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Strollerderby
Pink Tape Just for Girls And Other Strange Sexisms
Underwear. A potty seat with or without the splash guard. There are some things that are made to be marketed to separate genders.
And then there’s bubblegum pink tape made “just for girls.” Because nothing says girl’s best friend like her school supplies?
This little gem was found by Feminist Philosopher, whose take sums it up nicely: “Of *course* tape needs to be gendered. What was I thinking to not expect this?”
I discovered her post while searching for school supplies not twelve hours after my friend’s son was wandering around my house with my daughter’s Disney princess sweatshirt tightly zipped over his chest. Ironic?
I’m probably a bad feminist when I say this, but I generally ignore a large portion of the “girls” vs. “boys” marketing and simply pick up what my daughter’s most interested in. If it happens to be Spiderman, so be it. Then again, if it happens to be pink and frilly . . . well, so be it. It’s more important to me that she dictate her tastes and that she thought it perfectly natural to run upstairs and pull out a princess sweatshirt for her male friend to borrow when he was cold.
But it’s always nice to have some completely neutral ground – like the world of clear tape.
Or, you know, the Bible.
Well, mabye. That’s gendered now too – for Christian parents with little boys, you can buy the Boys Bible, The Ultimate Manual so he gets his own message from God (so much for “we’re all his children”).
Wonder if he’ll ask his sister for some tape to make his book cover.
Image: Feminist Philosopher
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8 Comments
Lee commented on Sep 04 09 at 3:05 pmThe word gender refers to a gramatical category, while sex refers to a biological one.
When you want to know if a child is a boy or a girl the proper question is, “what sex is the child?” not, “what is the child’s gender?”
A word is not alive, and therefore does not have a sex. The word her, is feminine in gender because of this distinction.
Products are marketed to separate sexes.
katie russell 12 yrs old grade 7 commented on Sep 04 09 at 6:37 pmi think that you guys are retarted who cares if they make tape for girls they also make hannah motana stuff theres no difference what u think that some little boy is going to want hannah montana stuff no its mde for girls they just avoid saying it to avoid retards like u.i also think god is just sterio type for people who need to belive in somthing because if they get sad they have some one to tell it to well guess what…THATS WHAT SHRINKS ARE FOR AND YOU NEED ONE IF U BELIVE IN GOD LOL xD.i also hate the fact people think that their babies are perfect guess what ….their not you dont know what their gonna grow up to be sure you tell us not to do it but we dont giva care what u say we want to fit in and we will do what ever it TAKES…ANYTHING!!!!!
katie russell 12 yrs old grade 7 commented on Sep 04 09 at 6:37 pmi think that you guys are retarted who cares if they make tape for girls they also make hannah motana stuff theres no difference what u think that some little boy is going to want hannah montana stuff no its mde for girls they just avoid saying it to avoid retards like u.i also think god is just sterio type for people who need to belive in somthing because if they get sad they have some one to tell it to well guess what…THATS WHAT SHRINKS ARE FOR AND YOU NEED ONE IF U BELIVE IN GOD LOL xD.i also hate the fact people think that their babies are perfect guess what ….their not you dont know what their gonna grow up to be sure you tell us not to do it but we dont giva care what u say we want to fit in and we will do what ever it TAKES…ANYTHING!!!!!
katie russell 12 yrs old grade 7 commented on Sep 04 09 at 6:37 pmi think that you guys are retarted who cares if they make tape for girls they also make hannah motana stuff theres no difference what u think that some little boy is going to want hannah montana stuff no its mde for girls they just avoid saying it to avoid retards like u.i also think god is just sterio type for people who need to belive in somthing because if they get sad they have some one to tell it to well guess what…THATS WHAT SHRINKS ARE FOR AND YOU NEED ONE IF U BELIVE IN GOD LOL xD.i also hate the fact people think that their babies are perfect guess what ….their not you dont know what their gonna grow up to be sure you tell us not to do it but we dont giva care what u say we want to fit in and we will do what ever it TAKES…ANYTHING!!!!!
katie russell 12 yrs old grade 7 commented on Sep 04 09 at 6:37 pmi think that you guys are retarted who cares if they make tape for girls they also make hannah motana stuff theres no difference what u think that some little boy is going to want hannah montana stuff no its mde for girls they just avoid saying it to avoid retards like u.i also think god is just sterio type for people who need to belive in somthing because if they get sad they have some one to tell it to well guess what…THATS WHAT SHRINKS ARE FOR AND YOU NEED ONE IF U BELIVE IN GOD LOL xD.i also hate the fact people think that their babies are perfect guess what ….their not you dont know what their gonna grow up to be sure you tell us not to do it but we dont giva care what u say we want to fit in and we will do what ever it TAKES…ANYTHING!!!!!
katie russell 12 yrs old grade 7 commented on Sep 04 09 at 6:37 pmi think that you guys are retarted who cares if they make tape for girls they also make hannah motana stuff theres no difference what u think that some little boy is going to want hannah montana stuff no its mde for girls they just avoid saying it to avoid retards like u.i also think god is just sterio type for people who need to belive in somthing because if they get sad they have some one to tell it to well guess what…THATS WHAT SHRINKS ARE FOR AND YOU NEED ONE IF U BELIVE IN GOD LOL xD.i also hate the fact people think that their babies are perfect guess what ….their not you dont know what their gonna grow up to be sure you tell us not to do it but we dont giva care what u say we want to fit in and we will do what ever it TAKES…ANYTHING!!!!!
mumus commented on Sep 05 09 at 9:23 amLee, I’m afraid you are wrong about that. Gender, according to the Cambridge Dictionary is ‘the grammatical arrangement of nouns, pronouns and adjectives into masculine, feminine and neuter types in some languages’ as well as ‘the physical and social condition of being male and female.’
Lee commented on Sep 05 09 at 1:28 pmI am well aware that over the last two decades the term gender has come into common usage particularly as a synonym for sex. The term has proved useful in many ways although distinctions between the two words, sex and gender, when one might be more appropriate than the other, has not been firmly established. In casual conversation, the words gender and sex are used interchangeably and it seems to make little difference. If there is room for doubt the context generally makes the meaning clear. However, the discrepant use of the terms can lead to confusion and a lack of understanding.
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