MIL just bought DD a t-shirt that says...

[birdofthenorth]

"I love being a girly girl!"

Groan.

DD is 2.9 and currently has a balanced love of cars & dinosaurs alongside dolls etc. T-shirt should read "I am Nana's only granddaughter alongside 4 grandsons and she wants me to be a girly girl!". Probably wouldn't sell as well?!

Off to hang it at the back of the wardrobe.

Love MIL apart from the gender nonsense (has previously denies all pink toys from DSS!).

Ugh.

My ex-MIL makes a point of buying my DD cheap pink crap because she knows my feelings about it. Luckily DD is only little so I still pick what she wears, I just put the clothes in her bag for when she sees her Dad or give them to my DMs boyfriend to use as polishing cloths and don't dress her in them myself.

I hate the expression "Girly girl". What does it even mean anyway?

As opposed to a boy girl? How odd! Is there a boy equivalent?

I noticed that. There's a tomboy and then there's a girly girl, but there's only 'boy'. Why is that?

Well, personally I think it's because it's seen as 'wrong' for a boy to act like a girl, whereas girls can be 'girly' or 'boyish'.

Reminds me of this quote;

I think the whole world has essentially bought up not to be a girl. Ho do we bring up boys? What does it mean to be a boy? To be a be a boy is to not be a girl. To be a man means to not be a girl. To be a woman means to not be a girl. To be strong means to not be a girl. To be a leader means to not be a girl. I actually think that being a girl is so powerful that we've had to train everyone not to be that. - Eve Ensler.

What an overuse of quotation marks

Birdofthenorth but these t-shirts are so handy to provide extra layers when just a jumper and vest won't be warm enough, so long as you pick a day when there's absolutely no chance of it being warm enough to peel off the jumper to reveal the t-shirt.

Alternatively, could you get some fabric paints and paint

don't
˄

before "love" and get her to wear it with pride?

&#708 was supposed to be an upwards facing arrow. Symbols don't work so well on mumsnet then.....

fwiw- i hate 'tomboy' aswell. as if a girl liking cars and wrestling and football isn't a normal girl.

same with 'girly girl' - dresses and princesses etc= girly girl.

so what does that leave for just 'girls' to be into without wanting a label?

Thanks all, glad to see my revulsion shared

The offending t-shirt came in a 2 pack with a plain green one too, and when DD saw them she told me "I don't want the pink one, I just want the green one"... that's my girl!

kotinka brilliant response.
We're having a surprise baby, and I'm amazed how many people say "once it's here and we know what gender, we'll give you some cast off clothes". No thanks, I'll have what you've got now. If it's a boy and the clothes are pink... tough!

flobot don't you know that a boy will melt in pink? their penis will melt clean off. true fact.

I wouldn't like that. I would never describe myself as being a "girly girl". I am feminine in some stereotypical,some less so, ways. Isn't that how it should be?

'Their penis will melt clear off' lol!

To the back of the cupboard with that tee I think!

Crapwithbears 'I noticed that. There's a tomboy and then there's a girly girl, but there's only 'boy'. Why is that?'

Isn't the boy equivalent Nancy boy? Outdated term now, though. You also have 'a man's man'.

OP, could you get a variety of paints and encourage DD to customise the t-shirt? You could also get some iron on transfers of cars, dinosaurs and dolls. The message would then become that being a girl means you can like anything. Subvert the slogan ( then capture MILs expression when she sees it).