I read an article about a mommy blogger, who complained that some of Target's clothing was inappropriate for little girls. She posted a followup too. I happen to agree with her, and would add that many places that sell little girls clothing, are selling items that look more at home on a cougar than a little girl. I read another entry at the Huffpo in which someone accused people like that Mommy Blogger of having nothing more than a dirty mind, that the clothing was cute and not inappropriate at all and if someone looks at a child and sees some kind of sexual connotation, that's on them.
Um---Not so fast there Super Denial Person.
First of all, Childrens clothing in this country have become increasingly sexually dimorphic. Boys get royal blue and girls get petunia pink. Boys get t-shirts with the Regular Show and Adventure Time, and girls get My Little Pony, and Disney Princesses and Hello Kitty, and never the two shall meet!
YOU SHALL NOT CROSS!
It looks and feels a lot like this, when we venture into the boys section looking for the themes we like.
In fact I would say it goes further than that. Its a problem with women's clothing too. In both cases, the girls and the women's clothing is thinner, but often more expensive. It's like a trip back into the 1970s. The excuse is that perhaps we want something more form fitting to show off our figures (at any size or age), but really I think that it's really about money. Imagine the money saved in the weight of shipping, imagine how much cheaper the cloth is (in every sense of the word cheap) when thinner more flimsy cloth is used, even though it's marked up considerably. Flimsy clothing that doesn't stand up to wear and tear, nor washing. Meaning we end up buying clothing more often to replace what gets worn out to the point of being rags.
The clothing often fits poorly to boot. My kids aren't overweight at all. They are muscular and thin with long body types. We often find ourselves utilizing those internal waist adjustment straps to bunch pants up (male or female) so the damn things will stay up.
The big problem with girls clothing is that they are hyper-sexualized and gender stereotyped. Just in case your child forgets she is a girl--clothing manufacturers have gone to great lengths, to remind her of her place. And that place isn't the Chairman of the Board or the Winner's Circle at the Olympics or the Race Track, it isn't on a Mission to Mars, but in fact, it is to be Arm Candy in Cute-eeville (aawwww how tweeet, you gots yourselves some itty bitty bwains--here have a pink shirt and some hot pants for da wittle hottie).
For people who don't understand this problem--when a girl wears shorts that are too tight and too short, there are a variety of issues. Poorly fitting pants, can cause a problem with circulation in the crotch area. (even cut-offs), and it can also reveal a lot more of her gender than any parent would ever want to.Most female pants are of the stretch pants variety, which mean those pants have a lot of lycra in them meaning these pants don't breathe very well, so that your kid gets extra sweaty in the heat which can lead to heat rashes and allergic reactions and even yeast infections. Because I repeat--Girls do play outside and do get sweaty. Even 6 to 8 yr old girls, regardless of the ruffles, the pink kitties, and glitter.
Real denim is more breathable--just saying. I say this because it's obvious to me in a million little ways that designers forget that girls play hard outside in the summer just like boys. If they knew this fact, maybe their choices in cut and cloth would be more appropriate for that kind and level of activity.
Fact is, when we put shorts on little girls (girls under a certain age) they shouldn't look like this:
There's nothing wrong with Daisy Dukes, if you are an adult who wishes to wear them. More power to you. But I as a mom, shouldn't feel like this sort of short pants are all I have to choose from when I go shopping for my kids. The Mommy Blogger is right. Parents spend money on these clothes but they are not acceptable for school or camp because they are too revealing. Some parents who work a couple jobs, may not have time to drive to three thrift stores to find something else more appropriate. And because going to school is a fashion show, they also might be fighting the girls themselves who just want to be like everyone else. So the designers are the ones who should be slapped for putting parents over a barrel with this mess. When a little girl wants to dress like her cool 28 yr old single Auntie, who likes to club and party, it's okay to say, "No that is not age appropriate." Just like we don't buy little boys porno mags or cigarettes. Some things are meant for adults. Daisy Dukes, Push-up bras, and fishnets are also not for tweens.
And if you have a child who looks a little older than she really is, dressing her this way can put her up as a target for attention that she really isn't psychologically equipped to deal with. Girls go through growth spurts just like boys, but they often get taller earlier, and develop earlier. The last thing a mom wants is her 10 to 12 yr old looking like she is 17 and a half, or worse 23, because she is tall long legged with a hint of a bust. Until it happens to you as a parent, and you see people ogling your child--you just don't know how awful that can be.
I never buy cut off pants or short overalls from Target or any box store because the shorts are like those depicted in the video above. This has been a problem since my oldest child was a toddler. We have actually thrown stuff like that away, because the shorts were obscenely short. What the designers were thinking when they made this a policy, I don't know. So we spend our money at thrift stores buying older clothing with better designs and thicker cloth. We don't spend so much money at regular stores, because the clothing is just inappropriate in general in many places, or so hyperfeminine that girls-clothing looks ridiculous when it doesn't look too mature.
