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?

I'm another person annoyed by how heavily gendered pretty much all children's clothes are... both the pictures on them and also the fitting/practicality. Was looking for trousers for my 3yo daughter...girls ones all uncomfortably tight skinny jeans or leggings in very pale colours which will get filthy in 5 minutes. Boys ones mucho macho camoflage or ultra baggy and shapeless.
Bring back corduroy!!

The pink batman cap just about finished DD. She was fuming “why does it need to be pink to be in the girl’s section”

She hates pink!

And the lace edges on pants for tiny wee girls just out of nappies is fucking ridiculous. I can get smooth seamed comfortable pants for myself...but could not find any in the girls' section for her.

@MintGreen there’s definitely a point here and it’s not just Asda! My DS is 4 and open to lads of different characters - Wonder Woman, Moana etc. I was looking for some bits in the Disney shop and it’s all girlie, frilly etc - dresses, which he could wear if he wished but he’d rather wear trousers. The new Captain Marvel range is also skirts etc and not things he would wear.

Kids clothes should be for kids. I get you have dresses and skirts for girls with strong female characters but there should be something available in shorts of trousers.

We do shop generally in M&S or JL, but still it’s not perfect.

Oh for goodness sake! Get a grip! They r just pjammas. The world has gone truly mad. OP, find something else to worry about.

This is a huge issue which relates to most kids clothes. It's also one reason I discourage character clothing beyond pyjamas for my dds as I just can't get on board with the regressive gendering

Jesus Christ. is this a real problem? There are no girl pups on the paw patrol pants? REALLY? The world has gone mad.

I personally don't see anything wrong with so-called gender clothing. As an adult, I am comfortable shopping in the women's section and really don't have any interest in wearing clothes typically worn by men. If for whatever reason I need an item of clothing normally sold in the men's section, I'll simply walk over and look for it. I imagine most men feel the same. If a man wants to wear clothing typically worn by women, they are free to shop in the women's sections. What I wouldn't like is men's and women's clothing dumped together or that women's section or clothing must include male versions of the items.

I can't see the big issue with gendered stuff. Men and women, male and female have differences that should be celebrated.l, including through different clothing.

Maybe I'm not with the times and a dinosaur but I really don't get this need to erase differences between men and women. Equality does not mean sameness.

OP, I get it!! This is nothing new though!

My dd was hugely into Thomas and she wanted EVERYTHING Thomas. Including pants. So she had them.

She didn't, and still doesn't want princesses, etc at 10, and sleeps in leggings and plain t shirts (from the boys section because she hates fucking sequins and unicorns and ponies). This is also partly about sensory issues as well, and I cannot find clothing for her that doesn't contain embroidered on decals/sequins/transfers (she can feel them all through the material) so she wears boys tshirts!

Blame the retailers. They can stipulate character mix on underwear and PJ’s and there is still the archaic notion that boys apparel will not sell with a female character on the front.
YANBU!

@Scarcelyburnt The point is, is that are kids with particular tastes in TV shows and want to wear things that reflect those tastes.

Just because you don't wear adult male clothing now, doesn't mean that kids can't! As I said below, my dd has sensory issues and because the world think girls wants sequins and decals, she will be wearing males clothing for some time yet.

Just because YOU don't see an issue, doesn't mean there isn't one.

Scarcelyburnt

Can you really not see the glaring difference? As an adult, you probably aren't looking for clothes featuring your favourite cartoon character.

Scarcelyburnt. Presumably you have woman- shaped tits, arse and thighs. Babies, toddlers and preschoolers do not.

I suspect the women on here who claim it's not a big deal are the same people who would shout LTB or call husbands sexist pigs or demand that they be treated equally as a SAHM, etc. Until you address hidden, innate, normalised sexism like this you have no right to complain that men are sexist or that people don't respect your role as a woman - where do you think they learn it from?

I agree OP - it's a disgrace. It's why I don't like the idea of buying cartoon/character clothes for my child. They're always gender stereotyped and female characters are sorely lacking in representation on clothes, school bags, etc.

I teach in a high school and our girls are sick to the back teeth of the constant double standards in uniforms, language used, representation amongst senior administrators etc. These are all examples of normalised sexism. Nothing will change until women start calling people on it. To those of you arguing the toss about whether girls can wear boys' clothing etc are fundamentally missing the point.

If you don't already know about it look at 'Let Clothes Be Clothes ' on Facebook

YADNBU

Female characters are not on boys clothing. That matters.

There is a belief that boys won't read books or watch movies with only female main characters. If there are mostly female characters the marketing will rarely be to boys - or there will be a male character who somehow has a lot more merchandise than matches his role in the story.

Representation matters. Boys who don't read novels with girls as central characters become men who have never imagined themselves in a female role - which makes them less likely to view women as equally human. It starts with the removal of female characters from any toy or item of clothing a boy might access and it goes on from there.

I teach reception and see a huge amount of boys refusing to interact with something because ‘it’s for girls’. If we sow the seeds of this attitude this early then it will carry on into adult life. I can’t see why some women don’t see it as a problem.

Lego make me so cross with this. It used to be a wonderfully creative genderless toy but now we have it with pink bricks, kittens and ‘friends’.

I was cross the other day when children were having a dental examination at school. The girls came back with a princess sticker and the boys had Spider-Man. The children told me that they weren’t given choice about the sticker they got.

Names too. Once a name is predominantly used for girls it rapidly stops being used for boys at all. It's as if it's tainted.

Part of me gets it but then i shop in the womens section of new look and zara as i prefer feminine clothes .

Here’s an idea. Don’t buy stuff with cartoon characters on them. My kids have never owned anything with characters on them. There are plenty of colorful options in shops which do not require wringing of hands to buy

I’m with you OP, this has always annoyed me too.

Ugh. These threads always bring out the worst sort of arsehole, with their smug “I wish this was the sort of thing I had to worry about”.

I have severe health issues and disabled twin toddlers, my life is full of stress, and get I recognise that this is a massive problem.

It’s dreadful that in 2019 it’s still not acceptable for boys to have a favourite character who’s female. Whatever people think about this and how trivial it is, this sort of thing has an impact. You can’t look at it in isolation, it’s part of a much larger problem

I have a boy OP and I agree. DS likes Skye but doesn't want pink. PJ Masks absolutely for the win on this one and he's currently running round dressed in an Owlette costume. Also can't find boy Trollll clothes and again yes I can shop in the girls and I do for him, but it's still annoying and still veers towards pink frills. Shimmer and Shine don't do boys clothes.

And whilst I will buy him clothes fro mthe girl section, he's 3 and doesn't understand. Ay some point the fact it's girls will start to bother him, the fact boys should aspire to be anything girly Inc Superheroes ffs will seep into his head.

I get so much judgement for buying him dresses for dress up in a way no one ever would over a little girl dressed as batman

Probably outs self
I have worked in design for a large kids retailer before
We segregated gender (clothes fit changes as kids get older generally) but we’re v balanced in colours- punk outsold ANY other colour in girls 10:1 even when it was minority in range
We did mix up the pups too- but they were the lower selling items...
Characters which are more balanced- eg, pj masks, gruffallo etc dont have this issue...

If you think 'female characters are inferior and not for boys' is not a problem, then I invite you to read up how adult males treated Captain Marvel movie. Or Katie Bouman, for that matter.