Baby clothing and gender standards.?
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 at
5:41 am
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The fewer choices the better.
God, I hate this feminist crap that dressing boys in a t-shirt with a train is maintaining strict gender roles.
Short answer:
I’ve always maintained that the strongest element of sexism still in our society is the way we unnecessarily enforce gender roles on children for whom puberty is a distant future.
Long answer:
There’s a paradox between high school and college that has been the source of much puzzlement and debate among college faculty concerned with such things for about half a century, and that has intensified as recent changes have only amplified it: girls graduate high school generally academically ahead of boys (and, in recent years, they’ve even caught up in math and sharply reduced the gap in science). They attend colleges in greater numbers. Yet, the male:female enrollment rates in things like physics, chemistry, engineering, and computer science still hover around 5 or 6 : 1. The girls, academically bright, numerous, and equipped with resources, inexplicably avoid the most challenging and lucrative fields like the plague. (Incidentally, this isn’t something that even those feminists with the biggest chips on their shoulders can blame on the Patriarchy – freshman major selection doesn’t require you to get anyone’s approval, so there’s no evil man who could be throwing away all the women’s applications.)
My personal theory, which is not uncommon and is strongly substantiated by some expanding programs we have to combat it at the high school level, is that these young girls, as a product of their culture, simply arrive at our doors with all the education and intelligence of the boys but with very little of the ambition (or even social expectation). A lot of freshmen in such majors are motivated by little more than the mentality that the studies they’ve selected are notoriously challenging – a "because it’s there" mentality that’s certainly more encouraged in young boys than in young girls.
The solution, in my opinion, is to get that spirit of ambition, competition, and self-confidence that we typically encourage in our boys into our girls as well. And whether that’s with explicit childhood expectations (e.g. doing something about the disparity between our young male prodigies, who are going to become crime-fighting genius scientist-astronaut lawyers, and our daughters, who are "very beautiful" and that’s about it), or by simply refraining from implementing the unnecessary barriers (perhaps for once, we could restrain ourselves from emphasizing to our boys and girls that they’re very different, that the other ones have ‘cooties’ and shouldn’t be played with, that there’s a stark difference between boys’ and girls’ toys, clothes, lunchboxes, backpacks, etc.), I’d say that most of what remains of the recalcitrance of gender roles in our society is anchored firmly in childraising.
yes, let the boys wear ruffled dresses too in baby-pink color with ribbons and laces, or how about baby-yellow color? maybe we can buy them flower-printed fabrics! that’ll help them grow up losing their identity! you’re a genius!!! that’s a good idea! let’s feminize all the boys!
i know, its weird! we are training our kids to have gender roles even at a very young age!
WEll this is because girls are sliding between the genders and women are too i.e career and being a mother.
Males are still in our role as close as to the traditional masculine as possible although not as strict although the machoism has worsened imo.
There’s definitely a difference between the two. Maybe this because there’s no such thing as a men’s movement for boys or did feminism work for boys too, I don’t think it did anything for boys, I know there’s more opportunities out there for girls than boys now anyway.
The sex roles that we place our children in will haunt them for a lifetime. I am so tired of pink for girls and blue for boys. Let the children express their inner self. A few generations ago boys and girls were dressed the same up until the teen years.
Why is it act as if were are the first when it comes to dealing with these issues?
Good point.
I’ve never noticed this myself, so I have no idea what I would propose for male babies. I can’t change years of colour-to-sex recognition, but trends offer colours forward. E.g. Men nowadays wear pink shirts as it is in fashion. Males can hardly venture into female fashion and interest without being criticized at some point, it seems. However, as equality levels out for both genders, women gain the respect for certain activities they were shunned for in the past such as promiscuity, while men are now more free with fashion, e.g. short shorts and pink shirts. Why are there no baby boy clothing designers to set a new trend? I don’t know really. I guess a lot of people just couldn’t care less.
you are right girls have more to pick from when it comes to clothes. but there are so many more types of clothes women can wear that is socially acceptable… pants, dresses, shirts, overalls, pantyhose, socks, ect. for men the list is shorter. not many men would be willing to wear pastel colored clothes. so that limits the colors too. the fact is that most men want to look like men and most women like to look like women. yes men and women are both trained at an early age to dress according to gender. a woman’s body is built different than a mans. if you can come up with a large assortment of new designs for men’s wear that will not make a man feel girly then my all means do so. but since my man is a tshirt and jeans man i will not stray from the simplicity of basic men’s clothes when i buy for him.