We also buy boys clothes, especially jeans. Because they aren't cut to be low riders which is code for female plumber's butt, and once again, they are not mostly lycra, and they are thicker (actual denim) which means they breathe better, and take more abuse outside and can be washed and dried with impunity. I don't want to see anyone's butt cleavage, adult or child--just gross!
Target and their designers (and other clothing distributors) need to contemplate the difference between pretty, and alluring. Alluring (as in sexually alluring) isn't the root of being pretty. And it also is not the root of being female (little girl or grown woman). While sometimes it might be fun to dress alluring, it is but one of many expressions that might be made by a female's wardrobe, one that is better suited and more appropriate for ADULT WOMEN.
We should be encouraging girls to play outside as kids. Note that the word "Kids" is gender neutral, that it's about playing. And that means more unisex clothing, that is thicker, more durable, and stain resistant like boys clothing. The shorts should be long enough to protect the crotch and upper thigh area, so that the skin doesn't stick to playground equipment or bicycle seats, or get burned by those same items in the high summer. And so that we cannot see the outline of a child's bum and genitalia whenever they bend over or worse see up the legs and see everything directly (is that too much to ask?)
There should be a decent selection of blank tees, and graphic tees in a variety of colors, not forgetting that girls like more than just the shows deemed "feminine" such as Disney Princesses and My Little Pony. My kids love MLP but they love a lot of other stuff too.
Whoever put Wonder Woman on Pink shirts should be beaten with their own severed limbs. Her colors have always been red, white, blue and gold. Cat Woman has always been Black and Gold, Super Girl has always been red, white, and blue. The t-shirts should be adequately thick to handle regular wear and tear any kid, male or female might put it too, and hopefully weather well enough to be passed on to a sibling or neighbor or two. It would be cool to see the Justice League shirts in the girls section that include the whole cast, instead of seeing Wonderwoman excluded on the graphic tees in the boy's section.
I have news for the boys club of designers--Girls like Minecraft. Girls like the Regular Show, they like Adventure Time, they like the Amazing World of Gumball, they like Anime too. They like Star Wars, and Star Trek, and Periodic Tables, and Space Images too. It's okay to provide super girlie stuff for them, but it would be really cool if the designers could recognize the diversity in gender expressions that happens across the board in human beings (kids included). My kids like cool graphic tees with Einstein on them, and some of the monster tee shirts too, they like irony too.
My kids like to hike and camp, and I am not saying at the Hilton with room service, and yet it's difficult to find durable outdoor clothing that isn't yoga pants. Come to think of it, I see similar problems in the women's aisles too. Women and Girls do more sports than Yoga and Tumbling and Cheer. They do martial Arts, they Mountain Bike, Roller Skate, Run, Hike, Walk, Play Soccer and Baseball and Softball and some play Football too.
I would like to see more Science Themed shirts in the Girls Section.
Because right now--when we dare to go shopping, it feels like we wouldn't know this clothing was for females if they didn't glue a bunch of ugly ass rhinestones on them. Yikes people!
So as a mom, when I am looking for clothing for my kids who spend a lot of time outside playing I look for the following qualities in their everyday clothing:
1. Is it age appropriate. If my kid is going to look like this
And she is is not even old enough for a learner's permit--We aren't buying it.
2. Is it stain resistant? If it's light pink, or white or light yellow--forget it. All that means is that after my kids have gotten 10 different kinds of soil and chocolate ground into the shirt, that I have to spend an extra 30 minutes with a stain remover scrubbing at the washing machine before I even soak it. Yea--I have better things to do with my time. Brown, blue, red, orange, green, tan, or even black are better color choices when it comes to dealing with laundry issues and small kids. These colors hide stains better, when they don't come out, but most of the time that isn't a problem so long as it's not motor oil or ink.
3. Durability: I am not going to spend money on thin crap that falls apart after two or three washings. I am not going to buy something that will be full of pulls because stickers and burrs got caught in it and will never come out without scissors or without leaving pulls and holes in it. This was more true when they were smaller, but still important now.
4. Messaging. This is mostly Graphic tees and can speak to age appropriateness. The message better be funny without being mean. The message better not convey some weird sexual innuendo. I prefer something positive, or the occasional visual pun. I also prefer more diversity in themes for girls. Sometimes I think that girls graphic tees are made as an afterthought to boys graphic tees (if they are made at all) or someone was "forced to" or perhaps they were designed by someone like this:
The more designers ignore the obvious, the more moms like me will buy from thrift stores and consignment shops and in the boys section, which means those girl designers will lose a lot of money from people who just aren't willing to dress their child in designs that are meant for adults, in cheap, thin clothing, nor buy into the princess-crap culture.