Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

John Lewis removing gendered sections in kids clothing

572 replies

moutonfou · 02/09/2017 12:46

John Lewis has announced they are no longer having 'boys' and 'girls' clothing sections. Just kids clothing. Which to me sounds fair enough. I had to buy several football shirts from the boys section as a kid and always felt like they weren't 'for me' and that someone was going to notice and call me out on it.

On some of the news outlets' Facebook posts about this, there are the most OTT comments from people who seem to have interpreted this as an attempt to make all kids be 100% gender fluid, stop calling them boys and girls at all, make all boys wear dresses, etc etc.

AIBU to be frustrated that people can't see the value of just letting kids like what they like, and that it's not all some sinister agenda??

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
Gileswithachainsaw · 02/09/2017 21:08

But a dress is a dress.

It would be a dress next to a skirt. It would be a dress by the bakery and it would be a dress next to a dinosaur t shirt

Gileswithachainsaw · 02/09/2017 21:09

My rabbits now wag their tails and meow Grin

reallyorange · 02/09/2017 21:09

Gender neutral clothes for kids, yes this is totally a new and trendy thing and shops have definitely not been doing it for decades
www.marksandspencer.com/l/kids/baby-up-to-2-yrs/newborn-and-unisex

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 02/09/2017 21:18

Show em the pictures giles that'll set them straight

Grilledaubergines · 02/09/2017 21:21

Ridiculous idea. No need for it.

ArcheryAnnie · 02/09/2017 21:23

You might not need it, Grilledaubergines, but plenty of parents and kids will find it a relief, and very useful.

DamnDeDoubtanceIsSpartacus · 02/09/2017 21:24

Why is ir ridiculous Grill?

Gileswithachainsaw · 02/09/2017 21:25

Why grilled

What happens when girls and boys wear clothes that were not kept on separate floors or sections in shops?

OvariesBeforeBrovaries · 02/09/2017 21:29

What happens when girls and boys wear clothes that were not kept on separate floors or sections in shops?

Future generations realise that we've been fed a load of crap about gender and the boxes we are forced into based on what's in our pants, they feel empowered to live their lives without being constrained by a social construct and people are happier.

Or girls grow big scary willies and boys get boobs or something. I don't know.

Monny · 02/09/2017 21:44

I think it could be a good step. My 6 year old boy is not interested in super hero's; he prefers cars and cats. It seems that cats are not for boys and he should like dinosaurs. I liked dinosaurs more than him when I was a little girl. My daughter hates pink, probably because it's rammed down her throat by society. She likes cats too and being a girl, society says that's ok on her clothes.

Queenofthedrivensnow · 02/09/2017 23:56

Reallyorange omg how nice are the Peter rabbit gear! I'm so buying a pr babygro for the next baby born to a friend :-)

Anyway...everyone knows the gender neutral gear is so you can buy baby clothes before you know the sex. And everyone knows genderless baby colours are yellow and grey. I notice the jl supposedly genderless clothes are yellow and grey. Nothing radical here

BlueberryPuffin · 03/09/2017 00:00

Gender neutral is also better for potential hand-me-downs if/when you have another child.

PickAChew · 03/09/2017 00:10

I do wonder if all these people going gender neutral with their kids' clothes wear gender neutral themselves - like never wearing feminine underwear or a pretty summery dress.

Well, i am currently sporting blue jammies with white elephants all over. No waist shaping. Definitely not overly "feminine". Today i wore skinny jeans with a loose fitting checked shirt and men's trainers, identical to several pairs of "women's" trainers I have, only without any pink bits..

Cantseethewoods · 03/09/2017 00:10

Well this is another thing- it makes it less likely that designers even design clothes that appeal to both genders because if it's going to be sectioned under either boys or girls they may as well go all out, so the (e.g.) green and white striped t-shirt with a goldfish on it just doesn't get made.

Hopefully Bastard Toys R Us will soon change their hideous labelling as well. I won't hold my breath though.

PickAChew · 03/09/2017 00:12

And in Newcastle, Fenwick is opposite John Lewis. All their kids' clothing is sold by label, rather than gender. Has been for years.

