To be angry about the lack of females on boys pyjamas?

[WeasleyWoman]

This seems rather minor but has me riled. I was in Asda today with my 3yr old giving her free rein to choose pants (in prep for potty training) she wanted paw patrol pants which could only be found in the boys section: no probs briefs are briefs when you are 3. I noticed that the pants only had the male pups on, even the ones with 5 pups still didn't have the token females (apparently they can only appear on the pink pants). This got me looking for female characters in the boys section, the only one I could find was Owlet (score 1 for pj masks) everyone else had gone, no Lilly on the Peter rabbit clothes just (Peter and Benjamin), no Penny on fireman Sam (just Sam, Elvis and the chief), no black widow or captain marvel on the avenger tops not even Peppa fucking pig on the Peppa pig clothes! It's Bacon girl's show yet all the boy's clothes have George on. I feel like there is, at last, starting to be more of a focus on making sure little girls know they can do anything, achieve anything and don't have to just aspire to be mums, wives and princesses but what is the point if we don't tell the boys too? If we don't show them that women are useful and important members of the team then aren't we just shout in the dark, or rather shouting in the pink sparkly section?

Listen, if you don't care that women are systematically taught that they are inferior to men through almost every possible facet of everyday life, then yes, this is a minor thing that is stupid to care about.

This.

If my DD likes something that's 'for boys' like Star War, she might be able to get a shirt with all of the characters on it, loads of 'boys' clothes with just the male characters, and maybe a Leia on one if she's lucky. Because the male characters are more important.

That's obvious from a Bechdel test of the film, the marketing when the men talk more, the merchandise and the conversations in the playground. There is no facet (actually one - me) where she is told the women are important.

I hear you! My 2 year old DS wanted Peppa pj’s, but all the ones in the boys section only have George on and not Peppa! He ended up with some pink girls ones instead!

YANBU, it is so annoying and is also one of the things that makes my blood boil. I have a DS and a DD. I remember when the first Lego Movie came out my DS asking why Wyldstyle wasn't on any of the “boys” t-shirts we saw in the shops. Same with Rey from Star Wars and Black Widow from the Avengers.
Also agree with the clothes styling, trying to find my daughter some shorts last summer that weren't “short shorts” was nay on impossible. She is now old enough and too self conscious to buy things in the “boys section” but didn't want or suit teeny tiny shorts.

#wheressky?

I do actually find it concerning. A pp linked to ‘Let clothes be clothes’. There’s a subliminal message here that says you can only like characters of your own sex. I will happily dress my DD (6) in ‘boy’s’ clothes if they suit her. Physically you don’t really start to see a difference until age 8 anyway. Gap are a great example. She needed joggers for school PE. Girls clothes - pink, orange, cream, light grey (totally impractical). Boys - black, dark grey, navy - yes they were labelled as such! Are girls sitting at home doing clean activities only? (Not mine!)
I picked the navy ones up because the only difference was the colour!

I really don’t see why they can’t just put all the main characters from a TV show on clothing. A variety of coloured clothing rather than the whole pink/blue divide would be great too.

Sky, Rey, Leia and Wyldstyle are the worst. Oh and Toy Story was awful for never seeing Jessie on clothes.

I’m with you op.
I can’t believe all the posters who say that this isn’t worth getting bothered about. It is the little throw-away situations like this that are part of the drip-drip-drip that wears women down in the eyes of men.

It is a huge problem for boys and girls.

I noticed this quite a few years ago but realised shops only sell items that will be wanted and sold. There’s a risk females on ‘boy’ clothing won’t sell so they’ll make a loss etc. It’s unfair but that’s how businesses work. Plenty of options online where you can buy different colours of the same character outfits.

Had the same problem, my three year old DS loves Skye..his favourite colour is pink, so I just got him the girls pjs and knickers.

