The other day, I stood in my local Target, browsing the racks of girls’ t-shirts for my 13-month-old daughter. “Smile!” urged one. “Princess” trilled another. Then my personal favourite: “Bows are beautiful!” Over to the right sat the boys’ section, a sea of blue and green. “Let’s go!” one tee implored. “Adventure awaits,” promised the next. A cute little astronaut waved a flag on another. I grabbed the astronaut.
We headed home, and while I unpacked the groceries my little one enjoyed 10 minutes of screen time (I know, #badmum). The Wiggles sang their nursery rhymes with innocent glee, but I wasn’t feeling so cheery. Why was Emma Wiggle holding the baby on the bus? Why couldn’t one of the boy Wiggles deal with it going wah wah wah? In fact, why is Emma Wiggle only ever, according to my not insubstantial YouTube research, shown as a ballet dancer, fairy or a mother? (Never mind the most important question: where was her “Bows are beautiful” t-shirt? They were made for that chick).
I’m not the only mum who’s seeing pink over rampant sexism in kids culture: Clarks have just been forced to remove a girls’ school shoe with hearts on the soles called “Dolly Babe” from shelves after British parents provided strongly-worded “customer feedback”. Meanwhile, the boys’ equivalent was called—wait for it—”Leader”, complete with a football print insole. And according to a post on one of those mum Facebook groups I follow—the same store I bought the t-shirt from also stocks two pairs of shoes, exactly the same bar the colour; one blue for $6 and one pink—for $8.
Scoff, if you like, and called me the PC police. But these subtle, demeaning messages add up. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling for all grey all the time. I don’t ban pink dresses in my girl’s wardrobe—I may even be partial to a bow in her hair now and then—and if she’d like to learn ballet, I’ll pop her hair in a bun in two shakes of Emma Wiggle’s tail. The thing is, though, my kid is copping messages that put her squarely in a little, pink box every damn day, and she’s only been alive for a little over a year. I’m sick of it already.
And I’m reliably informed that it only gets worse. Jessica Irvine writes that most of the older kid’s shows are just as guilty when it comes to perpetuating gender stereotypes. Take Thomas the Tank Engine, she points out. “The solitary lead female train, Emily, is described disparagingly on the official website as a “beautiful emerald green engine” that “can be a little bossy and think she knows best.” And Thomas quite literally spends his entire days dragging around two dim-witted female carriages, Annie and Clarabel, who are powerless to move otherwise.”
Are we living in 1953? Why is this crap—crap that’s out there for little human brains at their peak soaking-up period—still being made?
Little girls are being told—through the TV they watch and the clothes the wear on their little bodies—that they should smile, be pretty and act like a princess. Adventuring, being wild or leading… that’s for the boys. And those boys are equally pigeonholed into their truck-loving, dinosaur-roaring, blue box, too.
Well, I’m not buying it, literally. Bring on Playschool and its male presenters who play vacuuming. And I’ll see you in the boys’ section, buying up the dinosaur tees.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
