The sillier sex
A public post on Facebook a couple of days ago:
A colleague just returned from a luncheon to benefit the National Women’s History museum, which is proposed for the Mall in Washington. Here’s what was in the bag of shwag they gave everyone who attended: lip gloss, nail polish, copy of “Glamour” magazine, candy, bracelet, dishwashing detergent.
One commenter called bullshit on the dishwashing detergent, but the poster said
No it was a bottle of some eco bullshit dishwashing detergent.
So there’s that.
I must say, the contents of that bag sound a little presumptuous, to assume every woman there would be interested in that stuff. Absolutely nothing in there I ever use, except dishwashing detergent, and I prefer to choose my own.
The presumption that these “party favours” would be generally appealing to women is bad enough, but I think even worse is the underlying presumption that a women’s history museum is of interest only to women (or perhaps to people of whatever gender who happen to enjoy lip gloss, nail polish, copy of “Glamour” magazine, candy, bracelet, dishwashing detergent*)
* does anyone *enjoy* dishwashing detergent? (OK I guess one could use it to make bubbles.) What kind of a thing is that to give away at any event other than a home show?
How can you just give someone nail polish? I occasionally wear nail polish, but I pick the colours I enjoy very carefully–I doubt I’d ever wear some random colour someone stuck in a bag for me.
So was the bag pink ?
I’m with iknklast; nothing there I use. Even dishwashing liquid – our machine uses tablets. Or did they mean washing-up liquid? Either way, nope.
Why not something useful? Like a history book of women?