to complain to ELC about their pink vet's outfit?

[upsylazy]

I have 3 dcs aged 12, 10 and 4 and used to get a lot of stuff from there when the older two were little. I actually remember a tv advert they did with barbie dolls and action men saying that their toys were much more progressive and educational than most of the plastic tat around and I really liked a lot of their stuff.
I didn't go there for a few years but have started going back because DS2 is around the age their stuff is aimed at and I'm HORRIFIED at the blatant gender stereotyping. They now have dressing up clothes split into boys and girls clothes with the doctor outfit being in the boy's bit (which is totally inaccurate as there are now more women entering medicine than men). The girl's clothes are all princess and fairy stuff apart from a pink nurses outfit and a PINK VET'S OUTFIT.
There are also loads of toys made in both blue and pink eg a pink castle with a picture of a girl playing with it and an identical blue one with a picture of a boy.
There are also some real throwbacks to the 1950s with most of the pretend tea sets, cooking things, and anything to do with housework featuring a picture of a girl playing with her mum and tool sets etc showing boys playing with their dads. This segregating into "Girls" toys and "Boys'" toys is everywhere and actually is much more marked than when I was a child in the 1970s when there seemed to be far more "unisex" toys.
Regarding clothes, I don't mind a bit of pink for girls but now it's a real battle trying to find something for my DD that isn't fucking pink.
I've noticed this trend for a while but was shocked that even the "progressive and educational" ELC have stooped to it.

Oh dear This would make me feel dismayed as well. I'm glad I don't have girls tbh, it must be tough. I hate gender stereotyping.

Boycott the place and write to tell them why. Makes me incensed that somewhere with 'learning' in its name should be one of the worst offenders for this! They should be stripped of their pseudo-educational title and made to paint themselves pink!

M&S did this a few years ago. Their range of housework toys, washers, toaster, kitchen type things were called 'Mummy and me' outrageous

I'd have said its easier with girls - they will usually find the 'boys' options perfectly acceptable so you can choose from the full range.

Try to ignore the silly gender labels, that goes for clothes and shoes too.

Pink vets outfit is so silly.... medical types you need white and/or green. If you want a doctor's kit, get one and if your DD queries it , say loudly 'They've probably just put it here because perhaps boys can't do everything, but girls can - you know there's loads of women doctors'.

Been like this for ages. When dd1 (age 11) was preschool it was all different colours.
Dd2 (age 8) everything was pink, blue or green.
I assume the green didn't sell, so when dc (age 5) came along it was just pink or blue.

I asked the lady in the shop when they were going to change the store tills to one pink, one blue to match. She rolled her eyes and said "don't give HQ ideas" although she also pointed out (with a grin) that hadn't started doing pink and blue batteries.

The doctor's outfit only exists in the boys section? That and that alone would have been enough to make me turn on my heels and walk out.

Look at these cool vintage kids toy ads. It seems society is regressing when ads like this are a thing of the past.

thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/07/17/vintage-lego-ad/

Eh hidden? How does gender stereotyping affect only girls?