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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

This isn't just sexism, this is M&S sexism

156 replies

PimmsnLemonade · 19/11/2018 22:57

Marks and Spencer's window display. The 'must have' for men is "outfits to impress" , for women it's "fancy little knickers", Men must dress powerfully and impress in their suits, women must look sexy in their "little knickers".

twitter.com/FiLiA_charity/status/1064248341763100672

Are M & S being unreasonable? I think so.

OP posts:
surferjet · 20/11/2018 12:07

Do you know what music your dd is listening to, what music she’s watching on YouTube?
There’s just a whiff of picking on an easy target here that’s all.
Think back to when you were young, what influenced you the most?
I doubt it was shop window displays.

Anyway, hiding this thread now as I’ve wasted too much time on MN this morning & have stuff to do.

formerbabe · 20/11/2018 12:08

I see the hun types are out in force.

JacquesHammer · 20/11/2018 12:12

Do you know what music your dd is listening to, what music she’s watching on YouTube?

Yes to both

Anyway, hiding this thread now as I’ve wasted too much time on MN this morning & have stuff to do

"I know my reasoning is bollocks and I can't think of anything else" Grin

citiesofbismuth · 20/11/2018 12:14

It is depressingly sexist.

What is probably more depressing are the women who are minimising it. Carry on being cool lasses, some of us can see it for what it is.

We all benefit from feminism's achievements - being able to vote, owning property, driving, going to work, being able to divorce, abortion and family planning, living independently, access to financial aid, education etc.

Think about it. We're going backwards. I'm nearly 50 and, trust me, we're going backwards.

PerverseConverse · 20/11/2018 12:16

I agree OP. Everyday sexism at it's worse which is why many here don't see it. My mum didn't see everyday sexism either until I pointed it out. Once you see, you can't unsee.

AmericanHousewifefan · 20/11/2018 12:17

Yes I know what she's listening to. I explain about lyrics that are not appropriate etc. whenever it comes up. I point out sexism and racism to my DD's all the time unfortunately.

Sunhill4 · 20/11/2018 12:27

Must admit I wouldn't have given it a thought but now you've pointed it out . . .

JamieVardysHavingAParty · 20/11/2018 14:48

The people looking in M&S shop windows are not the people you should be concerned about, they're old & set in their ways

Hang on a bloody minute. I look in M&S's shop-windows and buy stuff in M&S, and I'm an avocado-on-toast-eating millennial. Someone called me a snowflake last week!

I must be Schrödinger's Mumsnetter: simultaneously both too old to have my opinions treated with respect, and too young to have my opinions treated with respect.

TeaEnjoyingRadiantFeminist · 20/11/2018 14:52

It's only a shop window display.
It's only a poster.
It's only a tv advert.
It's only a lyric.
It's only a film.
It's only a newspaper.
It's only a popular website.
It's only a party's policy.
It's only a bill.
It's only the law.

Where exactly is the cut off for sexism?

When are we allowed to start challenging the insidiously pervasive lessons being taught to our children?

The more this shit is left unchallenged, the more it is normalised. The more it is normalised, the harder it is to reverse. It's a cycle. People see it, they talk about it and get told it's a fuss over nothing, so it's accepted, so people talk about it as normal, so it bleeds more into the media, so people talk about it more, so it's accepted, and on and on.

Men were legally allowed to rape their wives in my lifetime. A woman's underwear was used against her in a rape trial this year. So How. The. Fuck. can people honestly say that it doesn't matter how women are portrayed on a day to day basis? How exactly is anything supposed to change if the female sex is continually being reduced to fucking frilly knickers.

I really don't want to spring back to a world where a woman's place is in the kitchen while the man brings home the bacon.

InglouriousBasterd · 20/11/2018 14:57

It is vile as it is, but I did see the tv ad last night and it’s followed up with ‘and big comfy ones’...it’s a shame this window takes it out of context and makes it sleazy.

MrsTerryPratcett · 20/11/2018 14:58

Yes, every day more men take their own lives, more men are incarcerated for crimes while women go free, or are sentenced to longer in jail.

