Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

Original poster

Government withdraws 'sexist' Stay at Home advert

36 replies

cheeseismydownfall · 28/01/2021 14:31

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55844367

This is so patently awful that I don't think think it even merits discussion.

When I showed it to DH, he shook his head in disbelief, but then said "Ah! But perhaps all those people are transwomen, except for the one on the sofa, and she is actually cuddled up to her GNC girlfriend! So actually this is depicting the terrible oppression of trans women by cis women!".

I'm pleased to see he has been listening :)

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
AlexaShutUp · 29/01/2021 13:54

They managed to not make everyone white, so that women of every creed and colour are still doing the shit work. Equality!

That was my 15yo dd's reaction when she saw it yesterday.

It's so depressing that this was deemed fit for publication.

hazandduck · 29/01/2021 13:46

Great idea @MrsFogi

MrsFogi · 29/01/2021 12:07

Someone had a great idea at the beginning of the pandemic - given that men seemed to be getting more seriously ill than women, they should all stay in for 6 months and only women be allowed out.

MoltenLasagne · 29/01/2021 08:25

Seeing as the government expected parents mothers to be able to switch to home schooling with 1 day's notice, I think this is a very accurate portrayal of what they perceive the role of women and mothers to be.

EmmaGrundyForPM · 29/01/2021 08:19

They've now withdrawn it and apologised. But someone somewhere commissioned that advert and signed it off. It probably went past several civil servants before being published. And not one of them flagged it up as problematic.

StealthPolarBear · 28/01/2021 22:50

Newborns are pretty wrinkly

ErrolTheDragon · 28/01/2021 22:37

@JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff

The article glosses the woman second from left as ironing. But she is holding a baby.

Is this some new hellish domestic standard where we even have to iron infants?

There's no iron or clothes, it's just a table. Maybe she's thinking, how the hell do I make dinner while holding this baby who doesn't want to be put down? (I had a period when our food was things I could make with one handGrin)
JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 28/01/2021 22:04

The article glosses the woman second from left as ironing. But she is holding a baby.

Is this some new hellish domestic standard where we even have to iron infants?

StealthPolarBear · 28/01/2021 19:59

I'm not explaining myself very well. I agree with you. I'm just hugely frustrated at the lack of common sense applied in other situations.

StealthPolarBear · 28/01/2021 19:56

Yeah I get that.

ErrolTheDragon · 28/01/2021 19:53

This ad was operating in the real world, Stealth.

StealthPolarBear · 28/01/2021 19:52

In shott
This thread proves that the majority of people, no matter how earnestly they nod when asked to affirm that how you feel inside is most important to ascertain whether you're a man or woman, know that in reality it is, in fact, rubbish.

StealthPolarBear · 28/01/2021 19:51

Yes of course you can. But the official line is that you can't tell someone's gender (sometimes called sex) by looking at them, and plenty of people identify a different way from how they were born, and that is what matters, not the way they were assigned at birth.
And yet on something like this lots of people call out aexism. I completely agree with them, but this is no longer how we're meant to reference gender

ErrolTheDragon · 28/01/2021 19:43

In real life, women and men are more varied in dress and role (though still with both skewed) but you can generally tell what sex they are regardless. Is that what you mean?

PurpleHoodie · 28/01/2021 19:22

You're quite correct Stealth.

We see it.

StealthPolarBear · 28/01/2021 19:22

Errol, I get it, I agree. Completely. I just can't marry this up with the messages from elsewhere about how you can't tell gender from looking. When lots of people say yes, you can tell someone's sex, almost always, from the way they look, and it means something.

ErrolTheDragon · 28/01/2021 19:14

@StealthPolarBear

Surely the backlash against this advert just proves that people know what a woman looks like and what a man looks like, even in cartoon form, and we are being gaslighted (gaslit) when we're regularly told that isn't the case? Am I truly the only one who sees this?
Yes, we can all see that the figures are all 'coded' as being women or girls except the bloke on the sofa. Both by appearance and role.
StealthPolarBear · 28/01/2021 18:53

Surely the backlash against this advert just proves that people know what a woman looks like and what a man looks like, even in cartoon form, and we are being gaslighted (gaslit) when we're regularly told that isn't the case?
Am I truly the only one who sees this?

DdraigGoch · 28/01/2021 18:49

@Enb76

It may be sexist but it is also probably accurate
I was thinking the same - it certainly seems reflective of many threads on Mumsnet. Women doing all of the work while the man has his feet up.
StealthPolarBear · 28/01/2021 18:45

How do we know theyre women? Surely we aren't allowed to make assumptions based on the way they look?

PurpleHoodie · 28/01/2021 18:26

Only it turns out covid is more serious for pensioners and middle age men than women and children.

So the model falls apart.

Good point.

KasparKat · 28/01/2021 14:59

@MrsFogi What do you mean by "the government's attitude to women during this pandemic?"

soundofsilence1 · 28/01/2021 14:58

They have even got the little girl doing the sweeping. Is this the train them young message?

MrsFogi · 28/01/2021 14:55

I don't know, I think it just needs to be relabelled as a fair depiction of this government's attitude to women in this pandemic and the roll back of progress women have made since the 1950s.

EugeniaGrace · 28/01/2021 14:54

I think at some level the government believe that if all women and children stay home and “do their part” then half the social contact and risk around the country is removed which means men can go about doing their own business, fishing, golfing and playing football as normal.

Only it turns out covid is more serious for pensioners and middle age men than women and children.

So the model falls apart.

Which leads to higher hospitalisation rates and deaths.

Then stricter lockdowns and adverts imploring woman and children that if only they stayed home doing ironing then everything would be better.

Swipe left for the next trending thread