To think the NH museum shop letting girls down?

[Ambam]

So my daughter loves dinosaurs. I wanted to get her a dinosaur t-shirt for her birthday and went to the Natural History Museum online shop. But to me the vast majority of their kids clothes look stereotypically boyish (in terms of the colour palette and graphics). www.nhmshop.co.uk/toys-and-games/kids-clothes-and-accessories.html#4

She’s pretty gender heavy and I don’t reckon she’d like them.

This was a while ago but I’m now in the same position and just checked their shop again. It’s exactly the same. I get that you can say girls can wear any of the clothes they sell but, like I said, to me most of the colours and graphics align exactly with the “boys” section of most kids clothing shops. Kids aren’t stupid. They notice how things are pitched.

AIBU unreasonable or do you think their collection is a bit sexist?

[Edited by MNHQ to remove identifying info]

I am a girl who wants to "look like a girl" and I wear red! And navy! And grey! And orange! And green!

Same. It’s not NHM’d fault that your daughter only likes pink.

Why not have a range of colours? Kids have favourite colours! And some boys like pink as well as girls.

@StroppyWoman would it kill them to have some pastle tops with 'cute' dinos on it?

Meanwhile, down the Tavistock clinic: "My son won't wear the boys' dinosaur t-shirts, so is he really a girl?"

Gender neutral never means pink!

The NHM would never do a pink-only range and call it gender neutral, would it?

OP this is bonkers, can't you see that it is you not the NHM that is clothing reenforcing gender stereotypes? Also if you are buying these clothes online for your daughter, how is she even going 'notice how things are pitched'?

My DD would happily wear those dinosaur tops.

Wait, what?!

Would she not wear one with a skirt to make it more stereotypically feminine, or does it need to actually be a pink shirt with the dinosaurs womaned-up with frills and lipstick?

I think the problem.here is that you've got too used to kids clothes being so gendered. In the 70s, 8ps and tbh, even the 90s, kids clothes were much more unisex

“Letting girls down”?

No.

Sometimes you go in shops and don’t see anything that suits your personal taste. That is not in any way letting girls down as lots of girls would love these things.

Indeed my daughter would be delighted that there were sensible non-frilly clothes that were not specifically aimed at boys, so she wouldn’t have to be made to feel odd by heading to the boys section due to the singular lack of any “girl’s” clothing item without pink and glitter.

You’re online shopping. Don’t like what you see? Go elsewhere.

The current push to make children’s clothes “gendered” alongside the appalling message girls are receiving about how they must dress to be appealing is the reason you are finding it difficult to find something pink “girly” with a dinosaur (boyly).

They should all be in pink and purple - wait and watch the parents of boys complain that they are 'for girls' and not 'gender-neutral'.

I see what you're saying. DD1 would wear them and not bat an eyelid, but DD2 would want more pink and sparkle.

There's a turquoise one which is more stereotypically 'girly' that I would try for your DD.

My eldest was a boy. My next two down were girls, who wore his outgrown clothes and nobody said they were dressed like boys.

Surely parents don't buy all-new wardrobes for each child, depending on sex?

@redappleandaquamarinebow1987 I can't tell if you're being ironic or not.

To me, this feels like a hugely trivial ‘problem’.

It's not helpful to see stereotypically girly things as bad. The OP wants to encourage her child's interests, but if those interests are being presented as only suitable for boys due to the colours of the products then it's going to be difficult.

It's all well and good saying that her daughter should have the blue or grey tshirt and ignore the stereotyping. But her daughter is at an age where children are intensely tuned into these stereotypes. She won't be able to ignore the fact that to her it's a boys tshirt, and it's giving her the message that only boys like dinosaurs.

@Branleuse it's not always the parents some children naturally gravitate to a more feminine or masculine look. I had both options as a kid when I visited my dad's family and would still pick the more girly clothes my mum packed me and sulk if I was made to wear a more neutral look as my gran did not want to get my pretty clothes dirty. Kids can have their own preferences funnily enough

@Alittleodd no completely serious

I’d obviously missed some of the t shirts, somehow, as I didn’t see the red or purple one at first glance.

However I note that the purple one is covered in butterflies. Which does seem a tad ‘here is a t shirt aimed at girls’. And the personalised butterfly bag photo has a girl’s name on it.

YABU -it reads like you are the one gender stereotyping not the NHM.

Dinosaurs look best on green, brown, blue colour palettes! I hate it when then pinkify them to make them girly. The former are not gender specific, you know. Girls can wear blue.

Feminine-looking tops - with glitter or frilly trims - would look a bit silly with dinosaur motifs. The two just don't go together.

This has got to be a wind up.

Also for people saying to just put her in one of the tshirts there and it is gender stereotyping why not offer boys a pink/pastle less realistic looking dinosaur top? some boys might like those tshirts too

There's plenty of pink dinosaur clothes in George etc, it's a museum shop, they sell more 'realistic' looking dinosaur prints in primary colours.

@SmileEachDay and @Alittleodd girls can wear any colour they choose and that's is exactly the same for boys but how about those girls that want to wear pink and glitter? Where is their representation in the Dino/Digger world?
My DD refuses to wear anything that's not pink but also wants dinosaurs. It's nearly impossible to buy anything of the rack. Thank god for small businesses.