John Lewis removing gendered sections in kids clothing

[moutonfou]

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??

I think this is great! I was in Next getting pyjamas for DD. She didn't like the girl ones, but loved the Star Wars ones. They didn't have her size. I asked the assistant - do you have these in her size? She looked at me agog: "but these are for boys!". FFS. It's sodding pyjamas.

I don't see how it will make things more difficult. Little children have identically shaped bodies

I think this is excellent news. Hope it's the start of a trend for more shops.

Great news.

Good.

If I had girls I would dress them exactly as I have DS. In clothing in a whole range of colours and styles, suitable for the weather/activity/comfort.

I wear mens clothing mainly, I find it more comfortable and practical, playing football in the park, or fiddling with an engine, or walking the dog, or chilling down the pub, or running around soft play is not the best experience in heels and tight jeans, or floaty skirts.

Plus mens clothes always have way more pockets, belt loops, you know practical things that make living my life easier and I don't have to carry a bloody bag around everywhere.

I wonder if they are going to put the sleepwear section together or the underwear.

I would like this, even in the adult sections.
I tend to buy mens boxers, and mens PJ trousers.

Women's clothing seems to have become ever more impractical again, a throw back to when my Nan had to carry a bag, wear a hat, and have skirts that got in the way of everything that was "fun"- she remembers years of having to tuck a voluminous skirt into her knickers to climb a tree (at risk of being shouted at by an adult for it).

Why should kids clothes be "gendered" ffs?

I'm not slating dresses per se, I know a lot of people like them, but kids clothes should be grouped together in size and style, and cut out all the "I want to be a princess"/ "I'm a growly pirate" type gender divisions.

This is great news, kids of both sexes should be able to choose what they like. Lumped together they should hopefully blend and not be so gendered. Hopefully people can buy clothes and not feel they have to change their kids sex so that they can wear a dress.

Oh yeah, DS has worn tights for years in winter, and leggings.

Warmer and more practical.

(and so, for the record, does most of the builders/contractors I know who have to work outside in winter)

So I would welcome being able to browse a generic Underwear ailse, with everything in it, rather than having to go between loads of different sections.

Interesting. Will they follow it up with adult clothes do you think? And how would that even work in terms of different sizing systems and cuts for different body shapes?

Good. and so it should be in all shops. clothes are clothes.

Might be helpful to have all clothes mixed for small children, but how far are they going to take it.

After a certain age children's bodies do begin to differ depending on sex. If they carry it through to teens, in school uniform for example, it's going to make shopping very long winded trying to get the right fit.

Will they follow it up with adult clothes do you think? And how would that even work in terms of different sizing systems and cuts for different body shapes?

I wish they bloody would tbh.

When I was younger I was very androgynous in shape, and "womens" jeans for eg. just fell off my non- hips.
I ended up buying mens/boys clothing anyway.

Now I am older (and have hips and boobs), I prefer practicality over any sort of "fashion" (except maybe a throwback to grunge maybe ) I still buy mens jeans, they have pockets, and a practical cut and don't have the restrictive shape that a lot of "womens" styles seem to.

Conversly I have male friends who buy womens skinnies, because it suits their shape better, and they prefer the cut.
So why shouldn't they be grouped together by style, rather than gender??

I think that a lot of transpeople will hate this idea if anything. Eliminating gender markers (and I do mean gender) from clothes could lead to meaning that wearing a dress is no longer a sign of being a woman

Even better, that's a very outdated concept.

People on the DM are furious - "how dare JL force parents to go gender neutral, this is so confusing etc"

Surely, if you think certain clothes belong on girls, and others on boys, you don't need a label to show you which is which?

saynotocarrots I'm liking this more and more 😀

Now they need to start coming up with a better range of stuff. The baby wear is nice but from toddler up there's rarely anything that isn't flowery or dinosaur/constructon vehicle related.

It doesn't bother me. I've got 18 months between my teens and even now my dd will take some of ds1 clothes when he's outgrown them.
People used to assume ds1 was a girl when he was in boys clothes anyway and tell me he was too pretty to be a boy.
Thing is until they are old enough to pick their own clothes any clothes they wear will be covered in sick/baby pooh won't see what gender it is anyway.

I hope more shops follow suit, children are basically the same shape when they are little so it makes more sense to organise clothing by item than by sex. It will give more choice and hopefully lead to more unisex clothing rather than everything being so cars/trucks/guns for boys and pink, pink and more pink for girls.

"It'll make shopping more difficult!"

Oh god, it might take a minute or two longer to find a t-shirt. Such a hardship. 😢

Surely, if you think certain clothes belong on girls, and others on boys, you don't need a label to show you which is which?

I got the impression that the issue was more that they were concerned that the children themselves would be confused about what sex they were if they were wearing the "correct" clothing.

EmpressOfTheSpartacusOceans - that is a good point and anyone who thinks JL are being forward-thinking here are clowns. It's a money saving device, saving them on printing costs, why print 2 labels when 1 will do and makes them look PC at the same time.

How the hell will it make shopping more difficult? Is it seriously that scary to walk into a clothing store and choose something for your 6 year old without being told whether that item is intended to be for a boy or a girl? How on earth do you people who find clothes shopping so complicated cope with truly challenging things, like buying a car or a house? Or breathing, for that matter?

Think this is great.

Excellent news! Well done JL.

Think it's bloody ridiculous. PC gone mad.

Buy what you want to buy. Why do you need a shop to put a 'gender' label on it to tell you it's ok to buy a dinosaur t-shirt for your girl?

But why make it more difficult for me to online shop for a boy and a girl - I personally WANT to see more traditional 'boy' things in the boys section and 'girl' things in the girls section. If I had a tomboy boy, I would simply looks in the boys and if my little boy wanted a princess dress, I would look in dresses.

Why are we so anti allowing girls to be girls and boys to be boys!

People on the DM are furious - "how dare JL force parents to go gender neutral, this is so confusing etc"

Ugh how depressing though not altogether surprising from DM.

I'm glad JL have decided to do this. I just hope they'll follow it up with less gendered clothes though. No point, as a pp said, in removing the labels if they're still going to have all pink, frilly things on one side and blue trucks and dinosaurs on the other imo.