Annoyed with so called 'gifts for her'

[addictediam]

I dont normally post in this section, but thought this was the right place to post it.

I recieved a brochure for a local shopping centre today, it had 3 sections gifts for them (meaning children which had pictures of toys, pjs, sweets etc. Gifts for him which consisted of watches, ties, cufflinks, clothes, socks etc. And finally a gifts for her section which was filled with pictures of sexy underware, kitchen gadgets, cooking utensils, things to do with the children and finally jewelry.

This has really annoyed me (possibly because I'm pregnant and everything is annoying me!) But just because I'm a woman does not mean my chrismas presents should consist of something for dh to oggle, something for the kids and something for the kitchen.

Even dh laughed at it and said that's not gifts for her that's gifts for everyone but!

Sorry short rant over.

Your DH has it right methinks - gifts for everyone (except her). It's a general lack of imagination.

Yes but... the very word gifts seems to imply that it's about the giver, not the receiver. Does anyone go to a gift shoppe to buy things for themselves?

I guess advertising tends to reinforce rather than challenge stereotypes and clichés because thats what people tend to be comfortable with?

Ooh, there's nothing that says I Love You better than a new set of pans.

Dirtylie - yes, art is for challenging, advertising is fir reinforcing.

my ex husband once bought me a dyson for my birthday!

DP once bought me a wok. To be fair we didn't live together at the time and he was not expecting me to cook for him, it was just something I'd mentioned in passing that I needed/wanted!

I do hate those 'For Her' things. I haven't seen them include cookware and children's stuff (wtf?) but often it's cosmetics and perfume and similar, none of which I would ever want or use. I have lots of perfumes and smelly bath stuff taking up a shelf in my bathroom, all unwanted presents that people have chosen because 'women like that stuff'. Maybe I should try 'regifting' some, assuming they haven't gone off...

God those gift brochures are horrendous, aren't they? I can't open them without being overcome by a tide of rage.

I don't mind decent cookery equipment, as I like cooking and have acquired most of my more expensive gadgets as presents. But the serried ranks of jewellery/perfume/gruesome undergarments are just ghastly and so banal.

I hate this too.

I own a small business that makes what's perceived as a 'male' type of product. I work very hard to dispel this myth.

I was approached by a local mag recently for Xmas advertising and they wanted to put us in an 'ideal gift for him' feature. I was quite snippy with the sales women and said I hated the whole idea of 'our product' being marketed for 'men'. To be fair to her, she said she loved our product herself and although she couldn't change the feature (at her level) she would put our product in the 'ideal gift for women' section. Which she did.

We both had a little moment of "OK, it's a small step, but it's a step in the right direction".

The gender-stereotyping cuts both ways. I rarely see anything my DH would want in the 'gifts for him' collection, which tend to assume a desire to wear aftershave, obsess about football and adorn oneself in naff branded underwear and over-priced man jewellery.

I love pans. I want a food processor for christmas. I wouldn't want a dyson though. Or an iron. I am getting my dh a spit thing for his barbecue so that is a cooking thing too.

Nor would I want things to do with children! What were they?

I was muttering about this in the Lakeland catalogue. Glad to see its not just me

ugh yes, 'gifts for her' - as if 'her' is a suitable umbrella for all women, because they all have the same interests and hobbies. Ugh. Yes that annoys me too, and it's made me feel better that you expressed it.

I agree the 'for him' ones are horrible too, and never include anything that DP would want or that I'd get for him. Surely most people choose presents depending on what the individual needs/wants/likes, not just whether they're a 'him' or a 'her'!

There's something especially off about kitchen utensils and children's stuff being in the 'her' category though.

I hate these Christmas gift catalogues too. DH mentioned that in one he was looking at there was a tiny section of gifts for men and pages and pages for women. I pointed out that the women's pages were just different versions of the same old crap - endless boxes and bags of body cream, shower gel and bath foam etc. At least the men get a few gadgets, although to be fair most of them are rubbish too - abandoned from Boxing Day until it ends up in the charity shop box or in the bin.

The children's stuff is often no better. In a lot of the ones I have seen they divide them into boys and girls. Girls all Hello Kitty and pink princess stuff and the boys get pirates, garages, trains, knights castles etc.

I've had a load of these catalogues fall out of magazines, or come through the door. And I've looked through each one, wondering if there'll be any ideas for anybody I'm going to be buying for. Not a thing in any of them that would tempt me! Not for men, women or children. Just loads of expensive tat, much of it going along stereotyped lines.

One had a slanket in the "for men" category, but even had to label that as coming in "Jedi" or "Sandpeople" colours....