'Every girl wants to look her best' Really Primark? Really?

[tougholdbird]

www.primark.co.uk/products/childrenswear/

My DD couldn't give a hoot how she looks, but she does want to have fun, but that's allegedly only for the boys. I had hoped that campaigns like LTBT might have started to turn the tide against girls being ornamental and boys being active. Clearly not for clothing.

How depressing, boys get to be young and fun and girls must look their best. I have daughters who are young and fun, do I have to shop in the boys section

And there will be people who say you can ignore their sales pitch or buy clothes elsewhere, but they miss the point. Marketing like this perpetuates a culture in which women don't 'do' stuff, they are just adjuncts to men. Meh. I am going to write to them.

This is why when I'm buying my dds clothes in Primark, I buy them boys clothes. Because the girls clothes are absolutely fucking ridiculous. They're also really fricking teeny, dd2 is absolutely tiny for her age and at almost 7 is still in size 4-5 in all shops except from Primark where she's in a 9-10. Stoopid people and stoopid clothes.

I may have to use your last sentence Regina, sums it up better than I could

How fucking insulting. Girls want to look their best - i.e be decorative. Boys want to do things.

If I actually shopped in Primark, my anger might be better directed as I could boycott, but I find the whole thing too depressing. I'd rather have stugg I can pass down (or wear passed down) so I don't think I've set foot in there for years.

Do they tweet? Maybe someone who actually shops there could tweet them?

Ugh.

Fuck right off. The lot of them. [/tether]

Don't go into Clarks then! They have on their walls - "because girls like style" vs "because boys test their shoes to destruction".

OP, take a picture and tweet it to @lettoysbetoys. You'll be surprised what catches on. If enough people tweet they might listen.

When you think of boys, you think young and fun

Actually, I often think annoying as hell.

But seriously, this is pretty appalling. Girls aren't "young and fun", they are just miniature "ladies". Presumably, girls' clothes aren't practical either ...

DP is always trying to get me into skimpy sundresses instead of practical shorts, even though we do a lot of walking, cycling and other activities. Trying to explain that I don't want to flash my knickers every time I get on the bike or a gust of wind blows past is trying to talk to a brick wall. He just doesn't get that women's (and girls') clothes aren't practical. Bit of a digression there, but these girls could well grow up into women that don't "do" things as well.

I never buy DD girls clothing from primark cos its poorly made the sizes are shit and its all bloody impractical ornamental wear.
The boys clothes aren't too bad which is great as my daughter doesn't want or need to look her best she wants to climb trees and eat soil.

Yes, a superb example of stereotyping rubbish.

I wouldn't mind 'Practical clothes for looking their best, while having fun.'

Clearly a clothes shop has a vested interest in us worrying what we look like. It's that looks are all that should concern girls that angers me.

Catalogue props where girls get flowers and butterflies and pretty chairs, while boys get bikes, balls and bats always make me see red too!

for the younger ladies

Awful.

girls looking decorative

boys with balls, skate boards, guitars, balls, bats and on a runing track

The clothes aimed at older girls tend to be a bit slutty in Primark. So hard to find nice things for my girls right now that are quality, practical and that look good (it is a factor but not the only factor). The boys plain hoodies are good though, DD and her friend always wear them.

I sent Primark an email, bet that scared them . Looks like I will have to dust off the twitter account if I really want to get anywhere. Feels a bit cheeky asking LTBT, but maybe when they have converted the toy shops they might want a new challenge....

I'm in the LTBT organising group and we're excited that you've made this connection! You're right, it's a bit off our core campaign for now but we observed the same thing in Toys R Us - their imagery on boards above aisles of construction and active toys was Boys Doing Stuff, while on the very pink and glittery aisles of domestic role play and fantasy/fairytale orientated toys the boards showed Coyly Smiling Pretty Girls.

PinkStinks might be closer at having a go about impractical girls clothes though, have you emailed/tweeted them?

Thanks rake Will check out pinkstinks, see if they do requests . I am less bothered by what the clothes are like (like some of the others, I buy the boy's stuff for DD), but am very bothered about the casual assumption that girls are just about image.

And am well impressed by what LTBT has achieved, btw.

Regina that's really interesting as to what you say about the sizing of girls clothes. Conversely I've found the boys clothes enormous for DS. He is a bit on the small side but nowhere near enough to justify the disparity in size that I have found at times. Overall I hate the inconsistency in sizing and the fact that it seems to start at such a young age is worrying

StickUmUp you know exactly what a bit slutty means, stop petty point scoring, it's not nice and it's not clever.

Well saying girls clothes are a "bit slutty" isn't very nice as that infers that the girls wearing them would be/look a "bit slutty". I find that quite problematic.

I find the word slutty problematic and misogynistic in relation to women let alone girls. Yeuch.

All reflected in the fact that they mention sports clothing under the menswear page, but don't bother under the womenswear.

I gather we're just meant to be interested in looking chic and that's it

I'll be interested to see if they bother replying to you OP.

I don't believe Primark are trying to make any political statement about what you are meant to wear. They're just trying to flog you clothes you probably don't need. If you find their advertising offensive, shop elsewhere.

Of course Primark aren't intending to make a political statement.

They are just blindly following stereotypes about what a boy 'is' and what a girl 'is' and therefore how you present them to sell clothes.

That doesn't make it any better.

And the 'shop elsewhere' thing is not an answer. I want to create a world that is better for my daughters. One where they are equally encouraged to play football and look at flowers. That is the route that allows every child to flourish to their fullest potential. And that is achieved by changing things, not just be swerving the shit bits.

Swerving the shit bits! Surely it's not as bad as that.

Yes, to me it's that bad.

DD1 was pretending to be a train today. I told her it was great and asked if she did it at pre-school (whenever they have to walk in a line, the leader gets to have the group pretend to be something). She said no. She said trains were a boy thing and she normally chose birds or butterflies.

She is 4.

She lives in a world that tells her who and what she is. Even when (as demonstrated by how she plays at home) it isn't who she is. She's four and she understands pretending to fit in with societal expectations.

It made me want to weep.

And most of the time all I can do is fight back with my own words, and swerve the shit bits as far as possible. I'd really rather make life a bit better.