To think Center Parcs should be ashamed of this

[ReallyCenterParcs]

I think it may have been deleted now, but not before Center Parcs hid or deleted comments pointing out the stereotyping and misogyny of this Facebook post...
One comment I saw said mum's not keeping up because of all the shopping, cooking, washing and organising she had to before the family got to sodding Center Parcs in the first place. And she's riding a shite bike they've given her

Smallest child: I HATE YOU ALL. THIS HOLIDAY IS SHITE!
Dad: you will fucking enjoy it you ungrateful urchin!
Other child: ha! Small child is right.
Mum: told you so. We could have been in fucking Majorca. You owe me one after this drizzly week or enforced fun. I'm going to hang back to have a crafty cig in the bushes. DO NOT tell me to keep up!

@Okthen100 not all marriages are 50/50 on everything and that's ok as long as they're both happy and working as a team.

Me and DH have a more traditional marriage (which is odd as we're not typically traditional). He works a high pressure and high paid role with long hours. I work part time and take care of the majority of the home jobs, kids, cooking etc. I love the balance part time work gives me and I'm happy to take on these roles because my DH can't and the older I get the more I enjoy it. We work as a team and both have different roles to keep our family and home functioning.

Not to derail this thread but what do people think of the Barclays advert where the dad asks at the airport,
“Right! Who has got the passports?”

Can imagine a scenario where mum just assumes that dad has packed them!!

In my opinion what is wrong with this is the normalisation of the idea that the mum has the mental load. It might be accurate but it should be challenged not perpetuated!
I am not offended - I just want to be aware of sexism.

It's not that mum is the "butt of the joke" it's more the assumption that it's always the mum/woman who can't keep up (and yes, why is she on a crap bike?!)

I think CP missed a trick actually, they could've flipped it round and used the fact the children are girls to make it "come on DAD, keep up!" which would've done more for empowering and encouraging women and young girls !

@RageAgainstTheCoffeeMachine

Do you care if middle aged mums are perceived as boring and lazy?

Yes, I do. Because it’s just casual, predictable, old-as-time misogyny. And I’m sick of it.

Do you generally support lazy, belittling stereotypes?

As another poster said, this is far from the worst example of sexism out there. But we should have zero tolerance. Not stamping out the little fires that could easily be missed is what leads to the great raging flames of misogyny.

Of course it’s subtle; it’s marketing. They’re not going to have a tag line stating ‘middle-aged mums are slow and boring’ are they? There’s plausible deniability here; it’s easy to argue that it’s just a nice picture with an innocent caption. If that’s what people got from it - congratulations! You’re CP’s target market!

But MN is full of women doormats who simply do not understand or see sexism. I don’t know what it is…brainwashing by the patriarchy? lack of intelligence?

MN also seems to be full of women keen to tell other women they must be doormats/ cool girls/ lacking intelligence if they don’t subscribe to exactly the same definition of sexism as themselves.

Hmmm. But doormat is as doormat does, as Forrest Gump might say. If you’re looking at a mildly sexist image and going “all fine here” people might comment.

OK, let's take the sexism out of it and change the words to That "KEEP UP OLDIES" moment.

Which is entirely different to the posts on here saying the poster is sexist because Mum is fed up she's already done everything and packed bags and cooked and cleaned and will have to cook and clean when she gets there.

This is not what you describe, you describe a happy balance. Which is also firmly setting your bar perfectly high.

“Keep up, mum.”

Fucking hell. That mum is not as physically able and is trundling along at the back is the norm is it?

Not in my house. What a shit message.

But MN is full of women doormats who simply do not understand or see sexism. I don’t know what it is…brainwashing by the patriarchy? lack of intelligence? trying to look ‘cool’? I honestly don’t know.

Oh the irony.
"Women doormats... do not understand... lack of intelligence..."
You're 100 times more sexist than Centre Parcs @EnjoyTheFlowers . And you wonder why more women aren't feminist? Perhaps look at how some feminists treat other women if they don't tow the line or do or say exactly what they'd like them to.

Some people disagree with you about what the ad means and/or is portraying. Because women have lots of different opinions. But you're intelligent enough to know and understand that, I think.

People might comment, doesn’t mean they’re right though. Both sides might have a point, based on their own life experience.

But how do you know the woman in the picture is the type who constantly does everything for everyone rather than someone who’s in a similar situation like PP?
Fwiw, I know several couples/ families where the man is the main breadwinner and carries a huge chunk of (or the entire) financial responsibility while the woman works part time/ doesn’t work/ is free to leave a job she doesn’t like without having another one lined up.
Most of them don’t have young children, some don’t have any children at all.
Of course that’s just anecdotal, but that’s what I see around me.
In the same way as others might see couples where both work full time and the woman still does most of the housework/ childcare.

No, it wouldn’t be the same if it were the dad; that’s not how sexism works.

Please could you explain how sexism works.

Surely this appears to be sexist as it has been the norm to show women as the weaker sex, so it would be unusual to see a photo like that with a caption saying ‘keep up dad’ unless dad is portrayed as a fat joke like figure.

The woman in the photo is an actress.

But she won’t be leading if she marries and has kids. Her brilliance will be sidelined and she will become just mum who can’t even ride a bike anymore - according to Centerparcs.

Op didn’t say she was “offended” a pp used the term because it is a dog whistle and it worked.

I am not “offended” by the poster but it is the 21st century and whoever came up with that campaign needs to keep up.

This is the most misogynistic part of the whole thread, ad included. Well done enjoytheflowers, zero tolerance my arse!
Maybe take a look in the mirror and reflect on how you speak about women online before you start saying you are trying to stamp out everyday sexism, seems to me like your just stamping on women who don't 100% agree with you. Sounds a lot like some shitty men I've seen 🤔

So why assume that she “is fed up she's already done everything and packed bags and cooked and cleaned”?
People are projecting their own experiences onto the ad and based on that some find it sexist while others don’t.

As a bloke (and dad) I feel that this advert is actually a bit misogynistic, but would be fine if it was the dad being told to keep up. It's the difference between punching up and punching down.

As the risk of mansplaining, my take is that we live in a society where women are still too often regarded as lesser and weaker (despite doing most of the work). So making the joke about the mum is reinforcing negative stereotypes. Whereas if the joke had been about dad, it would have been refreshingly rejecting / inverting that negative stereotype.

Centerparcs should be ashamed of almost everything.

Again..
Its a WHOLE advert

You take the WHOLE picture into account.

It's not making fun of the woman. She is a young woman with a young family. She isn't lagging miles behind. She isn't fat. She isn't struggling along with a picnic basket and bags whilst her family leave her to it. She is wearing appropriate clothing the same as the others. The children are having a fun time, one is calling back Mum because that is what kids do. She is smiling as she watches them.

Some of you can act like it's not an experience you are familiar with but there are people out there who do recognise this scenario. Who have smiled and watched their kids zoom ahead and listened to them call back.

And the poster claiming not seeing this as sexist makes you "a doormat" needs to re evaluate their own language

Talking down at women like this is disgusting

Claiming they aren't "part of the sisterhood" because they don't see sexism the same as you is ridiculous

At first glance, nothing. As an older women I am now utterly fed up with the casual sexism and misogyny inherent in our society. It just goes on and on. if the slogan was 'Keep up, Dad'. No problem at all. Always mothers, failing somehow.

I’m a proper oldy as is DH! If the DGC shout ‘come on Gran/Gramps’ we’ll take it as encouragement. 😉