfort and confidence and so forth male students vs female

Women do worse on maths tests wearing bikinis than they do when wearing a sweater.

god knows how they do when they've got the twat next to them gurning under a beer mat of a woman covered in spunk.

OP posts:
Ereshkigal · 20/09/2018 09:14

Papers asking permission to use your pics

I guess it's up to you OP if you want to test the accuracy of the adage "all publicity is good publicity" on Brushbox's behalf.

Zeugma · 20/09/2018 09:13

Can you imagine being the model at that photo-shoot? I can make a guess what they were initially telling her the brief was.....'yeah, it's an ad for dental health.' Then you can imagine when she got there '...but we need you to be wearing lipstick and to open your mouth suggestively and have the toothpaste foam and saliva dribbling out of your mouth...'

Bet she was thrilled. And so the pornification runs through every layer of this sordid episode.

Original poster
DukeOfSussex · 20/09/2018 09:12

@babyteeth can you tell them I said yes, and point them to this thread please? If the thread could be linked for context that would be ideal as obviously many people don't know the full story for young women on campus.

OP posts:
NothingOnTellyAgain · 20/09/2018 09:11

Would be a good opportunity for the university to do something around not treating women like a handy set of holes, using this example of crass objectification as a starting point and apologising to the female student body for this "welcome to university" message of get on your knees and open wide.

It would be interesting - if you were a psychologist type - which I'm not :D - to try and measure the effects of unexpectedly being given this image in a "welcome pack" for a new university or job or volunteering position or whatever (I suppose they set the scene somehow) - and see what effect it had on the comfort and confidence and so forth male students vs female.

My guess is it would have a similar / the same effect as all the other "minor" objectifications that we get in our faces >>

The men will feel bolstered, their needs are important, the place of women is confirmed, this place is "for them"
The women will feel, maybe subtly maybe overtly, reduced, less comfortable, less confident. I hate the word but it applies here - "disempowered". They have come to study and make friends including men as equals but NO your real job is to suck dick bitch.

I don't know if this has already been studied - probably.

Anyway it was a dick move and I suspect some of the male students will have been put off too as they aren't all neanderthal drunken bastards, in which case I suggest the men who run the company offer them all blow jobs to make up for it. Don't forget to brush your teeth afterwards, lads!

Original poster
DukeOfSussex · 20/09/2018 09:11

OK, a massive mistake can be forgiven if the response is a genuine, oh fuck, this is bad, we are wrong, here's a donation to a rape crisis centre, we have written to doc stock for a meeting etc.

Yes, that would be brilliant. Why didn't they do that? Or to everyday sexism? @brushboxuk Why not show you actually wish you weren't part of the problem. It will cost you far less than whatever you paid to advertise in that shit digbox.

OP posts:
BabyTeeth · 20/09/2018 09:01

@DukeofSussex
Papers asking permission to use your pics
mobile.twitter.com/BrightonNewsJo/status/1042677958190817280
BBC news woman also asking about images
mobile.twitter.com/leng_cath/status/1042390444456521729
@BrushboxUK a platform is building for you to step the fuck up to and do the right thing.

AngryAttackKittens · 20/09/2018 08:51

I mean, to be fair, VC firms throw money at absurd start-up ideas all the time.

Ifonlyus · 20/09/2018 08:47

I wonder if one of the Dragons backed them..... (please let it be one of the women an or one with teenage daughters)