I'd like to think it's common knowledge that biscuits don't have genders, but a bakery owner has now been forced to defend himself over selling 'non-binary gingerbread people'.
Building and decorating gingerbread houses is a much-loved pastime during the festive season, but of course we also have the human-shaped figures that can be decorated to look like Santa, snowmen or maybe even the Grinch.
These biscuits are commonly dubbed 'gingerbread men', but Paul Cook of the Cottage Bakery in Blackpool had decided instead to label them 'non binary gingerbread people'.
The treats still have two arms, two legs and a head, but the label alone that was enough to spark outrage after a photo of the gingerbread people was shared online.
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A caption on the post read: "Really ? A non-binary gingerbread people ? What it’s really come to".
Another commenter branded the labelling 'totally ridiculous' after hearing about the gingerbread people, while a third wrote: "I'd purposely not buy this. Utterly stupid."
Following the backlash, Cook revealed that he's actually been selling the non-binary gingerbread people for years without issue - it was only when the post was shared online that people spoke out about it.
"We've sold them for 20 years here and we re-labelled them about three years ago and it's only the last week that it's just got mental as somebody posted it on Facebook and everyone started going on about it," Cook told the Daily Star.
The bakery owner also pointed out that there are some more supportive people out there who have taken the biscuits in a more positive light, saying: "A lot of people have been saying that it's quite funny and then a lot of people have been saying making comments saying it's wrong to do that, it's 50/50ish".
The decision to label the gingerbread biscuits as 'gingerbread people' came about after the bakery received comments that they couldn't be called 'gingerbread men'
"When I went to get the labels printed, the printer guy said to me 'why don't you call them non-binary' just joking around. I said 'right just do it then', Cook said.
"It's just gingerbread, it's not a man or a woman then is it? It's nothing," Cook added, insisting the biscuits weren't 'meant to upset or be offensive to anyone', and that it was 'just a little bit of a joke really'.
With criticisms over both the name 'gingerbread man' and 'gingerbread people', Cook won't be able to please everybody. But for those who are still willing to shop at the bakery, let's just hope the biscuits at least taste good.
Topics: Food And Drink, Viral, LGBTQ
Emily Brown