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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:
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7
orlantina · 04/09/2017 09:36

Oh - and what themes are 'popular amongst boys"?

Why are they popular?

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 04/09/2017 10:07

There are pink mens shirts and t shirts all over the place

They must sell otherwise shops wouldn't sell them

Ds1 is now 18 he wouldnt touch a pink t shirt when he was young (pressure from school peers) ....I've just folded a baby pink one of his and put it in his room

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 04/09/2017 10:10

Actually just remembered ds2 had a pink t shirt with a skull on it

That was hot pink and black

Dd wears ds1 old t shirts as well

Kr1stina · 04/09/2017 10:47

Grin at the four week old baby who insists on wearing a hair bow and chooses her own clothes.

I'm guessing but she buys them with her own debit card too.

TheAntiBoop · 04/09/2017 10:48

Well adult women wear massive hair bows and pink frilly dresses so it's only right little girls dress the same...

GetAHaircutCarl · 04/09/2017 10:53

Kr1s we got DD into modelling the day after she was born as we knew she'd need money for all her pretty girls things.

People say its social conditioning but really my DD just loves pink and sparkles. She was even like it before she was born. If I wore sequins she literally jumped for joyWink.

Decaffstilltastesweird · 04/09/2017 10:54

Grin GetAHaircut!

Kr1stina · 04/09/2017 11:07
Grin
WinterIsComingKnitFaster · 04/09/2017 11:27

Adult men who put on pink shirts cut for men will not normally be addressed as "madam" because of it, because they probably are identifiable as men regardless of their clothes, just like I'm identifiable as female even in jeans and T shirt with short hair and no makeup.

Five year old boys however probably will be assumed to be girls if they wear a pink T shirt.

haggisaggis · 04/09/2017 11:30

Have girls & boys clothes always been segregated? I'm trying to remember. I have a wonderful picture of my brother and I in matching denim look trouser suits c1975 so wonder if it did not used to be an issue? Certainly remember a lot less pink - pictures of me growing up it seemed to be mostly blue / white / red and probably since it was the 70s mustard yellow and brown!

orlantina · 04/09/2017 11:32

Five year old boys however probably will be assumed to be girls if they wear a pink T shirt

And what difference will it make if someone assumes they are a girl?

Will they talk to them differently? Have different expectations?

(Probably)

If a girl wore a blue t-shirt, will she be assumed to be a boy?

And what effect will that assumption have?

Unless you think it's a problem for a boy to be assumed to be a girl?

orlantina · 04/09/2017 11:34

This is what happens when a child is assumed to be a girl or a boy. They are played with differently, spoken to differently and have different expectations.

YellowLawn · 04/09/2017 11:34

I'm still waiting for shops not to separate out boys and girls shoes.
my dd school specifies 'closed schoes' which are almost exclusively available in the boy's section. grrrrrr

Kr1stina · 04/09/2017 11:48

I agree haggis. I have photos of my husband and his brothers and sisters in the 1960s wearing matching outfits - arran jumpers hand knitted by granny , corduroy shorts , white ankle socks and brown Clark's t bar sandals.

Of course all his sisters have all grown up to be disturbed weirdo Lesbians as you would expect, due to lack of early exposure to pink sparkles and frills Hmm

And my husband's penis fell off at puberty as he'd never worn a t shirt with truck and the slogan "boys are all little shits " .

Because that's what happens when your little kids don't conform to strict gender roles from the moment they pop out the birth canal.

Opah · 04/09/2017 11:54

Can someone just make gender neutral clothing? Im sick of buying clothed for my toddler when everything is in pink or says "I'm gorgeous" with ponies, flowers and sequins everywhere.

Would be nice to buy plain clothing for once.

orlantina · 04/09/2017 11:56

Because that's what happens when your little kids don't conform to strict gender roles from the moment they pop out the birth canal

Grin
SpaghettiAndMeatballs · 04/09/2017 12:01

Five year old boys however probably will be assumed to be girls if they wear a pink T shirt.

DS2's favourite colour is pink, he has many pink items of clothing. People generally realise he's a boy, although people have sometimes asked (he has a mop of blonde curls, rather than a 'boys'' hair cut) - but in any case, what does it matter? If someone says 'she', I just reply with 'he' - no harm done, nothing to make a fuss about.

TheAntiBoop · 04/09/2017 12:04

Dd had short hair until she was 4 (not through choice - just very slow growing!)

She could wear a pink sparkly dress and people would assume she was a boy! So ime the haircut influences people more than the clothes!!

OctoberNovember · 04/09/2017 12:06

The clothes are generally still blue with diggers or pink with butterflies with a few white/grey items. Ugh.

SDaddy007 · 04/09/2017 12:16

Why does the world all of a sudden want to start suggesting to my boy that he may not be a boy?

BeyondLimitsAndWhatever · 04/09/2017 12:17

Agree anti - I have two long haired boys who are always assumed to be girls

SomewhatIdiosyncratic · 04/09/2017 12:24

Someone thought DS (4) was a little girl recently. His hair is just long enough to curl and is blonde. He still has a baby face (although his voice and mannerisms are not remotely feminine Grin). He was wearing a t-shirt thats quite pastel coloured with realistic illustrated dinosaurs printed on. I was vaguely amused. It didn't even merit a shrug.

He likes paining his nails though Wink

Gileswithachainsaw · 04/09/2017 12:24

daddy Confused

No one's suggesting anything of the sort.

He's a boy if he has a penis. Anything else is nonsense where someone along the line decided boys had to wear certain colours and not be Interested in certain things.

Colours toys sports are for everyone.

SDaddy007 · 04/09/2017 12:27

Giles

Indeed, however, what I mean that it seems to being suggested to very young children that they might not be the gender they think they are and that daddy thinks they are, it's a bit insidious,for example, having trans toilets at Primary school.

EmpressOfTheSpartacusOceans · 04/09/2017 12:28

Why does the world all of a sudden want to start suggesting to my boy that he may not be a boy?

That's the transcult nonsense that says boy or girl is determined by feelings & tastes, not by biology.

What JL are doing is the opposite. They're saying that a boy is a boy whether he likes robots & monsters or kittens & sparkles.

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