to think shame on the Science Museum for agreeing to create products for boys only

[slightlysoupstained]

www.johnlewis.com/search/john-lewis-science-museum-collection?_requestid=8082038#article-grid

Lovely idea, but making them ONLY for boys is beyond oblivious, and well into obnoxious territory.

For those saying they're not listed as boys, this is why I said they were:
www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-science-museum-collection-space-shuttle-pyjamas-red-navy/p383746
Categorised under Home Page > Baby & Child > Boyswear > Nightwear

Good to know they will come up under searches for girls too, but they have made a choice to list them in the boys category. Agree with MaryMotherOfCheeses, JamieAndTheMagicTorch (and poss others) that it's JL's choice.

Are there bigger things to worry about? Yes, certainly. But this contributes to things like www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19603399 and www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/oct/05/girls-physics-a-level and tbh if we were to impose a "there must be NOTHING bigger to worry about" rule on AIBU it'd be pretty quiet in here.

So you are saying girls are put of doing A Level Physics because they can't find science themed pjs in John Lewis? Really?

*put off

Permanentlyexhausted
"[...]how should they have made them more relevant for girls? By making them pink??"

By shelving some of them in the girls' section in the store. I'm not a big fan of pink, myself. Never liked it as a kid.

Growlithe - do you really think just one event will put girls off doing A Level Physics? Or do you think maybe I was talking about a pattern of events, where one single event is one of maybe hundreds or thousands of events that all contribute to forming an overall impression?

But the OP was about one single event.

You did sound a bit bonkers. TBH. But I get your point now.

Problem is that the stores don't do unisex clothing sections. They either have to be male or female. At any age.

I've been known to browse the men's section if I want a plain jumper.

What is the 'event' in this case though? I mean, did Einstein have science themed pyjamas?

Contact JL and point out that the PJs could brilliantly be in a section between the girls and the boys. It could boost sales so not a bad point to make.

" Someone made a conscious choice that these should be labelled, shelved, and sold as boys' clothes."

Yes, but probably the people doing the labelling, shelving and selling (i.e. the staff at the physical John Lewis store) and not the Science Museum upon whom you are heaping shame in your OP...

And they don't just "come up under searches" for girls, they are categorised under Home Page > Baby & Child > Girlswear > Nightwear. So JL online have "made the choice" to list them in the girls category as well as the boys' category. And they are photographed on a fairly unisex child (if I had to guess I'd plump for boy, I suppose, but it could easily be a girl).

I do think it's a significant issue, but it's not a significant issue online. If they are shelved in one area only in the store then that's inappropriate, but you're distracting from that by complaining about the SM and how products are catalogued online.

"You did sound a bit bonkers. TBH. But I get your point now. "

Yeah, reading back I admit I was clear as mud. Sorry.

It's not unknown for stores to shelve an item in multiple locations, if they think it fits there - they could have put the jimjams in both boys' and girls' sections. Unless there is some weird and arcane John Lewis Rule that I don't know about.

Thinking about it, DD (9) plays cello and guitar, and is an excellent swimmer, as well as being into science. She is currently in bed in a pair of Hello Kitty Pyjamas because they were on offer in ASDA. Have I ruined her life?

Are you equally as offended by pink and purple PJs only being the girls section?

Basically it annoys me that anything I happened to like as a child (dinosaurs, diggers, spaceships, steam engines, aeroplanes) seems to be in the boys' section. Which makes me suspicious that I might have been unfairly deprived of cool pyjamas when growing up.

Growlithe - I don't think you're taking this seriously enough, the wrong pyjamas could have very severe consequences. It's no joking matter.

It is grossly unfair to deprive girls of cool pyjamas.

Is there a charity which could help the unfortunate victims of their parents' neglect?

But this happens all the time - and more so with things aimed at girls. Craft sets for example - mostly in pink boxes with a couple of girls on the box.

Do your children like the same things your liked as a child? Or are they allowed to be individuals with their own interests?

If you want dinosaurs and diggers, then go to the boys section. It doesn't seem like rocket science to me (boom tish!).

Have you not got anything better to winge about?

If you want tour child to wear any clothes as opposed to just ones aimed at boys/girls then that's what you buy them,its not that hard.

Well, perhaps after all my efforts to enrich her life in other ways, because I've provided her with Hello Kitty pyjamas all she will want to do with her life is walk around with a red bow placed jauntily around one ear.

What have I done? All that wasted money going to science museums at weekends, paying for music lessons (and buying instruments), taking her to swimming lessons for years, as well as all the thing she took up and dropped.

All I had to do was walk to the boys section on JL to buy her PJs. TBH I wouldn't pay over a fiver for a pair of PJs.

DD isn't going to get on in life, and it's all my fault, because of the PJs.

It just seems silly, I rarely buy anything pink for dd and prefer a wide variety from 'girly' pretty to 'boyish' tomboy, the boys and girls sections are next to each other so why would you put the same items in each section? People can freely browse between both and pick what they like.