Queenofthedrivensnow · 03/09/2017 00:19

Maybe I'm not the target shopper for jl but I love having girls to dress. Their taste is festival goer rather than baby towie thankfully but feminine definitely. Genderless clothing is unlikely to make it to our house

Titsywoo · 03/09/2017 00:26

The separation doesn't bother me but I I wish there was some more variety in the colours and styles for each gender. Dd gets annoyed that most stuff in girls sections is pink and purple.

PickAChew · 03/09/2017 00:26

The news reports are saying the change applies to items for age 0-14 yrs: plenty of kids have hit puberty before 14 yrs. I dunno what the reality will be, but looks to me like they just lost most of the pre-teen market.

My 13 year old boy, who well and truly landed in puberty about 18 months ago, hasn't fitted in any of their clothes for over a year.

Theycalledmethewildrose · 03/09/2017 00:31

I hope the rest of the shops follow this. Actually, as the parent of a child who prefers the clothes aimed at the opposite gender, it will make my shopping experience a lot easier. I am tired of getting odd looks when we are in the 'wrong' section of a shop and trying clothes. I am tired of being asked if I need a gift receipt when we buy clothes.

VestalVirgin · 03/09/2017 00:33

I do wonder if all these people going gender neutral with their kids' clothes wear gender neutral themselves - like never wearing feminine underwear or a pretty summery dress.

What's feminine underwear?
I have some (sensible plain cotton) panties I'll never get the period blood stains out of, does that count?

Oh, and the Diary Dolls panties with liquid-proof secret layer. Those are made according to the needs of female biology, AND they have a little bow at the front!

Nah, seriously, what a weird question! It is not like it would be at all reasonable to dress children in the same clothes adults wear. Goes doubly for "feminine" clothes.

Feminine gendered usually = impractical.

And even with male fashions, would anyone seriously put a male toddler in a suit and tie?
... they really do that, don't they?

I have seen toddler boys in jeans and leather jackets, so ...

penstemon · 03/09/2017 00:54

I wear a lot of dresses as they cover my very large thighs but if I'm going for a bike ride or something I will wear trousers or shorts as it is just more practical.
Likewise, 7yo DD likes wearing dresses, the bigger and flouncier the better in her opinion, but, if we're off on a day out which will involve tree climbing, cycling, roller skating or many of the
other things we do she will choose to wear trousers or shorts as, just as I find, it is more practical. As a girl though, any trousers she wears will usually be embellished with a heart or a bow or something and any shorts will scarcely cover her backside. The embellishment on trousers I don't really mind as they tend not to get in the way but I do object to the shorts so we tend to buy shorts from the boys' section but DD always tells me not to tell anyone. The poor child was torn when school shoe shopping last week between the pretty Mary Jane style shoes she liked the look of and the closed, trainer style boys' ones that she knew would be warmer and drier in winter as well as faster for running in. She went for the Mary Jane style ones in the end as the only trainer style ones that fitted her properly had dinosaurs on and she has always hated dinosaurs and she thought her friends would tease her. Why should she have to make that choice? Why not let her have a pair of black patent trainers with a couple of flowers on, like the ones M&S do but she is now too big for their biggest size.
It's not about letting girls be girls or boys be boys, it's certainly not about banning girls from dresses or boys from digger tops. It's about letting them have equality of choice so that they can be comfortably & practically dressed regardless of gender or sex and ideally with freedom to express their colour preference and interests.

Theycalledmethewildrose · 03/09/2017 01:58

It's about letting them have equality of choice so that they can be comfortably & practically dressed regardless of gender or sex and ideally with freedom to express their colour preference and interests

Spot on.

This sort of girl/boy divide should never occur nor should it be facilitated by the ridiculous division of children's clothing.

ChuffCloud · 03/09/2017 02:16

I was annoyed by this too OP, I think it's a good idea and girls and boys shouldn't be pigeonholed. My 2 yesr old already thinks girls don't do several 'boy' jobs which is especially annoying as I'm in a male dominated industry where only 8% of employees are female.

Madwoman5 · 03/09/2017 06:23

Fine for younger kids but girl's trousers are cut differently to boys as they get older and starts to "shape". Ditto for shirts/ blouses. Why ffs?

MrsOverTheRoad · 03/09/2017 08:18

Madwoman it's the "children's" section though. Not the teens or adults.

One assumes children haven't matured physically.

There's NO reason whatsoever for manufacturers to cut girl's t shirts shorter and tighter than 'boys" t shirts yet they do.