People saying to get a grip..ignore!! It is frustrating..all the paw patrol clothing with Everest and Skye on is pink..if his favourite colour isn't pink, why don't you go on a website and design your own t shirt for him, with Everest on it

I buy boy pants for DD as there are more of the character she likes and they seem to be cheaper.
Maybe Manufacturers think that a female character, especially one dressed in pink, so close to a boy's genitals will cause them to drop off?

YoniHuman there was also huge criticism of Disney for their lack of Rey merchandise as a whole when Force Awakens came out. Interesting to see they turned it around and this article says the sale of female superhero dolls are massively up since.

Do kids of 2 or 3 really think about what's on their pyjamas that much? I don't remember what I wore to bed when I was that age 🤷‍♀️ are kids actually getting taught about gender equality at that age, or do they just want their favourite character on them whether they are male or female? I feel like the kids aren't going to read into it tbh....?

It's interesting that on YouTube my DD can find loads to watch with all girls and one boy, or a girl and boy with the girl as 'lead'. There is a demand for it but media and marketing people are lazy men who only give a crap about men and boys.

Same with clothes. It would sell but marketing is old fashioned and sexist. I say old fashioned but I swear Star Wars mercy from the 70s had Leia.

Merch not mercy!

The actual characters should be less gendered. Kids know what sex they are boys and girls. Put captain marvel on the girls clothes who is female sex doing male gendered things. But I can't think of a male sex character doing female gendered things

Ironically @kenandbarbie Ken in Toy Story.

That's actually why I have this username coz I was watching toy story when I had to think of one!!

@MatchSetPoint H&M stock 'boys' sequinned tops. Search for "interactive top" on their website.

The boys in Pitch Perfect? Of course that's not for children. Ummmmmmmm there's bound to be a few more.

But it's the same as why there are so many films that fail the Bechdel test and so few that fail the reverse.

Bechdel test:

More than one named female character
They talk to each other
About something other than a man.

For those who think the OP should not be concerned, do you really not see a problem with the one female character being removed? Or think that if little boys do want male characters that might have something to do with the relentlessly gendered TV, adverts etc they are exposed to where boy = action / adventure / sport and girl = sparkles / posing / animated characters with ridiculous fluttery eyelashes.

@Crossfitgirl children are like little sponges taking everything in..my 3 year old had his friend over and had his pink Skye slippers, the mother said straight away 'oh my god! Why has he got girls slippers on? I bet dad isn't happy him having them on!' And then laughed.

Going to buy a bike for his birthday and the man in the shop said 'oh no no! Don't touch the pink one lad! That's the girls one. The blue one is for you!'

My son hearing comments like these is completely unacceptable..it's a bloody colour for God sake! And yes he is fully aware at nearly 4, and picks up on everything.

I would of thought that in today's world, stuff wouldn't be stereotyped as much as it is.
It may seem like a small issue to you, but to a 3 year old..it's huge. And to me as his mummy, who loves him more than anything, that means it's a huge issue to me too.

I 100% agree. My boys love Peppa and Anna and Elsa, yet any clothes for boys only include George, or Olaf and Sven. Why can't they just put all the characters on the clothes, and vice versa for girls, and stop making clothes so segregated!!

Why do we do this for children's clothes and not for adults'? It's like saying only men can have Jon Snow or Tyrion on a GoT t-shirt and only women can have Daenerys or Arya. Ridiculous.

Gendered clothes do my nut in.

In Asda today we were ranting about it. Girls “I dream of being a unicorn” Boys “you were born to be epic, adventurous, lead the way”

And they wonder why there’s a gender pay gap.

And I wonder why so few people see the link and think this is all harmless and what’s the problem.

We were looking for slippers. We HAD to get a pair and DD hated the frilly pink girls ones. We asked the store assistant if they had any others and they said only in the boys section. Her face was a picture when DD said, “good, where are they, they’ll be better”

Try H&M MatchSetPoint they've got lots of reversable sequin tops suitable for boys and girls including marvel characters, pokemon and dinosaurs