Mansize tissues no more. But what would womansize tissues look like?
- Carmella De Simone
- Oct 19, 2018
- 2 min read

Photo: Pexels
Kleenex abandons ‘Mansize tissues’ after complaints of ‘sexism’ and ‘gender inequality’.
‘Confidently strong. Comfortingly soft’ branded boxes of Kleenex mansize tissues for over 60 years.
Amid debate over unnecessarily gendered products, Kimberly Clark owner of Kleenex says it succumbed to growing public demand to change the name, despite not itself believing that the Mansize branding suggests or endorses gender inequality.
Kleenex tweeted, “We recently made changes to our Mansize branding and will now be labelled Extra Large, keep an eye out in shops”, in response to backlash from customers on twitter.
Ladbible retorted to the news with, “Kleenex For Men first appeared on shelves back in 1956, when it was a better time and everything was bathed in lovely sepia tone, men were men, a Freddo bar cost four and sixpence, and women kept quiet and remembered their place”.
In 2012 Yorkie dropped their “It’s not for girls” slogan, and admittedly.. I can see why, I still shudder at the thought of that tacky crossed-out handbag bearing silhouette logo indicating ‘No girls allowed’. But has this all gone too far?
Yesterday Waitrose announced it’s now renaming it’s “Gentleman’s Smoked Chicken Caesar Roll” after complaints the name was ‘sexist’ and ‘ridiculous’.
India and Australia eliminating the “tampon tax” are abundant victories for gender equality, with Britain likely set to follow. But at Brunel are we really concerned by ‘Mansize’ tissues’? And would ‘Womansize’ tissues rectify this? I asked students what they think ‘Womansize’ tissues would look like.
“Stereotypically you’d think they’d be smaller. I mean obviously it’s kind of stupid in reality. Putting a name on it isn’t going effect the way men or women use it so it’s a bit outdated. It’s all kind of political correctness” said Jack, 18, a physiotherapy student.
“I never really thought about tissues to be honest. It wouldn’t really bother me” said Tom, 23 an ex Brunel student.
“They’d probably be smaller than mansize from society’s point of view” said Vinay, 19 an Economics and business finance student.
“I think they’d be pink, and have flowers on the packaging, they’d probably cost more like a lot of products in boots. Woman are less likely to complain about the price gap because it happens all the time”, said Stephanie, 21 a Sport health and exercise science student.
“Manufacturers would make it pink and charge you more, like with razors. They charge you more because it’s pink. They might even have a scent” said Danielle, 21 a Human Resources student.
“They’d just be small init, that’s about it, init” said Hussein, 20, a mathematics student.
Brunel students don’t seem too bothered, but there is recognition that female-targeted products usually cost more.