To think there are no 'normal women'

[Fritatayay]

I mean in terms of the ones that advertisers portray. Women who just like spa breaks and gin 'with the girls' and bland flowers and dress in the fashion regardless of their identity/ lifestyle/ preference. I don't know one.
I know feminine women, but usually they have hidden quirks like they love true crime or trains or rock climbing. I have never met anyone who is just like the women on the adverts. Women who laugh whilst eating salad, with pearly white teeth.
I was saying this to a male friend and he said 'well you're not a normal woman' and I thought 'but none of us are!'

Of course you’re right, OP. We’re all different, and none of us are special to anyone except our own loved ones. But saying this to anyone under 40 is an act of literal violence, or something.

Why shouldn't a woman laugh while eating a salad??
Someone may have cracked a joke
She might be laughing at the thought of 3 weeks off work wwith an e-coli infection given the state of salad leaves at mo.

Bless the dads that use their personalised beer mugs/tankards to drink their iced lattes.

My dad doesn't really fit the narrative either, he did however supply my sister and I with at least two of "our" power tools (his that we 'borrowed'). His cards are of the funny/rude variety.

Now you tell me.

Sure. I’m just saying that bland, general advertising categories are a blunt tool for selling us shit we don’t need, not some kind of indication of what’s ‘normal’. There’s a huge industry in selling gendered ‘wellness’, ‘pampering’, diets, and implicitly coercive self-presentation to women, for instance.

Just put an ad blocker on and then you don't have to see any of this shit.

I think you also fail to recognise that marketing agencies conduct extensive research not only into demographic of people who buy advertised products but also which adverts perform best for the said demographic. So yes, maybe you are not interested in their offer, but that just means you are not their target demographic. They will have tracked who uses the service, what the average target customer looks like, what are their values. It is called a "persona" and they create the content which is more likely to attract this persona.
Who is more likely to be interested in a spa break? A woman with tasteful jewellery who lovingly smiles at her salad or a woman with dreadlocks who walks barefoot in the rain at a forest festival? Advertising has to target the demographic who is most likely to buy a product, otherwise it is wasted money.

Because it's not a "trans debate" it's a discussion about women's rights and safety.
Because transwomen take up most of the available space on social media, mainstream media and real life.

And actually, if you read FWR transmen/boys are discussed fairly regularly. Particularly in respect of the many many teenage girls who are transitioning atm.

I think I understand what you're saying in the context of trans discussion. I've met a few transwomen who dress a bit like a caricature of how society has traditionally portrayed women should dress and often try to start conversations with me about hair, makeup and shopping and stereotypically feminine interests. I'm polite and try to continue the conversation, but these aren't things which have ever particularly interested me, so I'm not particularly knowledgeable. Most women I know aren't wearing makeup and dressing up on a day to day basis. It doesn't bother me and I think everyone has the right to dress and live their life how they want to (so long as they're not harming others).

I think plenty of people fall into the category of just feeling like them, rather than overtly masculine or feminine and don't feel the need to put a label on it such as 'gender fluid'. They should be allowed to crack on with it in the same way that people should be able to label themselves if that makes them happy. The issues only arise when one subset tries to dictate how others should choose to identify (or not) themselves.

There are probably about 15% of the mums at school who seem like this. Seem to form a clique where they socialise a lot but have little personality when you speak to them.

The concept of a "normal woman" is reductive and sexist. What's a "normal man?"

We're all unique.