mass-produced gender stereotypes

I’ve been noticing a lot of hype lately about gender stereotypes on children’s clothing, like this Huffington Post article, and there have been several kickstarter campaigns to start businesses that sell clothes for girls that have bugs and dinosaurs and all the really fun stuff instead of just tiaras and big-eyed kittens. I think that’s cool, and at the end of this post I highlight some of them. But first, I have to share my rant on the insanity that retailers like to call “graphic tees.”

Since when does your kid need to tell the world how awesome he is with his shirt? When your kid is throwing a tantrum in the grocery store, are people (or you?) going to look at his shirt and think “Oh, he’s a future number one draft pick. I don’t mind him screaming at the top of his lungs.” Does it make a mother feel better, when she's woken up for the 6th time in one night, to read "I love my mommy" on her kid's shirt? If I ruled the world, I would not allow words to be printed on small children’s clothing. It isn’t fair. That kid has no control over the message they are sending. If they can’t read the words on their shirts, they shouldn’t be there.

Speaking of such things, I have to share my recent research on the topic of words on baby clothes. I’ve always been aware of the obnoxious pink and purple obsession in little girls’ clothes, which is partly what spurred me to start making my baby’s clothes. On a side note, I’ve discovered that I actually like pink and purple, when used tastefully, and I’ve had two girls and both of them love(d) pink at a very early age, without my encouragement. There is a reason the girls section looks like pepto bismol puke…some girls like it, and people buy it. But, back to the point, I had also noticed over the years that the words on boys and girls clothes were different. Girls’ shirts tended to say “cute” while boys’ shirts say “strong.” But I didn’t realize how bad it really was. The Gap is the exception. They seem to have made an effort to keep the words printed on their baby shirts neutral, like “New York” or “hang in there.” But I was blown away by Carter’s and Gymboree.

The first thing I noticed when I looked more closely was that there were significantly fewer words on girls shirts than boys. So, I bet you can guess some of the girl’s shirt words…”call me princess,” “so amazing,” “incredible,” “super awesome,” most of them had pictures of cats, suns, oceans, or pugs on them. The boys on the other hand, wow. Brace yourself. Here’s a sampling…”be brave, adventure awaits,” “superhero sidekick,” “king of the forest,” “great outdoor explorer,” future genius,” “all-star champion,” “ride on, dude,” “let’s roll and explore,” “bluewater cove lookout crew,” “extraordinary Redbrook troop ranger, junior heroics,  patrol camp 96 Yellowstone,” “wave rider,” “built for speed,” etc. You get the idea.

This is what stands out to me: Boys, even though they are babies and can’t throw a ball or explore the forest, are praised for their ability to DO things. Girls, though they have no concept of how sweet their lives are and they don’t want to be princesses, are praised for doing nothing, just vaguely being awesome. So what should we praise girls for doing (assuming we simply must have words on babies shirts)? Of course, future genius applies to both genders, as does superhero sidekick or exploring, riding motocross, being a forest ranger…well, any of those things actually. The only exceptions are being a baseball all-star or future number one draft pick. But, do we really know what our kids are going to grow up to be? He could become an interior designer or a fish farmer for all you know, why do we need to label our babies as professional athletes before they can even grab a rattle?

I know that what’s on a baby’s shirt probably doesn’t really matter in the scheme of things, but why? Why do these things exist? If you have the ability to mass produce printed shirts and sell them, why would you ever think that a baby would wear a shirt that says “bluewater cove lookout crew” or “pretty princess”? It just doesn’t make sense. In a million years of brainstorming ideas for baby shirts, I would never come up with any of those things.

((Update: I think these companies are getting the hint. I checked again since they've released their fall lines, and there is improvement as far as the words go, but you still only see the cool stuff like dinosaurs on boy's shirts.))

There are alternatives, for those who don’t want to weed through the princess shirts at the mall. First of all, I want to give props to the locals I’m aware of. Sassy Knitwear makes clothes for kids and women here in the Twin Cities, and you won’t find any cheesy words on their clothes.  The Patchery lets kids design their own clothes using a variety of fabrics and are also made in Minneapolis. Neither are vocally fighting gender stereoypes, but both are very focused on sustainability and have girl’s and boy's clothes that are play friendly, and without words.

Princess Awesome

Then there are several U.S. clothing companies popping up whose missions are to combat gender stereotypes. Princess Awesome is indeed awesome, they make dresses with dinosaurs and science stuff and pi, and no words. I’m a huge fan. They are manufacturing in a small factory in Chicago. They don’t have a huge inventory, but they’re working on it! They’re a little pricey, but I could see those dresses getting a lot of use.

Girls Will Be

I still hold to my no words on shirts preference, but I love the non-worded shirts at Girls Will Be. They provide some great options for girls that don’t want to be too girly. The shirts’ art features bugs, robots, camping, math, all good stuff, all the stuff I hope my girls like. Their shirts and shorts are made in L.A., and their hoodies are made in a company in Honduras that is part of the Fair Labor Association. I appreciate their transparency, they share their whole story and process, along with sourcing, on their website.

I like the simplicity of BuddingSTEM, a line of shirts, pants, and bags with dinosaurs, rockets, and trains for girls. I couldn’t find any information about their sourcing and haven't heard back from an email inquiry. According to their website, some of their clothes are made in the U.S. and some are imported and printed in the U.S.

Other U.S. tee shirt makers that are fighting gender stereotypes are Quirkie kids, who make pink shirts with cool cartoon drawings of animals; Handsome in Pink, who make tee shirts that openly defy gender norms by putting graphics of tool belts on pink onesies and putting the phrase "forget princess, call me president" on onesies and tee shirts; Jessy and Jack, who make shirts with robots and brightly colored animals with waterbased inks; and Svaha, who makes shirts with science themes, dinosaurs, trucks, planes, etc.. Svaha claims their shirts are ethically sourced and sweatshop free, made in the U.S. and abroad.   Handsome in Pink and Jessy and Jack use American Apparel tee shirts and onesies. It is a bit ironic to use a manufacturer that is shrouded by sexual discrimination and assault charges for a gender-equity focused clothing company, but hey, at least American Apparel’s workers are paid and safe. Princess Free Zone has gender-neutral tee shirts for girls also, and they are made and dyed in the U.S., but I am not certain where.

Handsome in Pink

Princess Free Zone

Jessy and Jack

Quirkie Kids

Almost all of these companies have something in common. They were started by moms whose daughters didn’t want to wear princesses and sparkles, and couldn’t find clothes they liked at the stores. More power to them. I hope we see more of this, and I hope it catches on with the retailers. Really it is sad that it hasn’t already, and that there are people who actually think it is wrong to mix girls and boys toys in the Target toy aisle. After I saw this the other day at Target, I don’t think you need signs to tell you where the girl’s stuff is…