You are absolutely right, OP. The lyrics are incredibly offensive and teach a young child a horrible, distorted view of women and men and relationships. How can anyone say it's a pointless thread - addressing the issue of preaching horrid stereotypes to toddlers, teaching a child that women chitter chatter, men are aggressive, and men tell women to shut up and that's okay and that's how it is. That's how girls grow up subservient to males, and that's why females have less power, earn less than men, and are much more often than men confined to homes, hard work, little pay and poor relationships with relatively little respect and often mistreatment even partners. It is why it's mostly women who do the hardest, most mundane jobs at home and outside home. It's why females of reproductive age are often passed up for jobs or careers in favour of males. It is why young women and men start on the same pay scale in their 20s and it only goes downhill for most women from age about 30 and uphill for men till they almost retire (check the ONS stats), making even more of a domestic slave out of them, dependent on males or the state.
These little "harmless" , as some suggest, rhymes and other little things from childhood is where our world views come from and perceptions of gender etc. Children have no gender stereotypes or bias when they're born. People instill them in them. There's a lot wrong with accepting it.
It is incredible how so many women see nothing wrong with abuse, sexim and gender stereotypes that keep them in my place and set them back. And there's always someone who'll actually defend it. May be that's why we live in such a st, hostile to women world.
Women on your bus talk, you say - one of the commentators??? Well, on mine it's men that do. Non-stop on their phones. Endlessly. And the same at work.
Mothers talks, fathers tell them to shut up, what next - fathers hit them if they don't? And then it builds on it - abuse, sexual violence or even as simple and common as "you stay at home wiping my kids noses and bums while I'll go out and have fun pursuing qualifications, career and other opportunities".
If there's nothing wrong with it, try to find a printed version of those specific or similar lyrics in children's books or published literature. You won't. You will find lots of such versions recorded on YouTube videos made in countries that have a very different value system and perceptions of females. You will not find this version on CBeebies, for instance (although there's still lots wrong with BBC).
Where we live in the UK, certain communities and cultures where women are secondary to men are overrepresented, and the lyrics performed by practioners, whose knowledge of English or culture of this country is very limited, are similarly offensive - they're often suggested by the audiences, who see nothing wrong with it. It usually goes something like 'mummies go chatter', 'daddies go shush shush' - men shushing grown women and almost nobody in groups of people who attend sees anything wrong with it??!!!. This sick and twisted version comes from the original 'babies go wah', ' mummies go shush' - SHUSH TO BABIES, but sick and twisted individuals have put women into the place of a young baby with the male telling her to 'shush'. This discourse tells a lot about how women are viewed and treated in this society.
Traditional American/English rhyme doesn't actually have anything like that, it's: doors open/shut, wipers, bell, people go up and down, everything PC, and nice to everyone and that's it.
I have done an experiment - asking peers r young adults how the rhyme goes and none of them came up with this 'st', one pointed out that now kids are taught 'mummies chatter', didn't use to be when she was young 20 years ago. It is with the certain change in our society that has made it a lot more backward that this has come about.
What's more, where we live, rhymes in the library, children's centres or nurseries is the only English those young children will learn and how sad that that's what they'll learn is a confirmation of horrid stereotypes within the mainstream culture.
I've known lots of women have no problem with open disrespect towards females but sad to see so many actually openly acknowledging and proving this here on Mumsnet.
By the way, husband was offended and complained too when this was performed in front of him and daughter in library. And he refused to go again. I myself have complained, left and never returned to activities in other places round here where it was done. I don't want for my child to grown up thinking "women chatter", "men tell them to shutup" and that's the norm. On one occasion the practitioner did apologise, but said 'but that's what they/she said'- meaning the women in the audience.
I was shocked to find out a middle class white middle aged acquaintance (who might be as well have been any of these defenders on here) sang it her daughter (not with the daddies shushing mummies - that's beyond anyone sane I think, but just the 'chatter bit'), and then the next thing you notice is how snappy and rude her partner is to her and who knows what happens at home and in the relationship. She certainly does act servile towards him.
"Done to death", "doesn't matter", "overreacting", "ffs". This stuff has a huge impact. It's what future generation will grow believing. Do you really want your daughters to be accepting of male behaviour like this? Or are you not concerned your son who learns this behavour will have a lot of trouble in his personal life and attitudes to women which could lead to hell knows what worse? But then if we live the way we live that's because the majority of people have agreed to it and conformed. And it's complaining and saying it's not okay what will stop us going back to the outdated, thick attitudes.