RIP Kleenex Mansize

[Ttaskmaster]

Suggesting that somehow men and women need different tissues is definitely sexist.

And what about things like shoe sizes, where we have entirely different scales for men and women? Even transvestites can't use the same shoe sizes as the other gender!!!

I've always wondered why they're called "man size" and I'm gonna guess it's just simply because men are, in general, bigger than women

As I understand it, the original tissue was the same size as a (typical) man's handkerchief, hence Man-Size.
That's it.... That's the reason.

In light of this current issue, I assume Amazon, that lovely bastion of customer service, will now cease selling what it currently advertises as "Men's" Handkerchiefs?

what I tend to find is that the majority of people that make that claim are usually male, usually white, usually able-bodied and usually straight – the very people who I suspect are least likely to suffer from subtle or overt forms of discrimination on a regular basis.

And/or in a position to make money from the claim, either directly or through crushing a competitor with their claim...

These days everything is 'something-ist'...

And today being a Friday, thus POETS, I suggest the world just gives up this silliness and we all go down the pub to get P-ist...!!

[kalniel]

And what about things like shoe sizes, where we have entirely different scales for men and women? Even transvestites can't use the same shoe sizes as the other gender!!!

No we don't, not in the UK at least.

[opel80uk]

And/or in a position to make money from the claim, either directly or through crushing a competitor with their claim...

Eh? I was talking about 'people who claim ‘These days everything is 'something-ist', or words to those effect.', not the people making the original complaint.

[atemporal]

Got to admit, I always thought they were called man-size because they were for cleaning up more than after blowing your nose. Which would kind-of bias towards one gender in that case.

It's like that old family guy episode:

[Ttaskmaster]

Eh? I was talking about 'people who claim ‘These days everything is 'something-ist', or words to those effect.', not the people making the original complaint.

It probably applies to both, TBH...
I'm sure some Baptists and Methodists will be offended either way!

No we don't, not in the UK at least.

"If you want to convert women to men’s sizes in the U.K., this is a piece of cake. Just add at least a 1/2 value to your UK women’s shoe size to get the corresponding men’s shoe size.

Respectively subtract at least 1/2 to your men’s shoe size number to get your women’s size. It gets more complicated if you want to convert, for example, European men’s shoe sizes to UK or US women’s sizes. As always, this is not an exact science, and it may well be that the men to women conversion works very differently for your preferred brand. However, in some cases, your UK men’s size is the same as your women’s size.

What can be said is that men’s shoes are generally a bit wider than women’s. So, you may want to choose men’s shoes that’s a bit smaller than you’re typical size if you are a woman."

[TooNice]

"If you want to convert women to men’s sizes in the U.K., this is a piece of cake. Just add at least a 1/2 value to your UK women’s shoe size to get the corresponding men’s shoe size.

Respectively subtract at least 1/2 to your men’s shoe size number to get your women’s size. It gets more complicated if you want to convert, for example, European men’s shoe sizes to UK or US women’s sizes. As always, this is not an exact science, and it may well be that the men to women conversion works very differently for your preferred brand. However, in some cases, your UK men’s size is the same as your women’s size.

What can be said is that men’s shoes are generally a bit wider than women’s. So, you may want to choose men’s shoes that’s a bit smaller than you’re typical size if you are a woman."

Yeah, I've seen that too. And I've seen other source claim otherwise. Perhaps it is a case where officially there is one measurement, but in practice, some makers at least make adjustments so that in practice, it is close but not exact, and even if it was, the fit won't necessarily be the same (wider/narrower, higher cut/lower cut etc.).

But yeah, I've always associated anything "man-sized" to mean "bigger the norm" since a man is often (but not always) bigger than a woman or a kid. Likewise, I would associate "kid-size" to be the norm, for the very same reason. Actually, I am overseeing the restoration of a hotel room earlier, and maintenance guy explained that one of the toilet kept clogging up because the exit hole was "kid-sized". I guess it wasn't my "man-sized" dung clogging the darn thing every week then

Still, if man-sized means larger sized, and kid-sized mean smaller than normal sized, doesn't it imply that only "women-sized" items are truly considered "normal", and anything else is just an abomination that strays from the norm? Outrage! (Meh, not really even if it was really the case.. I still think this was an non-issue made into an issue)

[ik9000]

well this rebrand will ruin a number of jokes in the 9000 household Now I've lost my first line of defence against Mrs ik9000 nicking the tissues from my side of the bed, just because it's nearer the door.

