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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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Antoniacaenis · 02/09/2017 18:27

I noticed that all the outraged comments on twitter seem to have come from twitter users called things like 'pooleUKIP' and 'hardbrexiteer'. Hmm

Spaceblock · 02/09/2017 18:29

Mao had the same idea. Everyone wears same grey suit
Really? We're bringing mao into itHmm
It's not saying all the same, it's saying wear whatever clothes you want, its more choice not less. I'm not sure how you're jumping to it being less choice, I'm baffled frankly. you can still buy pink clothes for girls and blue for boys if that's what you so desire, no one is stopping that.

It's just saying it's ridiculous to say this clothes is for boys and this is for girls, what makes a clothes for boys/girls is that a girl/boy owns and wears it, not some designer in an office deciding, this blue digger top should be for boys. I'm wearing all "male" clothing apart from a bra, they're women's clothes though now, as I own them, I wear them.

VestalVirgin · 02/09/2017 18:32

Mao had the same idea. Everyone wears same grey suit.

Considering that Mao also opposed foot-binding and managed to eradicate it (although for the wrong reasons), perhaps you should reconsider whether your argument is really such a good one.

Besides, I am pretty sure the suits were blue. Hmm

Also, they don't abolish the clothes styles, the only thing they remove is the signs that say "girls section" and "boys section".

As has already been stated repeatedly.

TheAntiBoop · 02/09/2017 18:34

It may even make people wear more variety - not just girls in pink and boys in blue!

quencher · 02/09/2017 18:37

Well done, to John Lewis. It will save me so much time. I hope other stores follow this.

Slimthistime · 02/09/2017 18:38

Panda "I couldn't believe that John Lewis red wellies were labelled "girls"."

one of my friend's sons got laughed at on his first day of school because he had a red bag.

Vestal - I see your point but the pictures that go with the press releases are things like yellow tops with dinosaurs on them and i have a feeling stuff like that might only be in a boy section at the moment - in some shops anyway.

Queenofthedrivensnow · 02/09/2017 18:38

Loving lespirit post!

Winterview · 02/09/2017 18:44

I think it's a great idea.

Girls in pink and boys in blue is very outdated. Look at the Scandi brands- bright colourful comfortable and unisex!
I hate seeing bows, frills, twee slogans and heart shaped buttons on girls clothes. Dinasours, trucks, machines and dull grey/blue/brown for boys. It's gender stereotyping from birth.

Girls and boys body shapes are not very different until puberty. Girls clothes should be just as hard wearing and practical, rather than restrictive.

Eolian · 02/09/2017 18:45

Wow, some very dimwitted replies on here. What JL are doing won't stop you from buying 'boy clothes' for your son. Those clothes will still be there. You can go "Ooh look, a nice camouflage/tractor t-shirt only suitable for children with boy bits! Must buy that!" The fact that it may be next to a rail of dresses isn't going to contaminate it. But it may enable girls to feel it's ok to buy the camouflage/tractor t-shirt because it's not in the boys' section, it's in the 'any child can wear this because it is unrelated to genitals' section - i.e. the children's section.

LespritDescalier · 02/09/2017 18:45

I was just in the pet shop where I overheard a woman telling a man that he was an idiot for trying to buy a blue water bowl because the cat was a girl!

People are fucking stupid, is the point.

SuburbanRhonda · 02/09/2017 18:47

I know it's apparently obligatory to come onto threads with gender in the title and say, "You mean 'sex', not 'gender'", but surely both apply here, don't they?

Children's clothes are separated into boys and girls at present, which is by sex.

The fact that gender conditioning dictates how that translates in terms of colour and style of clothing for each sex doesn't mean the clothes are separated by gender.

zwellers · 02/09/2017 18:51

So how am I supposed to tell what's a boys and what's a girl's

YellowLawn · 02/09/2017 18:52

zwellers just get clothes that fit. the design isn't important.

SuburbanRhonda · 02/09/2017 18:52

You put the clothes on your son - they're boys' clothes.

Put them on your daughter - they're girls' clothes.

Simple.

SuburbanRhonda · 02/09/2017 18:52

You put the clothes on your son - they're boys' clothes.

Put them on your daughter - they're girls' clothes.

Simple.

LespritDescalier · 02/09/2017 18:56

So how am I supposed to tell what's a boys and what's a girl's

You just buy whatever appeals to you for your kid. It's really that simple.

TheAntiBoop · 02/09/2017 18:56

Why is it so important that the clothes are labelled as being for a boy if you can't actually tell the difference?

BlueberryPuffin · 02/09/2017 18:57

DoNotGoSoftly

Nice rant, but you failed to read the OP or the news. There's no mention of homogenising clothing styles or colours. They're just changing shop layouts.

Stay calm.

SoPassRemarkable · 02/09/2017 19:04

I do agree that boys should be able to wear dresses and girls dinosaur tops, etc.

I'm slightly worried though if this spreads to adult clothing.....purely from speed when physically shopping. Take Debenhams for instance. Big shop. Women's stuff on first floor, men's on ground. If they mix it up and I have to trudge round two floors I will lose the will to live. To be honest I only manage half the woman's section before I think "fuck this", possibly because I realise all the clothes are shit actually. But you could have the same issues in TopShop.

DoNotGoSoftly · 02/09/2017 19:05

Hello,

It wasn't a rant - you can tell that by reading it.

I am making the observation that JL are responding to an idea which represents a particular view held by a very narrow grouping in our society. It is about the idea that I write. The idea behind the move by John Lewis.

Hopefully that clears that up. The European Union wants to treat us all the same too - it is homogenisation of so many spheres of public life which seeps into private life.

Kpo58 · 02/09/2017 19:08

I wish that shops would do a proper unisex section so that children can wear other colours apart from the Pink/Blue/Grey that the current clothing sections are full of. Why can't I buy my DD a green t-shirt that isn't in a pastel shades?

I also wish that they would remove gendered slogans from clothing. I saw a really nice nice dinosaur t-shirt that I would have bought for my DD if it hadn't been ruined by a slogan that might as well said "I am a bloke" on it.

reallyorange · 02/09/2017 19:09

which idea? Again, can you point directly to how you have reached this conclusion? And do you therefore agree that kids' clothes should be spilt into other categories like left/right-handed to avoid further homogenisation?

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 02/09/2017 19:10

The European Union wants to treat us all the same too

What?

Is it the EUs fault then?

LespritDescalier · 02/09/2017 19:14

Er what now with the EU? Treat who all the same? Confused

BlueberryPuffin · 02/09/2017 19:15

Lol. You sound like a conspiracy theorist or something. Maybe just a loon.

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