Really? Gender stereotyping? We're still doing that?

What, you can't even buy TROUSERS now without finding a bad sexist joke on the washing instructions?

I am morbidly fascinated by the ways in which women and men are stereotyped by companies trying to flog their pointlessly gendered wares. Fin and I are thinking of getting a new car (our current car is too small for Smidgen, it makes a very ominous noise if you go over 40 miles an hour and bits of trim fall off at random on motorways. All valid reasons for a replacement, I feel). So I was on the What Car website looking at estate cars. The fact that my entire being is appalled by the very thought of buying an estate car - for my husband and my dog, URGH - is a whole other can of worms, but suffice to say I was already depressed enough before I noticed a little pink link inviting me to check out the "Female Verdict". One regrettable click later and I found myself on What Car's sister site, evecars.com. Because of course women need a separate car website all of their own. How are we meant to absorb information if it's not wrapped up in a pretty pink package? It's, like, totally hard!

Evecars seems to trade on the assumption that if you talk about cars like they're sexy beasts, women won't notice that they are, in fact, cars. The particular model I was looking at was described as "almost as smooth as 007"; its "sassy styling really stands out in a crowd". Erm, great. Any, you know, actual information about the car? Other than the fact it's "one of the cutest in its class"? I thought I was buying an estate car, not Justin Bieber?

The category descriptions are even worse. On and on, cliché after cliché. Easy to park! Great for the school run! You'll look fabulous! In fairness, there is an executive car category - "going to work is great!" - but whatever you do, don't try and drive to work in an MPV. That's "Mum's Taxi". No executives allowed.

Okay, fine, I'm probably overreacting. A lot of women might find the idea of walking into a car showroom intimidating or confusing (I certainly would), and might welcome a resource that talks about the different options in a simple, light-hearted way without descending into Top Gear territory (gah, the horror). But this relentless division of us all down neat little gender lines - women and men, girls and boys, pink and blue, even for something supposedly neutral like buying earplugs - is it really necessary?

I suppose my fear is that by endorsing the idea that women need only take a superficial interest in supposedly "manly" things (and vice versa), it encourages a particular brand of silly faux-helplessness. "Oh, gosh, I have no idea how many miles per gallon it does, that's for boys. But look at my sassy pink cup holder!" "Change a tyre? Well, I was hoping you might help me with that [cue hair twizzling and much batting of lashes]." One of the many reasons I'm grateful for knowing Fin is that he will always call me out when I lapse into daft lassie territory; I know I'm bright, he knows I'm bright, and allowing me to pretend I'm anything else is just irritating. 

Having said that, I still have no clue how to change a tyre. Frankly, I'm not so hot on the washing and ironing, either.

Does anyone else get frustrated by this stuff? 

{Images: 1. Emma Barnett/The Telegraph 2. Rion Sabean}