I know feminists want to eradicate gender roles, but that’s what’s fucking up society. May you have fun in hell.
Until they can dress themselves, I’m going to dress them. And I like my boys in girl clothes.
"Everyone..Do you think we are training are young males to think and be a certain way from a very early age?"
Yes. When do you plan training them, when they’re old? Ever heard of the saying, "You can’t teach old dogs new tricks"? And why must you feminists stick your nose into everything? Is going against everything you view "traditional" your mission?
In case you failed to notice: Women also have more clothing options then Men.
Rose I understand what you mean. Yes I agree.
I have always loved to sew and made many of my kids clothes when they were smaller.
Its clothes.
Not that important.
I always found plenty of clothes for my sons. No.2 son was pokemon mad when he was small and liked shirts and pyjamas with Pikachu on. He still does. I have also got them shirts and pyjamas with pirates, Star Wars, Ben 10, Yu-gi-oh, Dr Who, Spiderman and the Simpsons. I enjoy buying them fun clothes and am not particularly looking forward to when they are teenagers and just want to wear boring black etc. But that’s life.
I don’t know the reason for the differences in variety between options for boys and options for girls. All I really know is that if I was to have a child, even if that child was a girl, I like more of what’s available to the boys than I do what’s available to the girls. I always thought that the clothes available for girls was too "girly" while the clothes available for boys was more gender neutral. Or, perhaps this is just my interpretation based on how I was as a child. I was never a girly girl. Nor was I a tomboy. I was the best of both worlds. I think I’d rather see a girl in more "boyish" clothes than like what’s usually available: over-the-top cutsie dresses that aren’t practical in the least.
I think this must be a regional thing, because where I’m from, boys and girls both have a ton of selection and a wide range of colours and styles, and there are a lot of rather grown-up looking outfits for toddlers (halter tops, super-short skirts and shorts, etc.). Although the majority of clothes for little kids are covered in Barbies, Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers, Transformers, Spider Man, or other "I’m a walking billboard" designs. It is a bit irritating. It’s also a bit of a challenge to find modest clothes for a little girl. But if you’re willing to hunt you can find what you need, mostly.
Anyways, I’m mostly happy with the clothing selections available. I think it’s good for people to wear clothes that are gender-appropriate. My son wears boy clothes and my daughter wears girl clothes. I don’t really care if this is a "gender role", it’s something that we do with our kids anyways because we think it’s good for them to not be confused about their gender. And lest anyone get their PC panties in a bunch, we are careful to tell them that other people don’t do things like we do, that some ladies have short hair and some men have long hair, etc.
"I hate this feminist crap that dressing boys in a t-shirt with a train is maintaining strict gender roles."
So do I. And the idea that it’s also stifling to their personality. Guess what shirts my son picks for himself when we go shopping? The same ones I’d buy him: red shirts and shirts with dinosaurs or robots on them (bonus if it’s got both). Our daughter is the same….when she picks her own clothes, she goes for pink and purple and anything with kittens or butterflies. It’s who they are.
I don’t buy my clothes at the regular
stores because they won’t make clothes
in my size with Tigger on them, I want
Tigger and they used to have them when
I was little, now they only make stupid plain
boring colours.
I make my own or have them made in Canada
or in the tailor shop here in town, yeah it
cost more but nowhere else will maek them
happy for me.
I wish clothes companys would make happy
clothes with Tiggers on them in bigger sizes
so I can ware them.
I don’t know too much about baby clothing tbh, except for the pink/blue divide..but.as an avid toy collector myself , I have noticed that boy kids tend to have a wide selection of sports, cars,trains, military, police force,firemen, superheroes, etc,toys. Some of these toys resemble some of the realistic jobs you can do in life, while for girls toys, i so an entire section of barbies, kitchen sets, baby dolls and trolleys, princess and celebrity beauty sets….to be realistic not all of us can be celebrities, & i didn’t even know there was a job description for princesses…..most of these stuff applies to clothing as well.