To think that nothing is going to change for women while girls are still targeted with this bullshit?

[WinterTrees]

In Sainsburys this morning. In the boys' clothes aisle I noticed tops with the words UNLIMITED and UNSTOPPABLE printed on them. Took a quick detour down the girls aisle to see what similarly empowering messages were being directed at them...

[PieMistee]

Yadnbu. Fucking endless.

[MarioPants]

Gendered clothing is something that pisses me right off. When I'm supreme ruler I'm going to burn them all and force all clothes retailers to sell gender neutral kids clothes with an emphasis on comfort and practicality.

[Sexnotgender]

YANBU. It’s utter, utter bullshit.

[kesstrel]

I don't think this is driven by customer demand: if it was there would be at least some less-gendered options. Rather, it's done to prevent families from handing down clothes if their second child is the other sex. The goal is to force parents to buy all new clothes for their second child, and the motive is entirely profit based.

[RudestLittleMadam]

I’m not even shocked. Not because it’s Sainsbury’s but because this message is the same everywhere. I’ve literally never seen an item of clothing or anything else aimed at men that has “be kind” printed on it. Always women and girls. That message has been drummed into us it since the beginning of time or so it seems.

[BeautyGoesToBenidorm]

@BordelDeMerde

I had to throw out* a tshirt my inlaws sent over for my five-year-old that said "kiss my curves". Not the inlaws fault as they don't read English, and the tshirt was actually intended for eight-year-olds (my child is massive) but still...that message is so not appropriate to any age child. Ffs.

That message is fucking appalling.

OP I fully agree, it's bollocks. Walking through kids' clothing aisles is always a bloody depressing experience. I've always tried to dress my DSs in neutral clothes, not helped by my exMIL buying them stuff with slogans like "Boys rule!" and "Boys are the best!" 🙄😒

[Indecisivelurcher]

Gives me the rage. I've got a 6yo Dd and I thought that would be worst. But actually it's just as hard shopping for my 4yo Ds and avoiding 'ultimate boy'.

[GivenUpEntirely]

My daughters often mooch over to the 'boy' section for options. The hoodies/Tshirts are more in fitting with their interests and the shorts are longer who the fuck needs to see a young girl's arse!

The enforcement by shops et al of gender stereotypes in clothing just adds fuel to the "I can't be a proper girl/boy if I don't like those clothes" conversation which is complete crap.

My eldest mostly wears male clothes and has cut her hair really short, she's repeatedly asked in school if she's a transboy. It's absolutely ridiculous - she's just a girl in boys clothing for fucks sake! (As confirmed by her before the TRA loons jump on me for not being supportive)

[ErrolTheDragon]

I’ve literally never seen an item of clothing or anything else aimed at men that has “be kind” printed on it.

The one place I've seen them is from The Man Who Has it All - if you've not come across this before it's essentially a site which simply swaps all the sexist stereotypes. Some of the merch looks good though!

https://www.facebook.com/MANWHOHASITALL/shop?rid=845933925525600&rt=6&referralcode=pageeshopcard

[Bancha]

I saw a top in Tesco for girls (obviously) that said “please look after me” on it once. I refuse to buy my DD anything with slogans on it, and if my next DC is a boy I will do the same.

[PineappleWilson]

Asda's another one for this. Even with practical clothes. DD has navy and mid-blue trainers from the boys' section in Asda; the girls' trainers in the exact same style are pale lilac or white. Really practical for running in the woods and puddles then. clothes too, loads of Disney / Frozen on the girls' ranges but not so much for the boys.

[fresno]

Completely agree with you OP.

[Clocktopus]

I have this issue a lot.

The clothes in DS section say things like be fearless, brave and strong, punch a shark (or words to that effect), and lots of references to being on the naughty step, being cheeky, being handsome, etc.

DDs section is an insipid sea of be kind, be positive, be happy, smile, gratitude/be grateful, be amazing, be inspiring, umpteen shirts with just the word "love" stamped on them, lot of references to being sassy or fierce or nana's/grandad's/daddy's favourite.

It's shit and I hate it.

[HorrifiedByDaughter]

I agree completely. I always find it unbelievable there is a market for it, but then I think so many people don't think even superficially about the messages they send out to their children. We go out of our way to find neutral clothing for our boy and girl, but it's sad there is so little genuinely nice unisex clothing, it's basically super basic block clothing. Recently I was looking for a 'nice outfit' for my 1 year old daughter for a special event so she wasn't wearing a hand me down and it was a sea of an unpleasant shade of pink in M&S and all this kind of gendered BS in Sainsburys.

[YouSetTheTone]

I completely agree, gender stereotyping in children’s clothes gives me so much rage.
Ever noticed that boys clothes tend to feature animals that are predators and girls clothes feature animals that are prey (or magical fluffy wuffy mystical animals)?

