To think this is ridiculous

[Soapboxwatch]

I went into a store yesterday to purchase glasses for my son. I asked where the frames for males were and the assistant said that were not allowed to say that anymore and that she could point me in the direction of mixed frames. I absolutely thought how ridiculous. My son is a boy therefore I wanted a masculine frame.
I’ve woken up this morning to read an article about transgender people complained about the Venus sign on sanitary products.
Another article about a birth coach who was ostracised by her employer because she said only women can have babies (give birth).
I can’t help think that all this is very silly. In my world you are either a male or female however I get that there are some undefined or gender confused people. Am I being unreasonable

Well I don’t think there is
Anything wrong with not labelling glasses frames tbh. You go in shop at look, see what you like and buy. Same with clothes there’s a lot of “boys” jumpers that my daughter likes with skateboards in which are just not in the girls
Section.

Sanitary towels and the like - whole
Different issue!

The whole boy frame girl frame thing is pathetic. Same with clothes. If each sex felt happy to be themselves in what they wanted to wear, maybe we wouldn’t have as much gender stereotyping.

Why did they need to be boy/girl specifically?

Would his penis of dropped off if he like a girls pair?
Why not just go with what he wanted/suited rather than what the label said.
Wearing unisex glasses doesn't mean hes transgendered.

Thanks. It’s the fact that she said I’m not allowed to say that anymore is silly. Yes I understand individuals can wear any type of frame but this was the first time I’ve purchased glasses before. In the chaos of Saturday afternoon shopping, I just wanted to be quickly pointed in the direction of boys/ men’s glasses

YABU about the frames.
YANBU about their reasons

I wear 'men's' frames because they tend to be bigger on the whole.
If they start jumbling all the sizes up I would be irritated.

I think it’s pathetic. They’re taking the sex/gender thing too far for a minority of people with mental health problems. Crazy world we live in.

I think the sanitary towels and birth thing are very ridiculous. Those are both patently things that only apply to biological women.

However I disagree with you about the glasses frames because there don't need to be "masculine" and "feminine" glasses frames, just frames you like and frames you don't like.

I dont think the glasses frames thing is to do with the trans movement, more to do with avoiding gender stereotyping.
Like how I would love by daughter to be able to buy a blue hey duggee top without being told "that's for boys". We dont need things to be labelled "for boys" or "for girls".

The exception to this is stuff which is actually relevant to genitals, e.g. sanitary pads.

YANBU. It's getting absolutely ridiculous and everyone is jumping on the PC bandwagon. It's fucking nuts!!!

It's not silly, it's fucking scary. We're all walking into this erosion of our identity as women and nothing is truly being done about it. That woman who was sacked by Doula UK only stayed that women give birth. Nothing contentious about that you would think she was sacked because 20 transgender people complained. Only 20! And she lost her job. Its left doula UK looking like a real load of unprofessional idiots IMO.

You're conflating two different issues. The frames this isn't an issue because it removes the problematic idea that we are defined by gender, a purely social construct.

The birth coach and Venus symbol issues are very real deletions of sex based rights and recognitions.

YABU unreasonable on the frames
YANBU unreasonable on the other two

@DontLettuceBrexitLettuceRomain said it best there.
The frames is a non-issue and not relevant to the other things you mention.
'Boys' frames are another symptom of this gender stereotyping that is forced on to us from birth, glasses do not need to be pigeon holed into the made up 'gender' constructs.

The doula UK and sanitary products stories highlight the on-going erosion of sex identity and rights. Of course only a biological female can give birth or menstruate. She can also wear 'masculine' glasses.

Men and women’s heads vary anatomically. So do our facial features. So is it not just a fact that all glasses cannot be made to fit either sex?
I don’t mind that some one has already sorted out which frames are more likely to fit my head and suit my facial features.
YANBU.

Yabu.

