Holy shit, it really is everywhere. [View all]

I'm not reporting anything you didn't already know, and it's not as though I doubted it, but every so often I see a small but ugly bit of online sexism that stands out even against the background haze of general misogyny.

Both for nostalgia (don't judge) and because I have young kids, I'm very aware of the toy brand Mega Bloks, a building product similar to LEGO. I follow their page on Facebook, and one of their product lines is a Barbie-themed line of construction toys.

Honestly, the series suffers from the ongoing problem that Barbie is mostly interested in "girlie stuff," but I'm glad to see construction toys reaching out to girls when the hobby has been mostly boy-oriented for decades. Happily, this has recently improved a bit with LEGO's Friends line-up, and--even better--LEGO's series of science-themed toy sets with female figures: chemists, astronomers, etc.

In any case, the people at Mega Bloks posted pictures of two upcoming Barbie sets and asked readers to chime in and comment about which they like better: "tea time" or "horse stable." I'd like to see "surgical theater" or "board room," but I'm not holding my breath.

Predictably, the first male response was

Hardy har har! Very clever! And it's not sexist because you're "jk."

And the second male promptly postedSeriously? What's wrong with these assholes?

Don't they care that people can see their names? Don't they care that young girls will be reading that page? Did they really have to go out of their way to declare their misogyny on a page specifically meant to showcase children's toys?

Sickeningly, I imagine that the answers are:
1. They don't care
2. No, they really don't care
3. Yes, they really had to

Way to represent, guys. Your mothers, sisters, wives, girlfriends and/or daughters would be so proud.


Again, I know that this is nothing new to you here, but I truly didn't expect to run into it in what I that was a safe environment.

I've alerted that page's moderator (or whatever the FB term is), so maybe those posts will be deleted. But still...