Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Telegraph
The Telegraph
National
Max Stephens

Andrew Tate-inspired Mother’s Day cards accused of trivialising misogyny

mother's day
mother's day

A series of Mother’s Day cards with messages such as “You belong behind the kitchen sink” inspired by Andrew Tate have been condemned for trivialising misogyny.

The cards are intended by the publishers to satirise sexist attitudes and language promoted by social influences such as Tate.

Messages on the cards include “Mum you are one in a million But you’re still a b----”, “Love you loads but women are entitled and lazy” and “Women are inherently manipulative.”

Another states: “You crazed crying low life, happy mother’s day”.

The cards are being sold through card website Thortful from £3.49.

Eliza Hatch, who worked on the cards, said: “Some of the quotes are from famous misogynists like Donald Trump and Andrew Tate. I’ve also had 100s of submissions from my community of what has been said to them which were quite shocking. We picked the ones that would be most shocking for a Mother’s Day card.

“There’s this idea that insulting someone’s mum is the highest form of insult and having that real contrast by putting those statements on a Mother’s Day card is powerful.”

mother's day cards
mother's day cards

Pip Heywood, managing director of Thortful, said: “We’ve taken a really bold step in putting real-life offensive phrases on something that is normally bought for Mother’s Day to highlight what is a continuing problem for women. We’re careful how we market the cards and they even have a stamp on them making it clear they are part of a campaign against misogynism.”

Brand agency CPB London said they wanted the cards to prompt debate over the use of sexist language, using insults commonly directed at women.

Helen James, CPB London’s chief executive, said: “We started with misogynistic comments online that were out there in the real world from people like Andrew Tate.”

“We wanted to understand the language around misogyny and shine a light on toxic masculinity and the casual use of misogynistic language, but in a really disarming way that would hopefully start a conversation and lead to change.”

Mr Tate, 36, is being held with his brother in custody in Romania on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group to exploit women. He was denied bail on March 14.

Ms James added: “Our expectation is not that people will buy these cards for their mum, it’s more about raising awareness and provoking people into thinking differently about the casual everyday sexism that is still unfortunately all too present in our culture.”

mother's day
mother's day

But critics have said the cards appear to treat sexism as a joke.

Virginia Crosbie, a Conservative member of the Women and Enterprise and Women in Parliament All Party Parliamentary Groups, told The Telegraph: “What is appalling about the sale of these cards is how it is misogynistic behaviour dressed up as a joke. But I am not laughing and it’s not OK.”

The MP for Ynys Môn added: “Every day women must put up with comments like these and worse. Making this sort of cheap discrimination part of a business model for Mother’s Day is just offensive on so many levels.”

Heather Binning of the Women's Rights Network (WMN) said: “These cards are crass, unfunny and downright mean to the very women we should be celebrating this weekend.

“If you don’t get on with your mother then don’t send a card at all. But to send something like this is to latch onto the current misogynistic trend that it’s ‘ok to hate women’ or it’s ‘just a joke’ to be unkind to us.”

The cards were conceived by CPB London’s female-forward studio WMN after its polling found that millennials and Generation Z are the most likely demographic groups to use sexist language.

As well as being sold online ahead of Mothering Sunday, the cards are on show until March 25 at the 2023 Hysterical exhibition, curated by Hatch, at the Bermondsey Project Space Gallery, London.

Trudi Harris, WMN’s Director of Purpose and Impact, added: “Trivialisation' is actually the point. ‘Trivial’ is how women experience sexism and misogyny every single day – it's hidden, it’s ironic, it’s banter with a magic get-out-of-jail-free card. The cards are literally taking this kind of casual, everyday language women experience and subverting it – to spotlight the problem. But not everyone gets irony, and these cards are therefore not for them.”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.