FFS!

[FusionChefGeoff]

Asda T shirts.

"Boys - build rockets, be a scientist! Girls - look shiny!"

AND Sky is missing from the Paw Patrol shirt.

I try sooooo hard at home and then I see this shite and want to weep.

[UrsulaPandress]

Is there something stopping you from buying the blue and the green for a girl?

[badbadhusky]

The green scientist tshirt would ROCK with dark purple or red trousers.

[AssassinatedBeauty]

It's totally shit that this is the nonsense that is pushed at girls. And the idea that the boys couldn't possibly want a Paw Patrol t shirt with the girl character on!

It's just so lazy to roll out these tired and stupid slogans all the time.

[MadamWillYouTalk]

Totally agree with you OP, but thanks for posting the pics, DD1 would love the orange one! Just need to figure out where the nearest Asda is...

[Bosabosa]

This drives me mental. Tesco recently had girls' tops
Saying 'always glitter'. What the actual does that mean? Boys' t-shirts were all about action and doing stuff.
Message being that girls are passive objects that need to look a certain way and boys are active dynamos . Makes me mad.

[Threenme]

See I completely see your point they could have a pink rocket top for a girl (but then again is that a stereotype) but I know dd would 100% pick the unicorn! And I'd buy her which ever she wanted.

[badbadhusky]

I miss all the unisex kids' clothes in nice bright colours in the 70s and early 80s, when clothes could be handed down between brothers and sisters. The tyranny of pink and blue really gets on my wick.

[AssassinatedBeauty]

They could have an orange rocket top in the girls section, doesn't need to be pink. They could put Sky in pink on the Paw Patrol top in the boys section. There's nothing wrong with pink unicorns either, in themselves, but the slogan is awful.

[Threenme]

I often Look At pics of me as a youngster and think I look like a boy!

[esk1mo]

to be honest i have no idea what any of my childhood tshirts said on them, or what colours they were. i do remember a pink one with flowers, and my dad buying me a football top. surely the messages they hear from their parents are what sticks?

and im a female scientist.

[AssassinatedBeauty]

I don't think clothes had slogans like that when I was a child in the 70s/80s, I don't remember ever seeing anyone wearing anything like that.

[Blahblahboo]

Feminism is going too far with this complaining lark now. Just please get over it already

[AssassinatedBeauty]

No, thanks. Don't you have higher aspirations for your daughters than to "sparkle" whilst your sons are scientists?

[Threenme]

I don't think ultimately a t shirt will impact my kids that much though. It comes from is we treat them all the same!

[esk1mo]

you can sparkle and be a scientist though, and neither of those happen because of a tshirt from asda.

[noblegiraffe]

Skye being missing from the Paw Patrol t-shirt is just totally bizarre. With 5/6 of the (original) Paw Patrol it just stands out as 'we decided that even though there's only one girl pup, that's still too many for a boy to wear'. Are boys only meant to be fans of the boy pups?

[MacaroonMama]

This drives me NUTS!!!

And yes it is important for feminists to discuss this, e.g. I think it feeds into the rigid ideas about gender which so many young people struggle with, which in turn may feed into the huge spike in trans issues. I really do think it has more of an impact than we know.

I have seen loads of Paw Patrol stuff in pastels/pink/lilac with Skye and that snowy girl dog on, intended for girls - and lots of other stuff in primary colours/blue/navy with the other five boy pups on, meant to be worn by boys. Segregating rescue pups ffs.

I know we can choose not to buy them, or to choose the opposites, but you have to pretty confident to dress a boy in pink things (well, that is my experience anyway. I can dress my youngest son who is 20 months entirely in blues/greens, but if he wears his blue leggings which have tiny pink apples on the knees, he is called she!)

I'd love all shops to go the way of John Lewis and just have Children's Clothing sections. Bright colours, cool pictures, funny/inspiring slogans, comfortable fabrics and practical styles, suitable for jumping, dancing, running etc. And more sequins for boys! All three of my boys love sequins...

[AssassinatedBeauty]

Of course one t shirt from Asda doesn't instantly change girls aspirations. It is a cumulative effect of all the other similar messages that surround our children in our society. Lots of girls are able to reject it, to a greater or lesser extent, but many aren't able to and it can have negative consequences. These things aren't isolated cases, they're typical of lots of the cheap easily available clothing ranges.

[SweetGrapes]

It's not going too far when complaining about Skye being missing.
It's all on the same track - Rey missing in the star wars toys and Angela Merkel air brushed out of the PM's photo.
It's all on the same pattern. I think we don't get angry enough!!!
And then of course, there are the million missing girl babies.... brushed out of life itself.

[SpaghettiAndMeatballs]

They can exist, DS2 has the classic 'little monster' t-shirt, but in pink, there could be some crossover - at the moment there is none.

And the Skye thing is a travesty - Skye and Everest are DS2's favourites (he's a pink-fiend), he has Skye pyjamas (in a girls cut - lower neckline) - she's a part of the team, so excluding her is clearly honest to god sexism.

Happens with everything - I loved the big hero 6 t-shirts, but boycotted them because they left out the female member of the team again. In my experience, it's not that the boys don't like the female characters, it's that the male ones are the only ones pushed at them, so of course they start to gravitate towards them!

[SerfTerf]

Feminism is going too far with this complaining lark now. Just please get over it already

😄😂

[ErrolTheDragon]

Well, of course we can choose whichever clothes (and toys) we and our DC like. Feminists presumably do this already, and try to mitigate against stupid outdated stereotypes. But a lot of people buying for kids don't. Apart from the insidious message of the slogans and of the more decorative nature of the 'girl' clothes, the latter just tend to be less practical (same, obv, with shoes). This limits what girls can do (or think they can do). DD once sadly commented that one of her friends had nothing she could get muddy in.

[FusionChefGeoff]

Of course nothing stops me buying the cool scientist stuff (apart from a desire to spend my money in less gender divisive shops) but it's the fact it exists only in the 'boys' area that is just wrong.

Despite my best efforts, DS5 and DD3 are already dismissive of 'that's for girls' and 'that's for boys' as it's so fucking everywhere you are trying to fight against a massive tide of other messages.


And yes, it's the messages that sting, not the colours or the unicorns.

[Blanchefleur]

Is there something stopping you from buying the blue and the green for a girl?

Of course we can buy whatever colour/slogan we want for our children. As indeed, many of us do. The issue is that it is yet another example of the message being sent out to wider society, starting from childhood, that men do the serious stuff, women look pretty. Yes of course we have women scientists, but we also have an ever-growing number of girls thinking that they must be boys due to their interests and clothes.

I don't think clothes had slogans like that when I was a child in the 70s/80s, I don't remember ever seeing anyone wearing anything like that.

No, me neither. A lot of my clothes were passed down to my brother.

[Mustang27]

I love the green one that’s totally unisex actually I’d put all the boys ones on a girl happily, I’m not the biggest fan of pink and that is pretty erm over the top but if my wee boy was going all unicorn and sparkly I’d put it on him too lol. I’m just not that bothered and tend to not buy any emblazoned tops and trousers as I think they can look a bit meh. I got a load of hand me downs from a lovely friend who is the opposite and a few made me cringe with the stupid stereotype shit they say.