With the glasses frames. Which shop was it? I think they are stepping away from gender stereotypes which is great. In our local spec savers there are men’s and women’s sections and the some designer frames which are mixed/for everyone. My son chose from the designer section but refused to look in the women’s section even though I could see frames he might like. Being only 12, the kids frames are way to small but some of the men’s frames look Massive on him. If they are all mixed up, people would just go with what they liked best!

The female symbol does not need to be on san pro. People who need these products buy them whether they be women or trans men. That they are female does not need to be pointed out. I don’t know if the removal of the symbol by Always is in response to complaints or if they are just trying to be more inclusive. I think it is appropriate to remove it in all honesty. I am not sure Always have it all right though. As a woman I absolutely hate their ad with the tennis player where apparently wearing their products make you ‘soft and strong’ shudder 🤮

As for the birth coach, she made some inflammatory remarks. They were investigated and she was found to have breached her organisations equality and diversity policy and asked to take the post down. Why not just be more inclusive. Trans men can obviously have babies too (although I guess she herself hadn’t come across any). I would give her the benefit of the doubt and say she was just being thoughtless with her initial comments but once challenged she let things escalate.

There are some very real problems caused by trans activism such as allowing trans women into female prisons (particularly when they have recently transitioned and are in prison for sexual assault or rape) and who still (like most trans women) have their male genitalia.

The things you mention I really can’t get worked up about.

My daughter picked ' boys' frames and sunglasses and loved them, so I'm for them mixing them up.

What makes a frame masculine? I've been buying glasses for 27 years and had no idea that you chose glass frames based on your genitalia. Learn something new everyday.

I have to generally buy men's frames because I've got a big head/wide face. Every time the assistant says "Those are men's" when I'm browsing the frames, I reply "It's ok, I'm wearing them on my face, not a penis."

'Boys' frames are another symptom of this gender stereotyping that is forced on to us from birth, glasses do not need to be pigeon holed into the made up 'gender' constructs.

This^^

In fact, if we didn’t place so much emphasis on girls’/boys’ clothes/toys/glasses etc from birth, there might be a hell of a lot less pressure on young teens to ‘choose’ a gender. It would be so much better if they could just ‘be’: wear want they want; act how they want; without gender stereotypes.

Nothing to do with trans ffs

They get the blame for everything on here

Well nowadays men do give birth. Trans men. So you could make a tiny bit of space in the world for those few men who do exist and are not imaginary.

And it can only be a good thing if people would stop labelling inanimate objects as ‘for girls’ and ‘for boys’. Everything is ‘for humans who want or need them’.

They should just sort the frames by size really. Being told you're not allowed to ask for male frames is daft as the assistant could have just said that they weren't displayed in that way.

They’re taking the sex/gender thing too far for a minority of people with mental health problems.

I don't think not having pink glasses for girls and blue for boys is remotely 'too far' Size is reasonable separator for adult frames but 'masculine' glasses for children (as the OP suggests) is just silly sexism.

Well nowadays men do give birth. Trans men. So you could make a tiny bit of space in the world for those few men who do exist and are not imaginary.

Most people still describe the world as it really is. They should not be forced to lie to 'make space' for those who want to change language.

Why not revisit muddying the definition of women to ease the feelings of a tiny minority when all sex based oppression has been eliminated?

They’re taking the sex/gender thing too far for a minority of people with mental health problems.

And for the huge amounts of people who do not want to be limited, disadvantaged and forced into a social construct of what they should be/like/wear based on their genitals or assigned 'gender'.
But that's not as convenient as blaming trans people. Why not just allow this entirely made up social construct of gender define our entire lives. This all stems from the very real issues holding us all back because children are conditioned from such a young age to conform to the socially expected gender stereotypes.

The frames thing I would say is a bit of a non issue. I do think we should all be able wear what we want without it being labelled male of female.

The other two examples absolutely infuriate me. If you give birth or have periods you are biologically female. FACT. It’s beginning to feel like we should be apologetic for being BORN female!

I’ve actually stopped buying that brand of sanitary wear given their reason for removing the female symbol from their products. And the very fact you can lose your job for stating the truth boggles my bloody mind!