On Children's Clothing
I usually confine my commentary here to cute things that Shoshanna has done lately, but this is a topic that really bugs me, and it came up twice this weekend, with two different strangers, so I'll rant about it a little bit.
There are very few gender-neutral kid clothes. I'm not talking only pink clothes available for girls and only blue clothes available for boys, although it is hard to avoid pink and blue. I'm talking about how it's often hard to avoid girls' shirts that say things like "Pretty Princess" and boys' clothes that have pictures of footballs and trucks (bonus points if they have BOTH!) For example, we were out shopping on Sunday and Matthew noticed a display of onesies. The boy ones were blue and said "Tough Guy" on them. (Shoshanna pointed and obligingly declared "Doodah!") The girl ones were pink and said "Drama Queen" on them. Matthew's comment was "Why isn't there one that says 'tough girl'?"
Different stores/clothing lines are better or worse. Just for reference, here are some examples of what's out there for girls and boys from The Children's Place (which I find to be among the least offensive in this regard). For girls:
For boys:
For both boys and girls, there are solid-colored shirts - but the girls' shirts have ruffled necklines and cuffs, whereas the boys' shirts have a plain collar and cuffs. Girls' printed t-shirts have flowers and butterflies. Boys' printed t-shirts say "Varsity" and "Rock Star".
No wonder I buy a lot of boys' clothes for her - when we were in Macy's on Sunday (right around the time Matthew commented about the onesies), the woman in line behind me was remarking on the lack of clothes for tomboys. I agreed and pointed out that Shoshanna was wearing almost entirely boy's clothes (her love-a-saurus t-shirt, and a pair of cargo cords). On Saturday when a woman asked me if a pair of shorts was for boys or girls (because her daugher would "kill her" if she bought the right kind - the shorts were plain khaki cargo shorts), she was wearing a hockey t-shirt. Remember the RockStar t-shirt? Yeah, that was a boy's shirt. As were the little doggy outfit, the first Red Sox t-shirt (which she can still fit into, incidentally), and the hippo outfit. Heck, I think the SOCKS I bought her this weekend would be considered "boy" socks - because all the girl socks are little ankle socks, and I think she needs something taller for winter.
OK. Rant over.
There are very few gender-neutral kid clothes. I'm not talking only pink clothes available for girls and only blue clothes available for boys, although it is hard to avoid pink and blue. I'm talking about how it's often hard to avoid girls' shirts that say things like "Pretty Princess" and boys' clothes that have pictures of footballs and trucks (bonus points if they have BOTH!) For example, we were out shopping on Sunday and Matthew noticed a display of onesies. The boy ones were blue and said "Tough Guy" on them. (Shoshanna pointed and obligingly declared "Doodah!") The girl ones were pink and said "Drama Queen" on them. Matthew's comment was "Why isn't there one that says 'tough girl'?"
Different stores/clothing lines are better or worse. Just for reference, here are some examples of what's out there for girls and boys from The Children's Place (which I find to be among the least offensive in this regard). For girls:
For boys:
For both boys and girls, there are solid-colored shirts - but the girls' shirts have ruffled necklines and cuffs, whereas the boys' shirts have a plain collar and cuffs. Girls' printed t-shirts have flowers and butterflies. Boys' printed t-shirts say "Varsity" and "Rock Star".
No wonder I buy a lot of boys' clothes for her - when we were in Macy's on Sunday (right around the time Matthew commented about the onesies), the woman in line behind me was remarking on the lack of clothes for tomboys. I agreed and pointed out that Shoshanna was wearing almost entirely boy's clothes (her love-a-saurus t-shirt, and a pair of cargo cords). On Saturday when a woman asked me if a pair of shorts was for boys or girls (because her daugher would "kill her" if she bought the right kind - the shorts were plain khaki cargo shorts), she was wearing a hockey t-shirt. Remember the RockStar t-shirt? Yeah, that was a boy's shirt. As were the little doggy outfit, the first Red Sox t-shirt (which she can still fit into, incidentally), and the hippo outfit. Heck, I think the SOCKS I bought her this weekend would be considered "boy" socks - because all the girl socks are little ankle socks, and I think she needs something taller for winter.
OK. Rant over.
posted by Sarah @ Monday, September 04, 2006
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