I’m so disheartened by the amount of everyday sexism I’m encountering especially when it comes to kids clothes. I am currently on a forest holiday in the U.K. and in the shop they had some pink and blue t-shirts (picture included) and I was instantly annoyed by them. It can’t be just me can it? Not so much the colour (although it’s no coincidence they happened to be pink and blue is it?) but the slogan. Yet another example of girls being delicate little beings who enjoy things like butterflies, stars and ‘sleeps’
whilst boys are obviously always rambunctious and always enjoy mud and fun.
Another example, my dd’s gym class gave out new t-shirts as part of their uniform. They were also pink and blue, although the kids could choose which colour they preferred, why not just have one colour for everyone? Why the need to enforce gender stereotypes like this? I see it in shops all the time as well, boys always portrayed as being strong, cheeky, boisterous. Girls are small, quiet, pretty etc.
I haven’t mentioned it to her Gym Class because I don’t want to be ‘that parent’ and they will probably look at me like I have 2 heads!
Yes in theory I could buy the blue t-shirt for my dd’s instead but first of all, why should I? And second, the eldest especially is pink obsessed and despite all my efforts sees pink as very much a ‘girls colour’ and blue for boys - I am trying to teach her that colours are for anyone who likes them, but it’s a work in progress unfortunately I just hope that one day she sees where I’m coming from. At the moment there’s no way she would accept clothing that was obviously marketed at boys.
I hate this pink=girl blue=boy nonsense. Can’t just be me can it? I feel like no one else sees the problem and it makes me question whether I’m just nit-picking or not. Figured if people in feminism chat think I’m over reacting then they are probably right and vice versa.
Feminism: Sex & gender discussions
Sigh, everyday sexism.
DeleteOrDecay · 25/10/2017 22:22
I agree with you OP, it is so frustrating and it is everywhere. With those tshirts I just think why couldn't you use the same text, and why use pink and blue? And the girls version reads terribly in comparison to the boys, wtf does 'sleeps' have to do with the rest of it? 
Totally pointless gendering of clothing and enforcing harmful stereotypes. Unfortunately most people do seem to think getting annoyed by this sort of thing is unreasonable, and until more people wake up and challenge this bullshit it will keep being produced and the messages they send will be absorbed by our children and society as a whole.
I'm fighting the tide here.
That’s exactly how I feel. It’s so ingrained in almost everyone I know. A family member looked at me like I was crazy for suggesting that it is entirely possible for boys to like the colour pink, to wear it, to play with pink toys. It’s not me who’s the crazy one here surely
I don’t tend to go on about it too much in RL as I feel like people think I’m coming across as a bit militant? I try not to but when everyone else around you is so non-plussed by it it’s difficult not to come across that way. I try a more subtle approach.
Lots of people also haven’t made the connection between gender stereotypes and the trans movement. They seem to think that not having these boxes to put people in leads to the ‘confusion’ and people ‘transitioning’ to the opposite sex. It’s madness.
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Eugh, I have a little boy on the brew in my belly (at least that's how I think it works 
) and I do wonder how I'm going to cope with all this. It is so shitty that boys get pushed to be the rough and tumble types, and are thought less of if they quite like butterflies and stars (which surely loads do), and of course vice versa for girls. If I was having a girl I'd be all about fighting the patriarchy, but I'm less certain on how to teach a young fella to be a 'good boy' and respect the choices of his peers.
I want my future son to grow up knowing that he doesn't have to conform to this shit if he chooses not to, or can, if mud is his thing (it is mine!). I won't be putting him in pink to prove a point but how will I make him see that gender is a made up concept and gendered clothing/toys/professions are just nonsense?
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