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 can see how the red, navy and khaki aren’t particularly nice but there’s also bright yellow, mint green and pale blue?

Interesting .. point taken.
I was just going from the museums themselves but maybe they really were more like the ones from Crystal Palace before they changed them to boring drab colours!

Marks and Spencer's have some girl dinosaur stuff in at the moment it's in the girls section although the leggings I saw are blue but with multicolored dinosaurs on maybe worth a look ?

'Natural history" clue is in the name dinosaurs were never pink never pretty and never sparkly

Why is a pink star wars tshirt unnecessary? Is there something wrong with pink? Is it somehow "lesser" because it's a stereotypical girls colour? Can boys not like and wear pink too? Or are you just proving the point several of us have made on this thread that in order to be unisex it must lean more masculine? Becasue of obviously the worse thing a girl can do is like things that are stereotypically girly. I mean how very dare a girl like star wars but also like pink

So in the same post where you imply pink can be unisex, you also state its stereotypically girly.

Surely, to be unisex, the absence of stereotypically gendered items is ideal? And as pink is really the only colour that is truly more associated with one gender over another (other than pale blue for baby boys), then it's absence isn't surprising or unexpected?

I find the insistence that alomst every other colour is masculine quite bizarre, frankly. With the exception of purple.

Jojo maman bebe, gap and fred&Noah all do some lovely "girly" dinosaur clothes the last time I checked! Hope you find something she likes!

Natural history" clue is in the name dinosaurs were never pink never pretty and never sparkly

And you know this how???? I'll give you the sparkly but we dont know for certain what colour dinosaurs were. The current consensus is that they were likely more colourful than we thought. Theres also evidence that they had feathers. Basically no one knows for certain.

I can’t see a problem with any of those, one of them is purple! You’re not setting the best example to your DD here really. What do you expect, a pink glittery tutu with dinosaurs all over it?

Maybe the NHM should have an exhibit where all the dinosaurs are made to look extra cute and have long eyelashes and lips? To encourage girls who like that sort of thing. Or they could sprinkle a bit of pink glitter on the fossilised bones. We don't want girls to be put off by things that look realistic or are not pink and glittery.

@BeanBag7 you are completely missing the point of the post. None of us want to lose the realism and science of natural history. Quite the opposite.

The question I keep asking is: Why is gender neutral always about the removal of stereotypically feminine options?

Why do products about science look more like the 'for boys' clothing sections in supermarkets than the 'for girls' clothing sections?

Also, like birds and animals and minerals and vegetables and the rest of the natural world that we can see today, dinosaurs were likely vividly coloured and spectacular.

I mean, not all of them. But some! Think about birds and lizards and snakes today to get a comparison.

Why is gender neutral always about the removal of stereotypically feminine options?

Because removing stereotypically gendered options is the very definition of unisex. All the other colours are not generally classed as for one gender or the other, other than baby blue for baby boys.

Shetland, you're an intelligent person, I really don't understand why you're being so obtuse about the fact that this selection is heavily gendered and looks just like the boys clothing aisle in most high street shops!

It’s like things with skulls and skeletons on , my dd loves that kind of thing (just like I did) but they only sell stuff like that in the boys section of say Next or H&M .
Because she loves bright pinks, purples etc.. she’s out of luck as they’re all blacks, blues and slime green .

But that's only because the girls sections have a ridiculous amount of pink and pastels! I don't get any you seem to insist that every other colour is associated with being male.

I've yet to see someone justify the assertion that in order to be unisex it must include pink.

Why can't unisex include pink, Shetland? Is there something less desirable about pink?

That’s because the NHM caters for boys not girls. This is despite boys and girls coming in, in equal numbers through it’s front door. I find it very annoying that while they can have white and red and black dinosaur t-shirts event though it’s unlikely dinosaurs were ever really that colour, they can’t have pink or glittery things.

This reminds me of a coat I had. It was the mid-1980s and those padded, reversible coats with ‘comic strips’ on the inside were all the rage. I was too small (still a shorty now) for a ‘proper’ one so DM got me one with dinosaurs on the inside. I loved that coat 😁.

I've never read such bollocks as in the OP.

If she would enjoy wearing the t-shirt then buy her the t-shirt. If not then don't. Surely it is that simple.

Because she loves bright pinks, purples etc.. she’s out of luck as they’re all blacks, blues and slime green
Welcome to my world. As a mother of boys I’m sick of the dark boring colours that most high street shops sell. I often buy plain clothing that’s marketed for girls, just to get some decent colours. DS 1yo is currently wearing rust coloured leggings from the girls department of Next.

The MNH is a charity and a non-departmental public body.

Their mission statement says that: "The Natural History Museum’s purpose is to inspire a love of our natural world and unlock answers to the big issues facing humanity and the planet."

Don't you think that it's important that they do so by presenting natural history in a way that is open to and inclusive of girls and women? Even in their gift shop?

Do the people who are going to unlock answers to the big issues facing humanity and the planet really have to wear colours that look more like the boys clothing aisle in high street shops?

What message is that clothing selection sending to female school students who visit the museum?

@AthollPlace, I hear you! I absolutely agree that this is sad and limiting for boys too!

@AthollPlace yep, had that with ds but he’s 19 now