I must admit she seems to get more goes out of a standard sized tissue than I can manage - I've always just assumed guys needed bigger tissues. I get literally one blow out of the small ones and then they're saturated. Maybe there are some women out there with less deinty snot reservoirs similar to mine... who cares, just glad mrs ik9000 isn't one of them.

[wazzickle]

Well, turns out that tissues are quite the political lightning rod. This thread is neatly dividing everyone according to their political views. I'd guess there's a few politics or philosophy classes that in future will start with the prof asking the students what they think of the case study of man-size tissues.

[spacein_vader]

Well, turns out that tissues are quite the political lightning rod. This thread is neatly dividing everyone according to their political views. I'd guess there's a few politics or philosophy classes that in future will start with the prof asking the students what they think of the case study of man-size tissues.

How do you know the political views of anyone in the thread? I'd be interested to see who you think I voted for in the last general election for example.

[watercooled]

Wow. If it's not viral marketing it's some group being massively over-sensitive as usual.

Is it sexist to acknowledge the fact that there are actually some objective differences between sexes, e.g. males being for the most part larger, heavier and with a larger lung capacity? Maybe that has something to do with man-size?

The world must be pretty fixed if people genuinely have the mind space to get offended about crap like this.

Maybe I should jump on the bandwagon the next time someone dismisses a rough cold in a male as 'man flu'. Or maybe I'll just carry on with the ability to distinguish a bit of light-heartedness from actual discrimination, and not cheapen the term...

[The Hand]

Tissues are proving too divisive! Best close the thread now! Let's all march through the streets of London demanding a referendum on the subject! (I'm joking)

The term always struck me as a bit odd though, since anyone can use them for any reason etc.

[scaryjim]

… Is it sexist to acknowledge the fact that there are actually some objective differences between sexes, e.g. males being for the most part larger, heavier and with a larger lung capacity?

No, but ...

... Maybe that has something to do with man-size?

It's the justification for the term. But as has already been pointed out in this thread, being large isn't an exclusively male trait. Having high lung capacity isn't exclusively male. And we already have a term for something that's larger than normal …. LARGE. Want something bigger than that? EXTRA LARGE. Calling the large size "man" size creates a false equivalence.

I mean, I can't think of many reasons for someone to *need* their tissues labelled "man"-sized, and the ones I can't aren't exactly complimentary....

[watercooled]

I just never took it that seriously, personally. I'm not implying it's a necessary description of the product, and I wasn't implying any of those traits were exclusively male, but nor do I see any harm in it. I do think someone must have had a pretty sheltered life if this even makes it on to the chart of things they consider remotely offensive.

Plenty of things are named after one possible use, it very rarely implies it's the only thing they can be used for/by. Brake cleaner, wire cutters, tin snips, phone charger, cigarette lighter, water pump pliers (I've just come from the shed).

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Wow. If it's not viral marketing

Look later in the thread at what is happening at Kimberly-Clarke.

[TooNice]

But as has already been pointed out in this thread, being large isn't an exclusively male trait.

So guess you equally disapprove of the term kid sized? After all, some kids grow pretty massive (be it vertically, horizontally or both).

No it isn't necessary. Likewise I find the complaints unecessary oversensitivities. But I won't lose any sleep either way.

Part of marketing is to find different terms to describe things to make the item stand out, and perhaps appeal to a given demographic. And yeah, perhaps the men-sized and similar descriptive are partly there to play into the “macho-ness” some guys might find appealing.. At the risk of costing sales from some ladies who might not find it as appealing (in practice, I would like to think that most men and women are sensitive enough to realise that it is just a bigger box of tissues). Might not be a particularly wise marketing strategy (which could be the real reason to reposition the product now), but that is all far as my criticism goes.

[philehidiot]

LET Man size = Big.

LET Mothercare = Parentcare.

LET Transpennine Express = BSOD.