DO BRITISH MUMS CARE ABOUT CHEMICALS IN CHILDREN'S CLOTHING?

[FashionAndMumsResearch]

Along with the rise of clean eating, beauty, and homeware, fashion may be emerging as the next safety concern.

I'm a Master's student at the London College of Fashion, researching non-toxic childrenswear!

I'd be massively grateful if any British mothers of children aged 3-12 could take 5 minutes to complete the questionnaire. I have to hit 200 responses, which is challenging as I don't personally know many mothers. If you feel like it and have the time, please feel free to share it with any friends or group chats. https://arts.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cLOsTjZpcDVgKWy

Thank you so much and have a wonderful week Xx

Completed. Best of luck with your research.

Thank you so much!! Have a lovely day x

I'm really sorry, I didn't intend for it to come across as shouty, more of a headline.

But even if you're saying you want answers only from mothers (and not fathers / aunts / foster carers / grandparents or anyone else who may be in a parent role for a child) even if those mothers that identify as something other than female - why does it matter? Why ask at all?

Are you a mother, yes/no. Who cares what made up bollocks people think they may or may not be? Are you asking everyone their shoe size and whether they're vegetarian? It's about as relevant as gender to choosing children's clothes!

I get that it was an attention check "question", but it wasn't a question so how was i supposed to answer it? I guess I failed at that point hence not getting as far as the gender question.

Completely agree, I am just following my supervisor's guidance. Surprisingly i have had other responses than just female.

Sending you many sympathies as you navigate this utter nonsense re gender - and well done for recognising it when you see it. It must be so frustrating when you're just trying to conduct good research on a topic that's obviously very important to you. I wish you well 😊

I have no idea why some posters are attacking you op - you are clearly a student doing their best to complete the task they’ve been set. I’m sure these posters wouldn’t be so harsh with their own daughters!

I’ve completed the survey, it all worked fine for me, made sense and was an enjoyable thing to do while waiting at an airport! Best of luck with the degree

Thank you so much for your kind words 😊I never intended to frustrate anyone. Research is difficult for sure, but I have learnt so much. I hope you have the most wonderful week and are enjoying the sun x

Mumsnet getting totally derailed by gender again. Seriously, it’s fucking boring when every thread is derailed like this.

I’ve completed your survey, OP, gender question and all! Good luck with your research xx

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your time and this so lovely to hear! I hope you have/had a lovely getaway! 😊xx

Thank you so much for the support! I genuinely appreciate it more than you know, I wish you all the best x

Thank you so so much 😊 xx

A masters student putting kisses on the end of most posts? Nah

Ive done it. My niece goes to the same university.

I just chose the gender I most closely associated with, as asked.

Sorry you feel that way. I am interacting with real people, I don't feel like I need to be an academic robot.

Where’s my kiss?

Here you go xoxoxo (threw some hugs in there for you too)

I love it when an MA student stumbles into the nest of vipers.

I identify as a mother of a child under 12 so I filled your questionnaire in.

I have to say the highlight of the survey was the trigger warning on the first page.

‘Trigger warning: Non-toxic clothing refers to apparel that is manufactured without the use of harsh chemicals that can have adverse impacts on human health. You may be exposed to messages that include information about the potential negative effects of chemicals in clothing on children’s health. If you feel that reading about health risks to children may cause you distress, you may wish to decline participation or stop the survey at any point.’

Did your rather silly supervisor make you include that too? I’d have thought any parents distressed at potential health risks to their children would want to do the survey to check their own children weren’t in danger.

I also wanted to mention that unless you paid the £30 to MNHQ your thread is at risk of disappearing before you have enough answers, so hopefully that’s done.

I can explain that for you. A lot of MNers reject the concept of gender on priniciple - we know we’re women / females because those are the words for our sex, not because we identify as a gender. So when there isn’t an option for ‘Gender is sexist bollocks & I don’t believe in it’ all you can do is go for the Other / Prefer not to say option, assuming you’ve got one.

Survey completed. Off to do some research on this subject as I am rather ignorant.
Good luck op x

I appreciated the trigger warning. As someone who has received counselling for perinatal anxiety relating to toxic stuff affecting my children, I have to be in the right frame of mind to be confronted with yet another source of anxiety. There’s also been a lot of stuff in the media about various toxic stuff, like asbestos in the play sand, pesticides, PFAS etc etc.

It does suprise me but thank you so much for your time! I hope you have lovely rest of the week ☺️ x