I buy pretty much exclusively Scandi style clothes to try and escape this bullshit.

[RoseAndGeranium]

This is pretty dreadful. Agree with you OP — why can’t there be clothes cut for girls (and I mean female children, not stuff that looks like it was made for extremely small and hyper sexualised adults) but with more positive messaging and more diverse imagery? It could still be pink and with unicorns in some cases, but with logos like ‘strong’ or indeed ‘unstoppable’ instead of bloody ‘be kind’ or whatever. And boys clothes could do with more thoughtful design too — why does it all have to be so aggressive? Must be really alienating for a lot of little boys who aren’t stereotypically masculine.

[HorrifiedByDaughter]

I just don't understand it. We have an extended family member who as soon as they found out their second child was a girl they threw out all their son's outgrown clothes, toys and books and brought entirely new things. Apparently there was no chance their daughter would have an interest in duplo, trains or cars. We grabbed them and I take great delight in sending photos of our 1 year old girl playing with them, but I really feel for their daughter, her development is going to be so funnelled into being pink, pretty and nice.

[1forAll74]

I have never bought anything for myself, or for my two children when they were young, with any kind of slogan or crap sayings on them. The only time my son , who is now 50, had T shirts, when he was about 18, was a few with pictures of Heavy Metal groups on them.

[Blossomtoes]

@BordelDeMerde

I had to throw out* a tshirt my inlaws sent over for my five-year-old that said "kiss my curves". Not the inlaws fault as they don't read English, and the tshirt was actually intended for eight-year-olds (my child is massive) but still...that message is so not appropriate to any age child. Ffs.

Ouch. That’s absolutely shocking. It takes it to a whole new level.

[Peaplant20]

This stuff infuriates me and is so difficult to get away from. I don’t want to buy my baby girl clothes that say ‘beautiful’ and ‘happy’ and have unicorns all over them but if I get stuff from the boys section it’s all tractors and dinosaurs. There’s a real demand for more neutral clothing but nowhere is providing it despite stuff like this popping up over social media all the time (so much so that I was so shocked when I had my LO this year that boys and girls sections in shops are pretty much pink and blue). The problem is that a lot of people love these clothes and still buy them without really thinking how damaging it is in a wider context. But like I say there is a demand for stuff not like this but no where seems to be providing it.

[RefuseTheLies]

DD2 is sleeping on me in a baby grow that says 'pretty' on it. I tried so, so hard not to buy her blatantly gendered clothes - esp ones with stupid slogans on them, but this babygrow was in a sale, massively reduced, so my principles collapsed. I figured it's only a matter of time before I have to bin it anyway due to a poonami.

[WinterTrees]

Love that Man Who Has it All site Errol. I've bookmarked.

It's bonkers that even in AIBU on Mumsnet there isn't any argument about this . Is, unequivocally, bullshit, so who is perpetuating it? Who is served by reinforcing these messages in another generation of children, and especially pushing the 'be kind', be smiley and compliant and pretty and accommodating on little girls. Who has a vested interest in saturating the market with that stuff and HOW do they have that power, when a large number of parents (their customers) are very vocal about how much they hate it? It feels sinister, especially in view of the predators/prey images YouSetTheTone flagged up. And especially given that on the day Sarah Everard's rapist and murderer was sentenced, 5 out of 8 of the sky news headline stories were about violence against women and girls. It seems like there's a whole lot of money and power behind this, actively obstructing change.

(I wasn't in sainsbury's to buy tinfoil this morning, honest.)

[TheViewFromTheCheapSeats]

The thing is people buy it. I know a few who actively go for this stuff, including wall stickers in their house for similar bland crap slogans about kindness or home.
I’m just quietly raising girls who understand they can walk straight to the boys section to buy short sand that shops do mad things. I can’t change the world, but I can release them from the pressure to take any heed of gender division in clothing. They laugh and go to Gap Boys online for shorts now. I model it with my men’s jeans. The only significant difference I find between teen boys and women’s is the pocket size. I’m very comforting buying men’s clothing if it was I’m looking for.

[Marguerite2000]

@kesstrel

I don't think this is driven by customer demand: if it was there would be at least some less-gendered options. Rather, it's done to prevent families from handing down clothes if their second child is the other sex. The goal is to force parents to buy all new clothes for their second child, and the motive is entirely profit based.

This is it.
I used to buy plain tops, hoodies and joggers for my kids in colours like bright red, white, yellow and turquoise, from shops like mothercare. They did equally well for boys and girls. There is no need for slogans on kids clothes, or the endless pink and blue shite.

[TheViewFromTheCheapSeats]

I do think one thing we can do is openly buy men’s clothing, and walk into men’s shops confidently whilst giving no shits. We can normalise it regardless of what some shops dictate.