to think MN should get into the 21st Century instead of pedalling sexist shite?

[SpartaCarcass]

Massive sigh at the 'Mumsnet swears by' email. Suggestions for Mother's Day presents:
Scented shitey formaldehyde polluting candles
Hair brushes!
Cookery Book
Perfume
A coat
Bath shit stuff
Hand cream, nail varnish, flowers, shite....
Maybe some books mentioned if you look hard enough.

So that's all you can think of?? Looking pretty, cooking and smelling nice afterwards??

Can you seriously not think of something less 1950s?
I went back and looked at suggestions for Father's Day presents - and while they are still stereotyping they at least look a bit more "fun":
Whiskey, Game of Thrones Box set, pans (wow! irony?), craft beer and Stephen Fry book.

How about celebrating your mother being a person? Not some domestic goddess serf mashup.

Oh and don't get me started on the blaze of sexist shite cards - paraphrasing "Mummy thank you for cooking, cleaning and wiping my arse for the last fifteen years - here have a "day off" and smarten yourself up a bit"

/end rant

There's nothing wrong with liking any of the stuff on the list (and I included the coat for accuracy not as comment on its suitability as a present). If you like all that tat then ask for it (including caramel chocolates but not the strawberry creams puke). But to have it published as some sort of aspirational list seems very narrow minded.

Don't you think it is just more everyday sexism of "pretty things" for women vs fun or practical presents for men?

It's all marketing anyway as some have pointed out - really my best present is as FuckYouCHris says - some lovely old tat glued together or moulded out of smelly clay with glittery crap stuck in it. At least there would be genuine love and thought and effort put into it.

Zooms off on Scooter from SurferJet whilst swigging spiced rum out of my hip flask. (now there's a thought ....) >>>>>>>>

Oh, I see, I think you meant it as in
"A woman needs a man like a fish needs pedalling a bicycle"

Anyway, are they making no suggestions of chocolate?

Well, I'd like to make my own soap, but DP is unlikely to figure that out. I guess they could have chosen a slightly wider variety though.

Booze for me too. Can't wait till DS is 18 and I can send him to the off license for errands

What's up with flowers, candles and bath stuff? Ok so maybe they should also suggesting a wider range of presents that aren't so... Floral but many many women like things like that and let's face it many children like buying it for their mums.
I don't mind it myself but am holding out for a new set of size 4 needles and some more sock yarn since some husband shaped git sat on one of them and snapped it...

There is nothing worse than other women telling me what to do because i shouldn't confirm to stereotypes

I like nail polish and chocolates. Equally I like books and red wine. But my ideal present would be a night alone in a 5* room, steak, red wine, and a good book - followed by a hot stones massage and a facial

I would like a nice fossil or a mineral.

Maybe MN should be suggesting days out for the rest of the family so Mum gets some peace and quiet

There is a business on my local Facebook advertising oven cleaning "Mother's Day special offers". £35 for a single oven or £45 for a double.
That's got to be the most depressing Mother's Day present ever.

YABU, i'd like all those things mentioned. What do you want it mixed up with, just random things that people might like? Bearing in mind its mothers day, its just a generalised list of what mothers might like (most likely based on previous mothers day sales). I dont want a power tool or a bike. In fact, stuff like that, an item i really really want, i'd buy myself so I know ive researched it and bought the best option not just looked at the price range and whether it was easy to wrap or not. But im not likely to treat myself to a box of chocolates or smelly stuff so happy when other people do.

Your dragging the word sexism down by attributing it to mothers day gifts.

What kind of woman wants these things?

Lots apparently! Woman come in all different shape, sizes and personal tastes. My DS is in nursery and I got a planted mini daffodil for valentines day and a messy clay tea light holder for Diwali.

I can't wait to see what I get for mothers day!

What really cheeses me off is being told, by OP, that perfectly lovely and affordable presents are 'sexist shite'.
You can keep your choice OP but give me some nice flowers and bubble bath any day!

"There's nothing wrong with liking traditionally feminine stuff, but it wouldn't kill MN to mix it up a bit, I think that's the OPs point."

Well put.

i would prefer that list and my GF would prefer the fathers day list

It is the sort of double standard rubbish you get when you discourage your DD from wanting a pink frilly dress and applaud your DS for wearing one!
Why is the men's choice always thought better?

We don't do any of that stuff in my family - we buy people presents when we see stuff they would like. My DH and DC would not like it 'up 'em which would be the case if they bought me a candle. Best gift DH ever got me was a book about a medieval French town. He was a lucky boy that night
Soap - not so much...

I get the Game of Thrones box set every year. Marvellous.

nokidshere so are you going to email mumsnet HQ and tell them so?
I can't see anything in this thread saying you're not allowed to like any of that.

It's just so unimaginative, restricting and commercial.

Personally I think being sold a heavily priced, processed, perfumed and packaged jar of soap, or a lump of wax air freshener as a "treat" is a miracle of advertising and years of lifestyle grooming - but hey ho

There are hugely important things to get angry about in our world if you're a woman.

In my opinion, scented candles aren't one of them.

It's a funny kind of feminism that tells women what they're not allowed to like. Lots of women like these things. Fathers' Day lists are all full of stereotypical stuff too. What makes a Stephen Fry book "more fun" than a cookery book?

I want booze.......or jewellery

Yy Nicky.

A geode would be a fabulous present Clarence

Or a stone out of the garden with a face painted on it.
My list of expensive stuff really was only for a laugh.

Bingo Unicorn you win the prize!
In reality I'd like a donation to a charity campaigning against FGM but I don't want to have to explain what it is to DD just yet. So I thought that maybe I'd talk about society restricting her and my choices to "pretty things," thereby further objectifying women as items of visual value rather than individuals with different passions and desires.