Why Facebook’s New Mother’s Day Reaction Is Just Another Sexist, Pigeon-holing Piece Of Twollop
I haven’t been Facebook’s biggest fan recently — I’ve been complaining about their newsfeed and their loss of identity. And now I am going to complain about their ‘exciting’ new flower reaction for Mother’s Day.
It’s like they’re going out of their way to agitate me.
Why Is It Sexist?
Simply put: why should we assume that a little purple flower resembles our love for our mothers? Are we really still that backward that cards and flowers is all we give?
What about mums that have different tastes and hobbies? Are we really that lazy as offspring that we just purchase flowers from the supermarket and a cute card? But what if your mum is a full-on Goth?
What if we surprised her with something unique? Something that only mother-dearest would love, want and understand? Rather than pigeon-hole her as every single mum out there — wasn’t Mothering Sunday supposed to be about letting her know how special she is to us?
The affect it has on a global scale
Facebook is a global service — they pride themselves on connecting the world together. By the release of this reaction alone, they are alienating a lot of nations.
I live in Canada, but I am British and spent 20-odd years living in Essex county. Us Brits also celebrate Mothers Day, but in March. Where was our reaction to show our mothers how much we love them in March?
Take a look at this image outlining Mothers Day dates around the world:
Initially, one might see the above image (found on chartsbin) as disproving my point, but in reality Mothers Day is celebrated differently depending on your nationality:
U.K.
As early as the 16th century, the U.K. observed on the fourth Sunday of Lent a day called Mothering Sunday, when families came together to attend church. In the early 20th century, Mothering Sunday — which had evolved into a tradition of spending family time at home — was fused with the Hallmark-card-giving American holiday, but it has retained its traditional name and date (March 15 this year).
Russia
In the former Soviet Union, mothers were celebrated on International Women’s Day on March 8, a celebratory date that has since become aninternationally-observed day to honor women and reflect on the goal for gender equality. In 1998, post-Soviet Russia introduced Mother’s Day on the last Sunday in November, but most of the gift giving still happens in March.
Source: Time
Spain
Unlike the United States and several other countries, Mother’s Day in Spain is celebrated on December 8. Spaniards pay tribute not only to their own mothers on this day, but also to the Virgin Mary. Mother’s Day in Spain includes religious celebrations across the country. As December comes this year, consider taking a moment to honor your mother on December 8 with the Spaniards of the world.
Source: WHSV
Check out Facebook’s top users, ranked by nationality:
Source: worldknowing
The top 3: USA, India and Brazil celebrate Mothers Day mostly the same, but Indonesia celebrates Mothers Day on the 22nd December. That’s 55 million users it directly ignores.
What’s the alternative?
Rather than just rolling out ‘reactions’ like some kind of censorship, Facebook should give up the battle that originally begun from the desire for a dislike button and just add the full repertoire of emojis in the first place.
Facebook considers these approaches to be ‘tests’ — to see how the user responds and, ultimately, uses their new features. I see it as just another way for society to dictate the way we feel and interpret things.
I mean, isn’t Mothers Day already bombarded with enough commercialism?
