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To think that nothing is going to change for women while girls are still targeted with this bullshit?

269 replies

WinterTrees · 07/10/2021 11:57

In Sainsburys this morning. In the boys' clothes aisle I noticed tops with the words UNLIMITED and UNSTOPPABLE printed on them. Took a quick detour down the girls aisle to see what similarly empowering messages were being directed at them...

To think that nothing is going to change for women while girls are still targeted with this bullshit?
To think that nothing is going to change for women while girls are still targeted with this bullshit?
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ThePlantsitter · 07/10/2021 11:59

Does it still say 'boys' & 'girls' in Sainsbury's? I haven't been for a while. I can imagine what the other one says but if they're not labelled gender specifically it's not the shop's fault. If they are, I totally agree.

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WinterTrees · 07/10/2021 11:59

'Let's Stay Home.'

Because the world belongs to men, who face no limits to where they go and what they can do. They're unstoppable.

But hey, smile and be happy with your small domestic existence, girls.

To think that nothing is going to change for women while girls are still targeted with this bullshit?
To think that nothing is going to change for women while girls are still targeted with this bullshit?
OP posts:
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Optimist1 · 07/10/2021 12:01

I see your point. Sainsburys and other retailers could redeem themselves so easily by offering Kids' Clothes instead of dividing them up into Boys and -Princesses- Girls.

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NapoleonOzmolysis · 07/10/2021 12:02

twitter.com/letclothesbe

Loads of examples here. Sainsburys get more than one mention.

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squashyhat · 07/10/2021 12:02

Well what were they?

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Ozanj · 07/10/2021 12:03

I read somewhere that Sainsburys sells more girls clothes than boy’s. They sell this shite because it’s customers want to buy it.

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ThreeLittleDots · 07/10/2021 12:04

Ugh. Bullshit. Not even incidious, pretty obvious and evident.

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WinterTrees · 07/10/2021 12:04

I honestly can't believe that no one in the meeting where this season's collection was signed off flagged up that this might need looking at again. Who designs these things? Who approves them? I'd actually really like to know.

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VladmirsPoutine · 07/10/2021 12:04

I agree the messaging is really terrible, as are the clothes themselves but anyway. Conditioning does start from pretty much the womb.

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Plotato · 07/10/2021 12:04

It's not as simple as buying from the other section. I hope it's not contradictory but I want girls clothes cut in the style of girls clothes - smaller neckline etc. I just don't want the stupid messages or unicorns and rainbows all over them!

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CoddledAsAMommet · 07/10/2021 12:05

I hate this shit.

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MrsTerryPratchett · 07/10/2021 12:05

It’s self fulfilling though. DD loved dinosaurs and space but as soon as she could read ‘boys’ she said, ‘I don’t want to wear boy’s clothes’. Why couldn’t the girl’s section have space and dinosaurs? And bigger bloody shorts.

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ThreeLittleDots · 07/10/2021 12:05

Who designs these things

You'd hope it doesn't all just arrive in a random shipping from China, and that someone is actually looking at the designs.

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WinterTrees · 07/10/2021 12:09

That twitter account is interesting Napoleon. Depressing too, but I'm glad it's being called out. Thanks for the link.

My kids are in their late teens and twenties now and I'm shocked by how much more polarised the messaging has become since I was buying this stuff. There was always a bit of a kittens and sharks divide, but not such extreme differences in messages. It feels like grooming.

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MistyFrequencies · 07/10/2021 12:10

I've just been in Primark this morning and all hoodys in my daughter's size were "be nice" "always be kind" etc which are such fucking dangerous messages to send little girls. In my son's size he had dinosaurs, "I'm roarsome" "T-Rex expert".
I'm so tired of it.

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MistyFrequencies · 07/10/2021 12:11

OP you're right, it does feel like grooming.

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AnkleDeep · 07/10/2021 12:12

Fuck's sake

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MrsTerryPratchett · 07/10/2021 12:14

And it’s part of the stupid idea that ‘oh girls are worse than boys’ I hear a lot. So we need the Be Kind bullshit. Except violence is as sexed as it always was. Boys and men need the Be Kind bullshit. IME girls have been kind enough.

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Warandpeas · 07/10/2021 12:14

I'd swap the clothes around as an act of defiance. I hate this crap. I don't want my daughter to always "be kind" or "think positive" - it's blazoned all over M&S tops as well. Why is the onus on girls to be compliant, forgiving and agreeable?

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ftw163532 · 07/10/2021 12:16

That's fucking depressing.

Retailers are not mere passive suppliers, they have huge power to drive and influence society in order to create the mindset where people buy this sexist shit.

And they choose to use that power to prop up the patriarchy.

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BordelDeMerde · 07/10/2021 12:17

I had to throw out* a tshirt my inlaws sent over for my five-year-old that said "kiss my curves". Envy Not the inlaws fault as they don't read English, and the tshirt was actually intended for eight-year-olds (my child is massive) but still...that message is so not appropriate to any age child. Ffs.

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BordelDeMerde · 07/10/2021 12:17

*put in the textile recycling box.

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dollybird · 07/10/2021 12:20

There's a company that advertises on FB t-shirts for girls with great inspiring messages on. I can't remember what they're called though..

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Porcupineintherough · 07/10/2021 12:21

Retailers choosing to sell this shit is not nearly as depressing as people choosing to buy it for their children. And yet they do.

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WinterTrees · 07/10/2021 12:22

I've obviously been insulated from it, not being in the market to buy kids' clothes for a long time and it's really pissed me off. I think it's particularly fucking enraging because of the news this week and all the politicians and police chiefs handwringing helplessly about what can be done to make society safer for women, while children are being fed the message that males are unstoppable so females need to stay home. Fuck. This. Shit.

BordelDeMerde, that's outrageous. I have no words.

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