To think this card is grim and not appropriate in a shop where children can see it?

[Glassisalwaysgreener]

Just that really.

Went into Scribbler to get a birthday card DS10 was with me and saw this. I thought it was grim and shouldn’t be on view in a high street shop where children can see it.

www.scribbler.com/Cards/Birthday-Bum-Sex-BC1331/

I ripped a rude card up in Tesco’s once 😬 and youre proud of this/think you're hard/hilarious because....? I can feel the second hand embarrassment.

Do mumsnet posters get paid every time they use the word grim? Or vile for that matter!

To be fair, if the owner sees sales increase because of her display, why should she remove it because of one specific toddler finding it scary? If it’s increasing traffic and sales then I struggle to believe that it’s as awful and off-putting as you suggest.

never heard of it but it dosent suprise me.

everything does downhill and gets worse..

[quote phoenixrosehere]@OmgIThinkILikeYou

I was hoping it was sarcasm, but you never know on MN. Made me chuckle….

I wonder where for some of these people personal responsibility begins and ends.[/quote]
Haha I'm glad it did, I had a chuckle whilst typing it out

I think if you take a child into an inappropriate shop by mistake, you just walk out once you realise and have a laugh about it with friends later. I do have a child but I don't expect the world to accommodate him.

@MabelsApron

To be fair, if the owner sees sales increase because of her display, why should she remove it because of one specific toddler finding it scary? If it’s increasing traffic and sales then I struggle to believe that it’s as awful and off-putting as you suggest.

Ah sorry, I didn’t realise the benchmark for whether something is good is whether it makes nice profit. Thanks for enlightening me, I understand now.

By the same reckoning she should probably stock porn cards in her shop then, I’m sure they’d sell well.

The whole porn industry has multi million $ net worth, must be a great business to be in, sexual exploitation of children brings in a good buck too I understand. Gun shop owners in the US I’ve heard do very well for thenselves, sales through the roof. Never mind about the murdered kids, as long as the money machine keeps a grinding away, all is well.

@Mumtumtastic Comparing a rude card to child sexual exploitation and gun violence is so far beyond offensive that I’m almost staggered that I have to actually point it out.

Well, this thread took a strange turn. It has gone from funny adult cards to murdered children in 10 pages.

@Mumtumtastic if your toddler is scared of a display then the simply and sensible thing to do is to not go in that shop with your child. The shop owner owes you nothing at all. Their profit (and therefore livelihood) does come above your feelings (and was your toddler actually scared, or are you just pearl clutching and creating a non-issue?).

And comparing a card to children being murdered is such a huge reach, I bet you pulled your shoulder out.

[quote MabelsApron]@Mumtumtastic Comparing a rude card to child sexual exploitation and gun violence is so far beyond offensive that I’m almost staggered that I have to actually point it out.[/quote]
Why? You’re saying it makes money so what’s the problem right?
This is the ultimate conclusion to this kind of reasoning.

Porn is offensive (and imo, inherently wrong and damaging) but very popular and very profitable. So were the other areas I mentioned, this is a well known fact. You are offended by these facts. And to be honest I’m glad you are as these things are wrong, people should get offended and angry about them as they are part of society but it is doing a lot of harm.

In fairness I have digressed off the main topic of the thread, I am not comparing murder to a card that is ridiculous and not what I said. I originally said about the horror display because it too was in an innocuous card shop and was very out of place amoungst the Christmas and KIDS toys right next to it.

@Mumtumtastic This shouldn’t need clarifying, but suggesting that a shopkeeper shouldn’t remove a display that’s making her money because of your toddler not liking it is entirely different from supporting child exploitation and gun violence. Your conflation of the two is offensive, and trivialises those very serious issues. I genuinely am shocked you can’t see that.

@Mumtumtastic

In fairness I have digressed off the main topic of the thread, I am not comparing murder to a card that is ridiculous and not what I said. I originally said about the horror display because it too was in an innocuous card shop and was very out of place amoungst the Christmas and KIDS toys right next to it.

But was your child actually scared/did you actually see a scared child?

[quote MabelsApron]**@Mumtumtastic* This shouldn’t need clarifying, but suggesting that a shopkeeper shouldn’t remove a display that’s making her money because of your toddler not liking it is entirely different from supporting child exploitation and gun violence. Your conflation of the two is* offensive, and trivialises those very serious issues. I genuinely am shocked you can’t see that.[/quote]
I didn’t ask the shop keeper to remove them, I asked her why they were there (again, it was centre stage and next to toys and Christmas stuff) and pointed out that it might be scary to small children and she just dismissed it - fine. I’m not waging a war here. I’m just saddened that we can’t just go shopping and assume the company (or whoever’s in charge if it’s an independent) hasn’t decided to stock sexually explicit merch (I notice you’ve been quiet on the sex toy Poundland range - care to share a thought on this? Something maybe constructive and not just critical of others??), or in this case gruesome tat that you wouldn’t expect to find in a card retailer.

