to think MNHQ should know better than to feature photos of babies in headbands (preumably to denote female) on this site?

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

Of all places!

Come on HQ. Pull your finger out!

There are far more 'serious' issues in the world around us than whether it's stereotyping to put head bands on girls. Children will grow up to be who they want to be, whether they wore a headband at twelve months old or not. I certainly will not be dictated to on what I should dress my children in by someone who obviously has far too much time on their hands if they get worked up by something like this. Jeez!

The only children on MN who can wear pink and sparkly stuff are boys

Children will grow up to be who they want to be

Do you think so? Do you think society and all its messages (some hidden and some not so hidden) influence people's view of themselves and what they can do?

Please explain to me Livia how exactly I am gender stereotyping?

The gender stereotypes we have in the present day are that young women wear a lot of makeup, are ultra groomed and extremely concerned with their appearance. All with a background expectation that they will be submissive, gentle, feminine, pure, interested in arts and languages, glitter, flowers, butterflies and pink.

It is not the same for boys.

My dd happens not to be a stereotypical girl. I don't know how I'd react if she was, or if she changes in the future.

But I don't understand what you mean by I am "stereotyping". I am just moaning about what the stereotypes are.

What about the girls who actually like pink? So we can no longer have toys made in pink As it sends out a bad message ( unless for boys ofcourse)

If you aren't gender stereotyping, why assume that the babies with headbands are girls? And it has been pointed out to you several times by different posters - obviously feel free to pick me up especially though, I know how much you enjoy having a dig at me

Still having read this I'm actually shocked...

My dd happens not to be a stereotypical girl. I don't know how I'd react if she was, or if she changes in the future.

Seriously?

So we can no longer have toys made in pink As it sends out a bad message

Have you ever wondered why some toys are made in blue and some toys are made in pink?

What message do you think it sends to children when a kitchen set is made in pink and a builders set is made in blue? The kitchen is all sparkly and features a little girl in an apron, whilst the building set has a little boy building.

Do you think there's a message in there for children?

The building set could be in pink and have a girl building.
The kitchen could be in blue and have a boy cooking.

Or - there could be a range of colours and boys and girls on the front doing the cooking, building etc.

Oh come on Livia, don't flatter yourself.

You have stereotyped op, don't
Try to get out of it liv is right.

I don't flatter myself but you have made it very clear several times on different threads that you have an issue with me and my posting style.

Obviously I have other issues to worry about - there's more going on in the world than whining about so called gender stereotyping whilst gender stereotyping yourself

Liv I agree. If it comes out that the babies in headbands are boys there will be cheers and applause

Look at how people reacted to the shit Smyth's advert coz a boy wear a sparkly pink dress. They were bowing down to Smyth's and thought it was amazing

If it had been a girl Wearing it then MN would have exploded with hate.

On pink and stereotyping...

www.toysrus.co.uk/toys/s/_/N-0?Dy=1&No=0&Nrpp=96&Ntt=kitchen&Nty=1&x=0&y=0

ToysRUs kitchens

And house role play

www.toysrus.co.uk/toys/browse/toys/role-play/house-play/_/N-103209

Now there are some images to analyse. TBF - there are some images of boys doing house stuff with a blue hoover. No pink workbenches though. Or girls at a workbench,

I am pretty sure other colours are available rather than blue and pink. Yet so many kids toys at that age are those 2 colours.

"You have stereotyped" what does that even mean?? Seriously I don't understand. Do you mean its because I assumed the babies in headbands in the photo were girls? Or what exactly? I'm not trying to get out of anything.

If the babies in the photo with headbands are not girls then I apologise to them. I don't apologise to the photographer or the stylist who thought it was necessary to adorn two of the four babies in this way. What is wrong with having 4 little babies in a photo with no signals as to what sex they are? Headbands are awful anyway, because of what they represent, not what they actually look like.

I see no one answered my question about signalling boy babies by strappling a little beard under their chins and hooking the elastic round their ears.

looks at the toy kitchen my daughter was given ten years ago
realises it is black and grey

Livia DO NOT LIE! I mentioned your posting style in one comment on one thread. It was a direct answer to your question where you asked how people knew who was who on Mumsnet and I said it was because I read the poster's name as well as the post, and so, over time, I sometimes get to "know" a poster as far as you can on an anonymous forum. And I gave you an illustration of some of your posting idiosyncrasies, as an example.

To which I am now going to have to add "prone to exaggeration".

If you ever go to a museum gift shop, keep an eye out for cheap gifts. Chances are many will be blue or pink. If they are keyrings with names on, the chances are boys names will be in blue and girls in pink.

It's lazy. What colour shall we do our kitchen? Pink. Girls like pink. Girls like kitchens. Why not red? Because some girls might not like red. Who do you want to pose in it? A little girl.

Etc etc

It's self reinforcing.

Why would you joke about putting a beard on babies? Ridiculous comparison

You are clutching at straws now op... in some embarrassing attempt to prove yourself right

Oh okay - you are kicking off about a non issue, proving your own point inadvertently - I'm sure that's totally reasonable - presumably it's not you, it's everyone else

Out of interest what did you mean about not knowing how you would react if your daughter became more girly?

I wouldn't pick someone up on their posting style though because I'm not a cunt

I'm laughing ( and cringing) at your post upthread op.... you are, yourself, stereotyping young girls!!! You! Nobody else!

At our works do last night the boys were the ones wearing more makeup/stuff/products than some of the girls! That's once they had arrived...late... I'm told because they were all fussing over their appearances!

So you are saying I'm a cunt You'll make me splutter tea over the computer screen with your wit if you're not careful!

I did not "pick you up" on your posting style. I mentioned your posting style to illustrate my point. You asked, I answered.

OP other people are agreeing with me - I know I'm fascinating but perhaps you could answer some of their comments?

I agree you should address some of the other points raised OP. How about financial service marketing I saw that depicts a young girl with her hair scraped back severely, dressed in a white shirt and black tie and glasses ( presumably to denote intelligence)? Is it not problematic that this suggests that girls can only be taken seriously in the world of finance if they present a more masculine appearance?

How about addressing the fact that, despite being subjected as children to saturated gender stereotyping marketing, far worse than today, most western 21st century adult women are not still living and behaving nor expected to live and behave like 1950's Stepford wives?

Again, colours, accessories and how women present themselves and their female children are not the real issues nor even the causes of the real issues facing women; by constantly harping on them we erase the real issues.