Pointlessly gendered products

I actually like pink. I own a pink mini toolkit.
& a rose gold iPhone.
My work bag is pink & rose gold.
My bathroom walls are pink.
Etc

But I wouldn't expect every woman to like pink.

56MockersthefeMANist I am struggling to get beyond the thought that they may have been used!

Dd was given a world map poster. She wants to travel. Its in shades of pink. Even the sea. Dh was a bit when I made comments about gender stereotyping.

Sometimes, gendered products can benefit in mysterious ways. Did you know the first sports bra was two jockstraps sewn together.

(Presumably not previously used.)

I was bought a pink tool kit when I bought by house. It's great as I didn't have one but all the tools are pink and in a pink carry case. I don't like the colour pink so was quite annoyed. DH has a big, black manly tool box but it was empty so he took my pink tools and put them all in there. It's great when his mates ask to borrow a hammer etc and get my dinky pink one.

My problem is also that I can't wear men's clothes no matter how much I prefer the colours and quality - I'm only 5ft tall. I can sometimes wear boy's clothes but I do have waist/hips/bum ratio of an adult woman so it's not always possible to fit in clothes designed for straight up and down 12 year old boys. I'd rather have khaki/navy/grey petite women's clothes in non see through material!

Pens, razors, shower gel/soap - the 'for women' ones are always more expensive (unless you're looking at the stupid beard oil type sets, who is buying that shit though?).

Candles annoy me, why are we told that all women want fucking candles?! 'Gifts for her' with shelf upon shelf of scented candles 😡

The baby/child gendered everything has reached ridiculous proportions, I'm pregnant with DC2, sex unknown and the unisex/neutral clothes and products available is minuscule compared to the endless amounts of pink and blue crap.

but the problem is when you want sister, son, grandmother etc. that's when the stereotypes kick in

That's marketing demographics. I don't understand what the point is of card which announce the recipient's familial relationship to the giver. They are usually pretty naff anyway but I bet there is a strong correlation between the people who like those sort of cards and people who are happy with gendered stereotypes.

People who aren't happy with gendered stereotypes are far more likely to buy a blank card which is relevant to the recipient's actual interests and likes than a card that says "niece, nephew, sister, brother, whatever. If manufacturers had to make designated relationships cards to cover all interests I bet there would be loads of unsold cards.

Re Lego. My DDs love Lego Friends because it's cool sets. My 6yo realised that her people for her Lifeboat station were different to her people for her boat (Friends). She thought it was very silly girla needed different shaped people.

As toddlers they had a pull along puppy. It was also available in pink and white. The normal puppy was shades of brown- dog coloured.

Chocolate
Tissues
Pens
Shower gel/anything scented

The Lego is interesting, as the design and creativity of the girls stuff is very good, better than some of the more traditional stuff, so the boys are missing out. Plus, it's got a much wider colour palette (along with an excess of purples and pinks), so much 'normal' Lego is variations in grey. But I know one, generally sensible, bloke who won't buy it for his son (or himself) as it doesn't have traditional mini-figs so it's not 'proper Lego' even if he likes the rest of a set.

Thanks Ginger

If I was any good I'd design them myself.

I can find basic 'amusing' animal cards, but the problem is when you want sister, son, grandmother etc. that's when the stereotypes kick in. Ageism too - my dad often jokes he doesn't fish or play golf (he's more into listening to Spotify) while my mother doesn't do flowers or afternoon tea etc. she's too busy up the rock bar!

Maybe Sandy Draws Badly can bring out a range...

Good lad. Yes, there is still hope.

Make sure Mermaids don't get hold of him though, that's probably enough evidence that he's really a girl!

For example: Apple sell millions of their 'rose gold' iPhone, and it's not men buying them (well ... except for you know smile

My 15yr old DS has a rose gold iPhone. I was a bit surprised that he wasn't bothered by the colour. We bought it 2nd hand from Game and he wanted the biggest memory for the best price which was the pink one. I was rather pleased that practicality won out, maybe there's hope yet!

I agree with an above poster, if the products didn't sell... and I also agree the problem is when your size or preference, for whatever reason, comes in flowers etc., I buy men's pjs and robes, men's jumpers, etc., because I want my freakishly long and therefore unwomanly arms to be covered, i don't't want it to construct my waist, I want my belly to be covered, I'm not interested in showing off my cleavage, the listgoes on and on. But people do buy these. I have seen cars on the road with flowers on the paint job. It's ok so looking as there are choices. It's just silly that marketing for these items seem to imply that we women finally get to drive, use pens, etc.

If anyone is stupid enough to pay more for a pink razor than an otherwise obviously identical blue one, they deserve to be ripped off, and I don’t blame companies for exploiting such idiocy.

One of these is advertised with a selfie cam. Guess which?

I agree of course, yet companies wouldn't make this stuff if it didn't sell.

For example: Apple sell millions of their 'rose gold' iPhone, and it's not men buying them (well ... except for you know :)
It is annoying when you can only buy eg overtly gendered kids clothes, but these are capitalists - they'll sell us anything we want to buy.

I can think of a group of people who would welcome this #genderbollocksnonsense

(That call me ma'am person was wearing pink trainers, non?)

Did Bic not launch pink lady pens a while back?

Reminds me of Pauline's pink Pentel in The League of Gentlemen.

Honestly, how else are we supposed to hold a pen with our ridiculous ladyhands?

Did Bic not launch pink lady pens a while back?

MrsWednesday
I found the whole furore around the Doritos interesting. New products aren’t just launched randomly and there must have been focus groups and research done beforehand which found a desire among women for smaller bags, quieter wrapping and less messy crisps. This taps into a much bigger issue of women being self-conscious when eating (particularly of unhealthy snacks) so not wanting to draw attention to themselves. Obviously, the approach they took was misguided and just came off as patronising but it’s an interesting case nevertheless.

Trainers. I find a pair I like but then it has to have a stripe of pink in it just to reassure everyone that despite doing sport I'm still a lady. I generally have never worn pink and so the pink trainers don't go with my style or anything else I'm wearing. Incidentally, I had a look in Primark the other day and inspired by these kinds of conversations I went in the men's section. I was surprised how they had clothing that was better quality than the womens' - lots of 100% cotton shirts rather than polyester, lined trousers and suits.