Mermaids - sinister photo

[IrishMumInLondon2020]

What are they trying to do here with the photo of ‘Jennie’ and her friend on the bed? Makes me extremely uncomfortable.
mermaidsuk.org.uk/news/mermaids-tales/

I haven’t had one of their crappy coffees since they stayed this nonsense. Someone had stickered one near my office and that did make me smile.

Disturbing.

The first picture and words trouble very deeply in a different way. It's insidious - the use of Social Media.

Reminds me of those photos a while back of a child in drag with naked drag artists. Think the child was that 'is amazing' one.

That picture is horrid.

Even the name on the coffee cup is pretty flimsy as a way of trying out a name. I remember reading about an autistic boy who bought his first starbucks and was asked for a name to write on the cup - and thought it was pretty cool how you got to give your drink a name. So when he goes there he names all his drinks after pokamon characters....

@PurpleHoodie

The first picture and words trouble very deeply in a different way. It's insidious - the use of Social Media.

That's what I thought. Picking the 'boy' name by social media poll because they couldn't decide spoke volumes. A need for outside approval and validation. A sense of uncertainty being drowned out for the likes.

And I agree with toffee this is about a lasting digital footprint as much as the trans issue. How can children consent to being case studies like this? Can only assume with regards to GDPR and all that that Mermaids would have to take this down if requested. But we're here discussing it now and this blog post isn't new.

Does anyone recognise the books on the shelves? They don’t look like kids’ books.

Jesus that’s disturbing

Those two on the bed look like manga dolls. This is part of what bothers me about drag, & some (but obviously not all) TW. The makeup seems so cartoonish, they don’t seem to be attempting to actually look like RL women. But so many do demand the verbal affirmation that they pass & are indistinguishable from born females.

And yes, I’m never spending money in Starbucks again unless they stop supporting this rubbish. Medicalising troubled children is not ok.

The picture is awful, but the extreme stereotypes also struck me as I scrolled through. Female children trying so desperately hard to be boys, male adults and children dressing up in extremes of femininity that leave me cold. All I see is unhappy people living lives that look fake.

I'm making out "dying" and "nine lives"

Something "kitty."

On those books

Beware the G word. I used it to describe naked males hanging around in female spaces to desensitise women and girls to the presence of their genitalia. Got a deletion and a scold.

Naked males in female only spaces acclimatising women to their presence (i. e. Training them not to sense danger)
Grown men, dressed as dead child doll draped over 11 year old child on a bed

In the open. Plain sight. Parents and charities colluding. Celebrating. Wtaf.

Yuck. Nothing to add, really.
But I do wonder how someone can 'use the right pronouns ' when serving a person coffee. Unless it was a "does he take sugar?" incident, which is a whole other problem...

There is a classic 1960s black and white photo of wee boys in Glasgow trying on their mums shoes , and playing in the street, it’s sweet and innocent and something most children have done. Now is wee boys in drag standing next to full grown men in make up, nothing sweet or innocent about that, in any way.

That whole article is chilling, not just that awful photo. Young kids are being told that by becoming trans they are finding their “true self” and you hear these phrases over and over, like “not having to pretend any more” (even though what they are getting into involves a whole lot of surgery- and drug-assisted pretending to be the opposite sex) because they are fed these lines or copy them from online role models.

But you do not understand or know your true self at 11. The whole point of teenage years and going through puberty is to mature, experiment with identity and allegiances, and learn from experience. In no other context would kids so young be expected to make permanent choices like this.

As for the Starbucks marketing, could they be any more obviously bandwagonning for profit and cool points? This thing about names on cups is nonsense. I have had friends since forever who’ve had names or nicknames that don’t normally go with their sex - a male friend nn Alice, a female Fred. It means nothing in particular and any Starbucks staff will use the name you say unless it’s obscene or something. That has nothing to do with whether you’re trans.

Make an 11yo feel like what they’re doing is cool and exciting and makes them special and admirable and gets loads of attention from equally special cool adults and of course they will be keen and believe it. How anyone can defend this as being their true self is beyond me, when we KNOW many will desist.

Well they were selling literal woke cookies.

I thought the little girl was a doll when I first saw it!

Make an 11yo feel like what they’re doing is cool and exciting and makes them special and admirable and gets loads of attention from equally special cool adults and of course they will be keen and believe it. How anyone can defend this as being their true self is beyond me, when we KNOW many will desist

I dont even think it has to he thought of as far as even desisting. Kids are special to their friends and family that's it. The last thing we should ne teaching Kids is that they are the centre if the universe. That everything and everyone has a role to play in their lives and in making them.feel.special. we do children a massive disservice to indulge these levels of self absorption and neediness. I know that sounds harsh but the sooner they realise that Starbucks couldn't give a shit what name they say. Most people give fake names anyway. No one cares what you buy or think about what that purchase means to you ir if its a statement about yourself. They literally just want your money. Staff are told to make eye contact smile and say thank you/have a good weekend etc. They actually barely notice who you are. You simply aren't important past paying up .

Why are we encouraging such dependence on others

Ironically I was reading a post on trans Reddit by a transwoman who wasn't being given enough hours in their Starbucks job to support themselves so was also having to drive an Uber to try and make up their income to a living wage.

That's how much Starbucks value trans people is no more than they do anyone else. They are a massive company listed on Nasdaq. They are only interested in profit

Starbucks have clearly paid lots of money to Mermaids.

Starbucks also has plenty of outlets in Dubai.

This is what you find if you follow links under social impact on the Arab Emirates page.

www.starbucks.ae/en/social-impact-sustainability

This is what you find on Starbucks.co.uk

www.starbucks.co.uk/responsibility

Spot the difference?

Is that one of the contestants from s1 of drag race uk?

Regardless, this is innappropriate. You don't picture am unrelated adult snuggling on a bed with a vulnerable child. Bad vibes. Weird, adult, sissy-porn vibes. Not OK.

Now, I have no problem with drag, I don't really buy into the 'woma -face' argument because I think it's much more artistic and complex than that. However, drag is very firmly an ADULT form of entertainment, with a lot of highly sexual, subversive humour. Children should be nowhere near this.

Agree Whatwouldscullydo. It’s tied into the general culture of self-obsession and kids being told they can be and have whatever they want. I also think the “celebrating” of kids being trans is done to show allegiance to “being kind” and not being a bigot, without any thought about what it does to the child. Makes it almost impossible for them to back out, and gives them a powerful sense of value linked to going further and further down the trans route.