Rather sexist dressing-up costumes

[awrightmylover]

I saw this in the Xmas catalogue and found it a bit depressing. For boys, they have:

Fireman
Policeman
Soldier
Pirate

Three of the above are reputable careers which any child may be interested in.

For girls on the other hand:

Nurse
Princess
Fairy
Witch

Only one of the above is a common job.
I know it's only pretend, good fun, 'what parents want'- but would it really hurt to have maybe a vet or scientist costume in there to mix it up a bit? Women can even be in the police nowadays (DCI Gibson anyone...?)

It's no wonder girls don't see STEM subjects as attractive if it's not presented as an option in childhood!

All of the boys costumes could be unisex, but I wonder how many boys would reject them if a girl were photographed wearing them.

I feel like we just haven't made any progress at all in the last 30 years.

I'm sure plenty of people will say to just buy the police outfit for a girl if they want it, what's the problem? But it is the insidious impression that these outfits are segregated by sex, that one set is suitable for boys and one set for girls. It sends a message to any child that sees it, and children are very good at picking up these cues from what they see around them.

The nurse uniform is oddly out of date too. The police/army/firefighter uniforms all look roughly like the actual uniforms worn by people in those occupations these days. Whereas no modern nurse dresses like that at all, with the fussy hat and so on. Most nurses I've seen recently wear trousers and a uniform shirt/tunic.

Exactly, you only see that kind of nurse at Halloween. Smh.

I feel like we just haven't made any progress at all in the last 30 years.

I'm not even sure it was that bad 30 years ago.

I mean, the sexism is so blatant, I can't even.

Also, interesting that two of the girl costumes are things that do not even exist, while a third is something that does not exist in the way it is used for dressing up (princess).

What's the lesson from that? Boys exist, girls are mythical creatures?

(And the princess and fairy are pretty much exchangeable, you could wear exactly the same costume for both!)

The girl costumes were labeled "fantasy", apparently to distract from the sexism, but the nurse doesn't fit the pattern.
Well, unless you are talking about the sex fantasies of adult men.

It wasn't this bad 30 years ago, my little girl is 27 and she was not surrounded by a sea of pink and glitter everywhere she went. Clothes buying was easier. Segregation by gender is more severe now in a child's world.

DS1 had a fancy dress party at nursery last week. There's a photo of the eight children in his group, three boys and five girls. The boys are dressed as an astronaut, a pirate and a cowboy. All five girls are dressed as princesses.

This has just been shared online; John Lewis has become the first UK retailer to remove gender labels from its children’s clothing.

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/john-lewis-boys-girls-clothing-labels-gender-neutral-unisex-children-a7925336.html

Nice one, John Lewis.

Although from many of the comments, right wing people think its got something to do with transgenderism

DJBaggySmalls exactly, the comments are baffling.

It's about trying to fight this insidious assumption underpinning most kids clothes/toys/etc that girls should be pretty and nurturing and boys should be practical and active.

My eldest dd is 27 too eyes, agree that there was very little pink sparkly shit when she was little. Her favourite Halloween costume was a firefighter outfit that I made for her. My 8 year old dd wouldn't wear that now, despite my best efforts she would see it as a boys outfit.

Although from many of the comments, right wing people think its got something to do with transgenderism

Perhaps it does. I mean, feminism isn't very fashionable at the moment. Transgenderism is.

It would be interesting to know their motivations. If they wanted to appease transgenderists, they'll not succeed, because children, apparently, need to be medically transed, and their identifying as agender or something without taking medication isn't desired. So getting rid of the labels makes it harder to railroard kids to transition.

I wouldn't be surprised, though, if some bonkers "non binaries" felt personally offended at the women's and men's clothes sections.

@deadringer: To clarify, do you still have the outfit you made for your eldest and the 8 year old refuses to wear it, claiming it is for boys? That's ... bizarre.

No I don't have it any more vestal, but if I bought or made one now she would say it's for a boy. We have a dress up box with all sorts of stuff in it, power ranger costume, wizard outfit etc but she just isn't interested in anything that's not 'girly'. She is not particularly 'princessy' but if looking through toy cataloges for example she will skip through the 'boys' pages. Media and marketing are very, very powerful. Toy shops have separate aisles for girls and boys, it just wasn't like that years ago, I think it's sad.

Dany Cotton
Cressida Dick

No coincidence John Lewis has a woman boss, I imagine.

Great news though!

What bothers me as much as the costumes is the differences in the way they are posed.

Someone linked to a ring bearer and child's bridesmaid dress the other day. Boy in a power pose thumb in the vest and the girl basically curtsying.

Very true regarding poses. It reminds me of this: www.takepart.com/feature/2014/07/09/what-if-fashion-objectified-males-same-scary-way-it-does-females

The gendering of these outfits is so regressive. FurryGiraffe's experience shows how pervasive it all is.

eyes, deadringer, I myself am a child of the 90s and agree it wasn't really like this when I was little. I seem to remember having a lot of stuff in bright primary colours.

I was heavily into my princess stuff (I still love an excuse to dress up for the night) and I had a good few floral smocks with big Peter Pan collars, but they weren't generally pink.

I once went out with DD in a frilly white princess dress, blue dinosaur wellies and her pirate sword. On another occasion, she was wearing a yellow and red tracksuit with a crown and jewels draped round her person.
I don't mind mix and match, it's the narrow uniformity that sends a shudder through me. Pre-programmed conformity, with suspicion and othering for those that don't conform. Which gets even worse as teenagers.

The girl costumes were labeled "fantasy", apparently to distract from the sexism, but the nurse doesn't fit the pattern.
Well, unless you are talking about the sex fantasies of adult men.

I was just thinking the same thing, that the girl costumes are all designated 'fantasy' including 'Carry on Matron' fantasy nurse whilst the boys are 'action'.

This stuff matters to how children view themselves and their sex, what they are encouraged to role play and aspire to in later life.

Recently, I wrote to Emirates to complain you can buy only captain fancy dress for boys and cabin crew outfits for girls.

Both are jobs. For both sexes. But I guess if you are Emirates then your sex determines your career ambition.

I haven't received a response.

I agree with other posters it has got worse my dd is nearly 25 and we didn't have as much of that nonsense back then why has it got worse ? And yy the nurses uniform is decades out of date most nurses wear trousers and tunics no hats

But I guess if you are Emirates then your sex determines your career ambition.

Isn't Emirates that Saudi Arabian airline? They don't let women drive, of course they wouldn't let women fly planes.

They do, Emirates has female pilots.
I guess they still need their drivers to get home from airport though - one can handle an A380 but not a car..

If there wasn't children in the picture i would show you female emirate pilots. Dh has relatives that live in UAE