Twitter Furore Over Sports Direct 'It's Girl Stuff' Cleaning Toys

A Cleaning Set? 'It's Girl Stuff'

Step aside lip balm chemistry set and the bubble bath science lab, there's a new contender for most gender-steroetyped toy in town.

Spotted by eagle-eyed Em Murphy-Wearmouth, who posted the image on Twitter, it's the Cleaning Set, featuring a dustpan and brush, cleaning spray and broom from the imaginatively titled "It's Girl Stuff".

Only yesterday, Sports Direct had tweeted this rather ironic question:

The blogger quoted in the tweet wasn't too happy.

Several high-profile tweeters, including former MP Louise Mensch and Sky News presenter have urged Sports Direct to pull the product.

The company could not be reached for comment by the Huffington Post UK.

And several other cleaning sets aimed specifically at little girls are available at the retailer, including a Disney Princess Apron and Tiara set for Cinderella cleaning.

But Sports Direct are far from the only company stocking the product at the centre of the Twitter storm. The set can also be found on Amazon, where several customers have written either angry or tongue-in-cheek reviews.

One wrote: "My daughter wants to become a pilot when she is older. However, I have explained to her that girls cannot be pilots. I'm thinking of buying this toy for her, in the hope that she understands that cleaning, and other domestic work, is what girls will do when they are older.

"As the packaging says 'It's girls stuff', so, I know I'm right. My only concern is the strength of the products, as she will be doing a lot of cleaning with these, until she can use the full size tools? Can you confirm that these will survive a standard 6 hour cleaning shift, every day?"

Another, more serious reviewer, wrote: "I bought this for my grandson when he was 11 months old as he kept trying to use my broom. He loves it and I would definitely recommend this set. Shame about it being called 'Girls' Stuff', in this age of equality."

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