for getting annoyed at Tesco selling stationery for girls making fun of boys?

[podie]

Did my weekly grocery shopping today and decided while I was there to pick up some back to school stationery for my three sons, who were with me. I needed to get a folder/ring binder for my 11 year old and was disgusted to find that they are sellling folders, obviously geared at girls, which reads "boys are so dumb they can't even chew gum" and another which read "stupid factory, where boys are made". Given the high rate of suicide among teenage boys and young men in their 20's is this really the message to be sending out, especially in the school place? It is not acceptable to make fun of a persons religion or the colour of their skin so why should it be acceptable to make fun of someones gender?

I think it may be a sort of stupid attempt to empower girls and redress the terrible pigeonholing, stereotyping and pinking that girls are subjected to their whole childhoods. The same kind of thing as women going and laughing at the Chippendales or buying calenders with firemen on.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

However, saying that it wouldn't happen to girls is ridiculous. Girls are subjected to this kind of thing all the time. It just tends to be insidious blonde woman with big breasts who remembers her teen years vividly.

As a mother of a boy, I fucking hate it. YANBU but maybe it is not entirely logical to link it to teenage suicide rate of boys etc.

Good grief! People do get upset about some trivial stuff these days.

YANBU and if anyone thinks you are, I presume they would be happy with stationary stating "Girls are so stupid they can't even chew gum".

YANBU, I think it's horrible.

There may be jokes against girls, but nor of them would clearly state girls are dumb or girls are stupid. And there would be a very different reaction if they did. Feminists would go crazy, and get a fair amount of sympathy, but say it about boys and its ok to just make a joke

Im more concerned at the fact that the porn industry has become mainstream and little girls are buying (or being bought by stupid brainless parents) clothes, jewellry and stationary advertising the playboy company. Hmm, jokey empowerment message that clearly isnt serious versus the use of children to make money for an industry that exploits and perpetuates myths of passivity and sexualisation of girls

No, I never heard a blonde joke growing up. Not one. Never, never, never. The other 4 million hits of Google when you type that in are the product of my imagination.

I'm not saying that it is right to be mean to boys. I'm saying that pretending that girls are empowered and treated with respect at every turn is ridiculous. There have also been a lot of threads on here about t-shirts making fun of rape. Girls see them too.

It is possible to be concerned about both porn and insulting slogans. I also find it concerning when people equate directing abuse at others with empowerment.

But glamorousgranny, it's not an either or. You can be against both. I don't like the exploitation of girls but I don't like sweeping statements that either boys or girls are stupid either. And it affects perceptions whether or not it is meant to be a joke. Doesn't excuse it.

I really doubt that this school stationery will cause boys to commit suicide.

I don't really get when people say that something is bad, but something else is worse. And? Okay, being beaten up is bad, but I'm more concerned about people being murdered. Right...

Is it David & Goliath stuff? I thought they stopped that range a while back.

I think YANBU, I just don't find it funny and didn't when it first came out, when I was about 12. D&G do make a lot of funny stuff, that just wasn't.

I think it is the double standard. When girls did badly at school, it was because they were stupid. Now boys do badly, it is because we are failing them. Feminism is being lost and the only thing that is left is 'if you can't beat them, join them'. I think it's tragic for all concerned.

YANBU

SLUGS AND SNAILS
What are little boys made of, made of?
What are little boys made of?
"Slugs and snails, and puppy-dogs' tails;
And that's what little boys are made of."
What are little girls made of, made of ?
What are little girls made of?
"Sugar and spice, and all that's nice;
And that's what little girls are made of."