Presents

[ladyofastolat]

Have any of the "hers" around here ever seen anything in the "For Her" section of a Christmas gift catalogue that they would actually want for Christmas? Am I totally out of synch with British womanhood in not longing for moisturiser or bubble bath or curling tongs? At least the men are allowed gadgets and toys, as well as aftershave. I saw one place that was advertising a gift of a magazine subscriptions, and the "for her" selection was entirely women's magazines, while the men were allowed computer games, films, cameras etc. Men are allowed to be interested in things and to do things. Women are only allowed to be interested in beauty and celebrity gossip. It is most annoying. Does it reflect reality, I wonder? I doubt it.

Though speaking of hims, a certain him I know has given me his Christmas list. It includes a full set of fourteenth century armour, an anvil (small), a halberd, a spear things, longsword wasters, and a gambeson. Aftershave would be easier to obtain.

Comments

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Nope, don't think so. It may reflect reality in so far as women are prepared to buy or own things that are branded as 'for men' whereas men on the whole will not touch any product that is feminine in its presentation.

So if you want to sell stuff, you only brand things that the extremely female (or, possibly, extremely gay male) would want as female. Anything that is unisex should be branded as male, because if the women want it they will buy it anyway.

[chelemby.livejournal.com]

Half the women I know would want the "For Her" section material ... the other half would prefer your friend's wish list ;-)

I know a lady who would give anything for a decent, battle-ready broadsword :-D

As for me, I prefer axes. Guess it goes with my beard and Gimili obsession

[evilmissbecky.livejournal.com]

Am I totally out of synch with British womanhood in not longing for moisturiser or bubble bath or curling tongs?

Gah. I wouldn't want any of that stuff, either.

I'd much rather have a gift card to my favorite DVD store. That sort of thing. Why are guys the only ones allowed to get toys for Christmas?

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

Aren't you forgetting that it's a man's world, so of course all the cool stuff is slanted towards us?
*being tongue in cheek about entrenched patriarchy honest!*

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It was my birthday at the weekend. My male friends bought me a replica sword.

However, in the case of the magazine subscriptions you mention, my suspecion is directed at which brands the actual publishing companies involved own. Women must buy a lot of sewing and craft, design, homes and gardens (and gardening) and wildlife/natural history/pet magazines, which you don't mention. Therefore I suspect it's down to the properties owned by the group in question.

[chainmailmaiden]

I don't mind getting moisturiser & bubble bath, I wouldn't say I was longing for them though. I don't need curling tongs, I already own some already :-)

My Christmas wishlist has many DVDs on it that I'm sure wouldn't be considered suitable choices for women, on the other hand it also has a number of cookery & christmas themed books that I'm fairly sure most men wouldn't be interested in (and to be honest, probably most women wouldn't be interested either).

There does seem to be more gender stereotyping going on these days, but I tend to just ignore it. I imagine it would irritate me more if I was going to have children, I'd want any girls I had to be tomboys like I was. I'm not sure I could cope if they liked all things pink.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I don't know about aftershave - deoderant might be more appropriate if he's going to be wearing that lot! ;-)

[shadow-nightfal.livejournal.com]

Hello. Well I have to admit that your other half's list is a lot more interesting than bubble bath (yes i'm of the female persuasion). My christmas list however is more 'this camera zoom lens', 'that wide-angle' and that 'macro lens' .. oh and i hated pink when i was little. Actually, that hasn't changed now! :p