There has been a lot in the media about the sexualisation of little girl's clothing. I haven't really had to deal with this, having boys, but I have had to deal with a related problem with boy clothing.
Boy's fashion, especially after say age 2, is based around a notion of masculinity as rough, tough, aggressive and transgressive. This is a problem when buying for Sparky, as he (and I have no problem with this) doesn't like anything scary looking. This rules out anything piratical, or any but the cutest monsters, or any skull and cross bones. You would be surprised how little this leaves. The other day I was buying him winter Pjs from cotton on, and had terrible difficulty choosing which ones to buy, as almost every pattern broke one of his rules or my rules. You see, I also have rules on his clothing: nothing that makes out he is a little soldier - camo, guns etc. And nothing that makes out he is a rotten difficult child. These 2 categories, added to those Sparky doesn't like - which I have issues with as well for a 3 year old - leave very little. You would be surprised how many slogan tees for boys have a slogan which denigrates the wearer. My sons aren't little brats/monsters/troublemakers - well, mostly not;) - and I certainly don't want to tell them so on their clothing. I don't think it is OK for my boys to be aggressive or social nuisances. I have noticed that very often parents do seem to think aggression in their boys is something to be secretly proud of.
I think this is the other side of the coin of the sexualised girl's fashion. Both trends paint a very narrowly defined idea of gender which I think goes against values you would want to instil in a child of any gender. What happened to the clothing I remember as a child? it seemed to be more kid like and less genderised. I pity the mums of girls stuck with the pink and more pink.
So, anyway, Sparky wears a lot of stripes, checks and plain clothing. Which is nice and tasteful anyway. The picture, by the way, is of the lovely kid's fashion by seed - which seems to avoid a lot of the issues I am talking about.
3 comments:
I don't know if I've ever come across much pirate stuff on clothing - maybe I just ignore it because I don't want to buy it. But I have the same views on the "I'm a naughty kid" style of clothing - it gives the child a very low standard to live up to.
And as for girl's PINK clothing - sigh. I went to a school with a pink uniform, so I have a total aversion to pink. But yesterday, looking for skivvies (I know, my kids are dressed for warmth in winter, and therefore sometimes look like nerds) I could buy anything, as long as it was pink. It seems that if you want anything other than pink (or purple) for girls then you have to shop somewhere expensive, where they have discovered other colours.
Brat-Chic really gets me annoyed. I'm really bothered by the T-shirts screaming "Mine, Mine, Mine" or "Little Princess" or "centre of the universe" or whichever they think is "cutting edge" enough. I had the same problem with clothes today (buying at a sale). Eldest likes cars, but all the car motifs seemed to have slogans like "Been there, beaten that" on them. Or the skulls. Or the aggressive motifs. I found a wiggles' shirt with the big red plane on it. Commercial, yes, but at least not aggressive.
With the girls' stuff it's all brat-chic now. Either with the Bratz emblazoned all over them, or screaming rude slogans everywhere. If you're looking for plain-coloured skivvies, Prue, go to the boy's section. There should be plain red, yellow, green or white ones there...
Thanks for the tip Kris. Probably would never have thought of that myself!
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