The point I’m trying to make is not about one or two kids being scared by stuff in a shop, it’s the effect of overall de-sensitisation in society - which has been happening gradually over time. Things get more and more extreme but slowly, so everyone gets used to it as normal (in terms of sexualised or violent themes/content). I’m sure I’m not the only one that has noticed this happening across the board - adverts, fashion, online, crap in shops, computer games are an easy example of this.

Obviously you are not supporting those heinous things, but I was making the point that just because it’s sold in a shop doesn’t make it ok. Just because something is ‘selling’ doesn’t mean it isn’t damaging.

@Mumtumtastic the world does not, and should not, revolve around small children. It is our job as parents to help our children avoid, ignore and then deal with what life throws at them. We should protect but not coddle them.

You seem a bit hysterical in your language with using the word 'heinous'.

And the 90s wasn't very innocent

[quote Livpool]@Mumtumtastic the world does not, and should not, revolve around small children. It is our job as parents to help our children avoid, ignore and then deal with what life throws at them. We should protect but not coddle them.

You seem a bit hysterical in your language with using the word 'heinous'.

And the 90s wasn't very innocent [/quote]
Blimey Livpool, if child sexual exploitation and gun crime isn’t heinous, what on earth is? This is what I was using that word in relation to.

You don’t need talk to me about coddling, I worked in Safeguarding, I’ve seen some very real stuff. Yes we should help them avoid ignore and deal with, that is important, but so is first line protection. No the world does not revolve around kids, that is why our job as parents should be to protect. I am so shocked this is a dirty word to so many!

And I didn’t say the 90’s was innocent. I said it was easier to shop then as a neutral activity.

(I notice you’ve been quiet on the sex toy Poundland range - care to share a thought on this? Something maybe constructive and not just critical of others??)

Crikey, do you always talk to people like they’re your staff? I hadn’t been “quiet” on that, I just hadn’t seen that comment - and frankly if you don’t find me constructive then God knows why you want my ten cents.

I’m not inherently for or against sex toys in Poundland - best if they’re stocked on a higher shelf so that parents can avoid needless questioning from curious kids, but their mere existence is not inherently damaging or likely to traumatise children.

I agree that just because something is sold it doesn’t mean it’s not damaging. Goods that are damaging such as guns and pornography can legally be sold in some places and those who object (as I do) must avoid those places. However, all of that is completely irrelevant to Halloween decorations, which are not damaging in the first place (despite your offensive attempts to compare them to goods that actually do harm children).

Bloody hell, the cardigans buttoned to the neck and padlocked knickers brigade is out in force on this thread.

It’s ironic that one of the posters cheerleading for the OP has been absolutely awful towards me on more than one thread. Directly attacking an actual person? Fine. A shop selling cards that some people might find offensive? The beginning of the fall of society!

No. Not everything has to be about children.

I’m not inherently for or against sex toys in Poundland

My main worry would be that I wouldn’t get much satisfaction for a quid.

Scribbler having warning notices in their stores. Just like films and TV shows, not everything has to be suitable for children.

Surely you just go in notice the rude card and leave before your child clocks it

MabelsApron - my friends 10 year old is as tall as me, still very much a child and no I don’t think it’s appropriate for her to see that stuff. Ann Summers is obvious to avoid obvs, but Poundland? Not somewhere you’d expect to have sexualised merch. But most definitely somewhere mums and dads go with their kids to pick up shopping.

The point I’ve tried to make (and it’s obvs not coming across) is about cultural de-sensitivation. How norms are changing and things that would have been in specialist adult stores or ‘top shelf’ items as it were, are being normalised into regular family access spaces. There is a link with social desensitisation and increase of sexual crimes/ exploitation. In these times where child sexual exploitation is very real, it is very very evil ( and feel free to carry on calling me a prude and flaming me if you like, but I worked alongside Thames Valley police and was party to some of their pedo ring operations in this county, which was shocking actually in terms of the scale and frequency)

There is a place for adult humour on cards and sex aids if that’s your bag, even the gross halloween statue things, my point is should they be in family oriented public spaces? Does it not create a social norm? That it’s fine for kids to be exposed to the adult world of sex and porn?

It’s not a big step for describing anal sex on a card to depicting it visually. And this, clumsily, was my point that we are being desensitised.

To call this padlocked knickers is ridiculous. I can bet not one single one if you had spoken to a child who has been the victim of sexual trauma or exploitation.

That’s all I’m going to say, I’m obviously on the wrong thread if no one else sees an issue. It is ironic accusing me of trivialising these serious issues, as that is the total opposite of what I came on here to contribute.