Gendered things

[Falsegod]

Just sat thinking about this. What is something that has been assigned to a certain gender in society that baffles you?

Colours being the obvious one!
Also for me it’s scents. Perfumes are made up from scents that already exist in nature etc. who decided a bloody floral or vanilla scents were strictly feminine?
And particular drinks. Whose idea was it that to have a pink gin or a cocktail isn’t manly?

Marketing and advertising companies have a lot of answer for

Yep! For example I’d love to see a razor advert where the woman shaves her legs and gets into clean sheets like we all love to do. Not a bloody supermodel posing under a waterfall clearly lasered from the neck down

Well, the colours thing is completely arbitrary. Until the early 20thc, blue was considered the ‘feminine’ colour, and pink a subset of ‘masculine’ red. Just as white, not black, is the colour of mourning in parts of Asia.

Most of the rest of it is commercially driven. It’s more profitable to have ‘gin’ and then a special category of ‘fun, girly, pink!’ gin that can be specially targeted.

In skincare and cosmetics, traditionally targeted at women, it’s flipped. It makes commercial sense to develop special lines for men, who can be sold special, ‘masculine’ moisturiser or foundation, made out of exactly the same stuff as women’s.

clothes and toys for kids is an obvious one - there are still some parents who won’t reuse items that are the ‘wrong’ colour, and manufacturers and retailers seem to have got worse in the last few years for not having enough nice neutrals.

Oh my goodness.
It starts even before babies are born doesn't it? Pink things for a girl ,blue for a boy.
Continues through childhood: dolls and "girlie" things for the girls, transformers and intellectually stimulating toys for the boys.
Into teenage years with makeup and clothes for the girls, games for the boys.

So depressing .
Peesonally I would ban the colour pink.

Gendered children’s clothes and toys are on a whole other level. Shorts for girls are cut so much higher than boys. Why!?

People typically don’t think to buy cars and building blocks, play tools, dinosaur figures etc for girls. Fancy dress - girls are always princess, fairy, nurse. But pictures on the costumes always gear doctors, police, firemen to boys.

For children, I'd say toys, colours (I wouldn't ban pink; I'd just make it for everyone! Mind you, I've had disagreements with five-year-olds that blue is not just for boys) and sports. Not every girl enjoys netball, and some are excellent at football/rugby. Not every boy cares for rugby or football. Oh, and personalities... why are girls traditionally conditioned to be nice and people-pleasing?

For adults, probably alcoholic drinks (e.g. I like brandy and whisky, but can't stomach wine or cocktails!), vehicles ("hairdressers' cars" and why only men should be permitted to drive Land Rovers, pick-ups, tractors, JCBs...) and careers. I often get incredulous looks when people realise that I am a female farmer, or assumed to be a work experience student!

I wouldn't ban pink as in my experience both young boys and girls are drawn to it, usually if it's bright pink not pastel.

Remember the Bic "For Her" pens?! As a commentator said at the time, all they needed to do was sell them and NOT call them "for her".

There have been great campaigns started on Mumsnet in the past - Let Clothes Be Clothes and Let Toys Be Toys.

I also remember seeing someone ask on a Facebook group if anyone was selling a toddler bed - "for a girl", wtf!

I got some plain white t-shirts from a friend in age 8-9 as I was trying to size up from my son's 6-7. It was pretty much the same size and cut more like a tight tshirt so obviously had been marketed as "girls'". This sort of thing is everywhere. Tight leggings for toddlers instead of loose joggers.

I was happily oblivious/sheltered from this gendered subject rubbish when I was at school (or it didn't really exist here in the 80s/90s). 4 of my female friends went on to study engineering so if anything I would have thought it was a "girls'" subject if asked.

Parents can enforce it. Then other kids enforce it with ridicule. Recently, if a boy likes pink it has been a thing to say they are really a girl. Thank God my kids were happily autistically not giving a shit about colours and toys before the recent trend of rigid gender stereotypes came about.

"why only men should be permitted to drive Land Rovers, pick-ups, tractors, JCBs"

This isn't the case around here, and I am sure in other rural areas also. Also have you noticed the increase in female lorry drivers? (One of the daughters of my friend drives artics for a living.)

Pink was a huge fashion thing for boys a year or two ago. There was a big trend for pink boys’ and men’s clothes. DS wanted to paint his bedroom pink about three or four years ago, and I stupidly said fine, because when he decided he hated it a year later, it took about three coats to cover over the bright pink.

Why are ships and boats always referred to as female?

"May god bless her, and all who sail in her."

It’s mad - it’s even better when you think how things change over time - when men wore high heels and pink was for boys