Sources please. Because the first one, as far as I know is because women and men attempt suicide in the same numbers but men use more violent and therefore fatal methods.

As far as I know the last two are nonsense. I mean more men are incarcerated because they commit the vast majority of crime, particularly sexual and violent so I'd hope they would get locked up. Considering the rape statistics though, I think far less male offenders as a proportion of offenders get incarcerated.

Bananacloud · 20/11/2018 15:08

Why don’t you ask any males in your life if they would like a pair of fancy knickers?

BartholinsSister · 20/11/2018 15:10

How come we get to have sexy pants but men must have boring suits? They must be right pissed off.

Thesuzle · 20/11/2018 15:15

Has anyone yet written a strongly worded email to M and S ???
No seriously, has anyone, if not ill do it

MephistophelesApprentice · 20/11/2018 15:17

Can't I have a frilly fancy suit?

Gingerrogered · 20/11/2018 15:17

Fuck's sake. I really wish all these people that love a good public denouncement would get a new hobby.

It feels like we like in the USSR or McCarthy's America. A little army of self righteous control freak thought police who trawl the streets looking for things to be offended about.

WhirlyGigWhirlyGig · 20/11/2018 15:33

It's on the bbc news now.

I do wonder how old surferjet is, although we'll never find out now. But the way they're just trying to normalise this says a lot about who they are.

And on the off chance they come back. My dd is 19 and shops in there and my ds listens to some questionable music and we've had more than conversation about the content of the lyrics. I personally don't just ignore things because there are other matters more pressing. Despite being a person with a chronic illness or two, aged over 50, I'll still tackle things I find unacceptable with my kids because I can think and act on more than one thing at a time and as a parent it's my job to do it.

JacquesHammer · 20/11/2018 15:38

Bravo TeaEnjoyingRadiantFeminist

KonekoBasu · 20/11/2018 15:46

The window display didn't happen randomly, it'll be based on market research and sales figures, so it's likely to be at least partly representing what actually sells.

Like all high street chains they're just desperate for sales.

I don't think there's a sexist message here, apart from the bigger one that we live in a sexist society.

formerbabe · 20/11/2018 15:47

To all the huns commenting that they're not offended...

Why don't you stop pandering to the daily mail reading middle aged man type who thinks political correctness has gone too far?

Your arguments don't stand up and you're making yourselves sound pretty thick.

JacquesHammer · 20/11/2018 15:48

*Fuck's sake. I really wish all these people that love a good public denouncement would get a new hobby.

It feels like we like in the USSR or McCarthy's America. A little army of self righteous control freak thought police who trawl the streets looking for things to be offended about*

Could you get any more meaningless soundbites into a post?

Pinkyponkcustard · 20/11/2018 15:48

Ugh. It’s actually appearing at the bottom of my Mumsnet screen now.

Fuck off M&S you outdated, misogynistic, percy pig toting losers.

plaidlife · 20/11/2018 16:49

It is sexist twaddle at any time and particularly grating after the recent rape case where wearing a pair of lace pants was held against the rape victim.
There is nothing wrong with selling sexy underwear but where is the bloke stuff? Where are the female suits?
Why am I now living in the 1950s?

Hoppinggreen · 20/11/2018 16:57

Its bloody awful and the fact that people can’t see an issue with it shows how deeply ingrained sexism is
I generally don’t get too pearl clutchy about underwear displays, I wear pretty knickers ( not as little as I might like) and sometimes DH does buy them for me but the contrast between men dressing in suits to impress while women parade around in sexy undies is really offensive.
If one window had been men and women in suits and the other men and women in undies then it would be ok. It’s not the content but yeh contrast that’s pissing me off

Belindabauer · 20/11/2018 17:00

The first thing I thought of was the rape trial where the victim 's underwear was held up in court.
I'm starting to hope women will soon be able to buy more practical, comfortable underwear without having to wade through all the crap first.

Why can't we have decent comfortable practical stuff without it being inferred it is frumpy and boring.