in objecting to this obvious sexism

[bibiane]

I have been surfing the net in search of fishing trips to Puffin Island,Anglesey when I came across www. starida.co.uk which advertised fishing trips to the island. When I clicked on the Prices link I read this little gem - ' a family trip ideal for even MUM' ? Duh! To whose Mum they are referring I can't imagine. A victorian heroine of a gothic novel who swoons whenever she sets one dainty foot on a sea vessel perhaps?

My 11 yr old daughter took umbridge to this straight away and wanted to contact the company. I think an email to the North Wales Tourist Board is in order.
Is sexism alive and kicking in Wales?

takeit I still find your heartfelt wish that she gets her girlish enthusiasm trampled really mean spirited.

Young people are often idealistic, it's usually the younger generation who try to effect change. OPs daughter obviously gets narked at sexism. That's her right. And sexism isn't without consequences, it's hardly a minor thing, when you look at the world and the position of women. So she disagrees with something and she wants to register her objection. Good for her.

are the people who think firing off a quick letter of complaint equals making a big deal of it, really slow typists or something?
It takes me less time to write a quick email than it does to shave my legs. Have plenty of time left for hobbies, too.

bigger and better things to get knickers in twists over tbh

These comments aimed at an 11yo are unnecessarily harsh IMO. Getting her knickers in a twist? Get a Life? She's in / barely out of primary school for crying out loud!

Exactly, SardineQueen. Rather than being encouraged to write letters of complaint on completely flimsy grounds, she should be playing with her Barbie.

she could play 'Barbie smashes the patriarchy' or 'Barbie and Ken have a non-sexist marriage in which housework is shared equally'

How many people getting all huffy puffy about this have actually bothered to look at the website and read the comment in context?
It is covered with pictures of ugly blokes clutching big ugly fish. This isn't insidious sexism - it is just crass advertising by a small company.

It is silly, surely, to tell an 11yo to "get a life". At 11 that is all you are doing, learning how to do "life" so that you can manage it independently as you get older.

I would never tell a child to get a life, it seems just nonsensical. How are they supposed to do that?

People aren't getting "huffy puffy" about the advert, many are defending the right of the child to complain if she wants. Rather than advocating telling the girl to get over it and get a life (or whatever it is that some people appear to be telling their children).

I think she should complain as well . It pisses me off that this type of sexism is just accepted so readily .

It is a good sign that an 11yr old is responding to this crap .

Sardine Queen - er no. The huffy puffy I was referring to was solely about the sexism-in-the-ad issue not the comments made against the child.
If you read my post you would see that I applauded the daughter's eagerness to complain. But perhaps channeling her indignation into something more deserving might be preferable.
Perspective is also an important quality to foster in a child.
If she were my daughter and she was champing at the bit to tackle sexism I would be pointing her in the direction of one David Cameron MP and his comments at PMQs last week.

The OP is talking about her 11 year old daughter. Saying that her daughter took umbrage to an ad and wants to complain. In response you said "FGS Some people take offence at the slightest little thing. There's nothing offensive in that ad. Get a Life."

Maybe you inadvertantly overlooked the part in the OP where she talks about her daughter?

Zukie what do you think she should say to her daughter then?

Lubberlich so if your daughter came to you with something that she thought was wrong, you would tell her to stop bothering with that, and think about something that bothers you instead? I don't see that as particularly positive TBH.

If she were my daughter and were champing at the bit to tackle sexism I would be letting her set her own agenda - telling her what she ought to be complaining about would be a touch patronising.
Plus she is more likely to actually make something happen by complaining to the company, which might conceivably make a change to their advertising in future, rather than David Cameron who would just tell her to, er, calm down dear.
Starting small seems like quite a reasonable strategy for activism IMO. It is not the only one but it is fine.

In fairness that sounds like my absolute worst nightmare of a holiday but my husband would probably think it was ok

Take it in the spirit it is intended. Far more men than women like fishing, that's not sexism, it's just true. Keep a sense of humour, they are not saying females can't go are they? A lot of you seem to nitpick so much and are looking for sexism in everything, calm down and have a sense of humour. Yet oddly stag and hen nights these days are way over the top and last for days. It's okay to be extremely over the top sexist then is it? I love differences between the sexes, granted it's not all cut and dried and I do believe in equality but come on, let's enhance the differences. After all a lot of us fall in love with blokes don't we. Why is that then? Must be something about them we like.

No Sardine Queen - she can do as she pleases however I would point out that you really do have to pick your battles in this life. If she genuinely gives a toss about gender issues then there are more important things to put in the firing line than one phrase in a brochure for a pissant little fishing boat company in the arse end of a very small part of Wales. If sexism reallly is an issue then start with the PM and his very public humiliation of a woman last week.

I personally object to the sweeping generalisation that sexism is a problem in Wales more so than anywhere else.

lubberlich surely there would be no better way to put someone off activism than at their first try, to point them in the direction of something that they are definitely not going to be able to change, and are extremely unlikely even to get a response over.

The girl was annoyed at this specific advert, why not allow her to write a quick email about it? It's hardly a "battle". It seems a shame to tell her that something that she has personally picked up on as not liking, is not important. And to concentrate her efforts on something else entirely. It just seems such a shame.

Why would people stop their daughters writing a quick email about this, really, if they have decided they want to?

As fishing IS a sport dominated by males, this company was trying to attract families, and pointing out that "mum" would enjoy herself as well

i dont for one minute think its sexism
i have 2 daughters, that i think i have raised knowing a healthy balance between fighting for a good cause, and being pedantic over EVERY apparent cause

i fear Miss Georgina Ballantine would shake her head at this (she has held teh salmon record in the UK for over 80 years) women have their place in the fishing world, without being precious about it

youme how do you know that the OPs daughter is being pedantic over every apparent cause? This may be the first time she has been moved to want to complain about something.

Or are a lot of people basically saying that the OPs daughter must not complain as they do not see a problem with it?