Just not shutting up any more

[ailbhe]

OK, so I didn't shut up much anyway. But in John Lewis on Sunday I wanted to buy Astrid a hat because we'd come out without one, so I went to the baby hat section and had a look. I first saw a brown corduroy hat with earflaps and a chinstrap, called a Trapper hat, but it was in teh boys' section. So I went to see whether there was one in the girls' section. And there was, but it was pink, knitted, and 50% more expensive.

(I see from the website that there is actually a pink girl one the same price as the brown cord one but it wasn't in the shop at the time, and anyway it's 100% plastic and the boy one is 100% cotton).

So I brought both to the till and complained that the girl hat with earflaps was 50% more expensive and had no chin-strap to hold it on, and listened to a lot of ridiculous excuse-making and it's-not-that-bad-really-ing from the guy at the till, including "well the pink one is wool which is nicer fabric," when NO, it's ACRYLIC, not COTTON like the boys' one, and then I paid for the boy one and went away. But I am SO TIRED of finding that IF there's a decent girl-specific equivalent it's not stocked, or it's missing key features (pockets in trousers and shorts, for example), or covered in offensive slogans. I'm tired of it. That and the stupid bloody shoe differences.

And I'm making more of a point of being stupidly annoying in shops about it. Who's with me? We could be a Movement.

Comments

[serene]

I'm in.

[nitoda]

It had not occurred to me that girls required hats that were materially different from boys' hats. (using "it had not occurred to me" in the Quaker sense - ie. what a stupid idea that is!)

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with your point, but I'm not sure if it's worth being annoying to the person on the till who has no power. Being annoying to the manager of the department, or even better, the manager of the whole store seems more productive.

It takes SO MANY spoons though :( Why does it take so many spoons! Complaining should be easier!

[1ngi.livejournal.com]

You might like this blog here http://twocoloursinmyhead.wordpress.com/ Doesn't focus on quality at the moment but she's just had a baby and no doubt she'll get to that bit.

She may be known to you, she's j4 on LJ and a friend of tiamatsu.

[nicolap.livejournal.com]

I'm very much with you, and have been complaining far and wide on this one for years (my children are older than yours, so I got a head start...) Shoes are top of my list, and girls' coats...

[iuil.livejournal.com]

Are there "photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence"

[batswing.livejournal.com]

I'm with you.

[pashazade.livejournal.com]

No Offspring here, but a plethora of nieces and nephews. (I think that thirty of them between us count as a plethora.) It's been pissing me off for a very long time now. I remember realising as a teenage girl that I'd always wanted Scalectrix, but had never asked for them because the ads portrayed them as toys only for boys. In my naivete I thought that things would get better and they REALLY REALLY HAVE NOT. They've got much much worse.

My niece (now seven) was given a toy ironing board when she was two. I was in Hamley's with her earlier this year, and I was expressing excitement and curiosity over the building toys (Build a Robot! Build a Castle!) and she said, disapprovingly, 'You like *boys'* things.'

Yup, building things belongs to boys. Learning how things work belongs to boys. Dolls and self-adornment is what girls get.

[rmc28]

I'm with you!

I'm thinking template letters and addresses of head offices of firms, and ways-to-make-it-easy to complain. FixMyStuffForKids apps to upload a photo from your phone when out and about. (How to do all this is another matter ...)

There's also the PinkStinks people: http://www.pinkstinks.co.uk/

[ailbhe]

It's so gratifying when someone gets a reference!

[iuil.livejournal.com]

First thing that came to mind :)

[ailbhe]

Aha, I had been meaning to look it up! tiamatsu told me about it the other day. Thanks!

[ailbhe]

Linnea was in boys' shoes for YEARS because girls don't come wide enough.

[ailbhe]

My problem with pink stinks is that it's not pink that's at fault, and if little girls' stuff stops being pink NOW, it will just all be green or purple (lilac!) instead.

It does look like a likely place to start, though. I wonder if Rob might have time to code something? doubt it somehow...

[tiggsybabes.livejournal.com]

Kate is having a "boys toy" for Christmas as has asked for a lego tardis console. I was unaware that more males than females watch Doctor Who ...

The other way around, Holly has a leap pad explorer tablet for her birthday & amazon was selling the pink ones at £5 cheaper than the green ones, so I ordered the pink one.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

I have no babies, but I'm with you in proudly buying "man stuff" while people are looking. My unabashed purchasing of tools, extreme sports gear and sturdy clothes that fit and come from the men's side of the hiking shop are seen by little kids everywhere.

Except possibly men's pants which I buy with a suitably discreet pants-buying sort of manner. But the socks (bigger than size 7! My god!) are proudly bought.

[the-changeling.livejournal.com]

Hey.. try buying something nice for a boy. It's kinda not possible.

Colour, in particular, is absent. Well, for boys at all, and for girls, with girly 'bits' added.

And don't get me started on shoes... AAARRRGGGHHHHH... they may fit boys better, but they are all UGLY!!!!

[clarahippy.livejournal.com]

The shoes thing is bad enough but Clarks actively try and stop you buying boys shoes even though they have better options for wide feet. We were missold a G fitting when A needed a H. John Lewis were much better and recommended to just buy boys if she continued to need wide fittings (likely since both me and my sister have stupidly broad feet).

Which reminds me, I need to get her feet remeasured.

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

On my flist, your entry followed this one. I think that complaining to the clerk does have value - in that talking about these things to *everyone* has value, but as baratron says, it would be more productive to complain to management. In writing.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Aha hang on. You have a wide footed child. I was a wide footed child. I heard about these: http://www.vivobarefoot.com/uk/ and thought they sounded a likely bet for the one design of shoes in the universe that might ever fit my feet. Drawbacks: £££ and London + shoe shopping with children = doom. But I'm definitely going to have a look at the adult range at some point in the medium-length future and will report back when I have.

[pogodragon.livejournal.com]

Last time I bought sturdy, practical, sensible walking shoes for me the bloke in the shop apologised profusely and hoped I didn't mind that the ones in my size (8) were mens not womens. I have the exact same shoes as one partner and one good friend now, both male. I suspect it'll traumatise me for the rest of my natural. Or not.

[rosefox]

It happens to adults too. I walked into a high-end New York shoe shop and asked to see loafers in the men's section, and the clerk retorted, "You have women's feet! You can't wear men's shoes!" I settled for buying masculine-ish loafers from the women's side... and returning them after I'd worn them once. (I needed them right away for a wedding or I wouldn't have spent any money there at all.)

Shortly afterwards I went to a Payless shop; they sell super-cheap shoes that wear out quickly, but they carry men's shoes all the way down to a size 5 and don't blink when I buy some and wear them out of the store.

[k425.livejournal.com]

Still annoys me. YoungBloke has managed to ignore a fair deal of the gender-typing around: last Christmas he asked for, and got, My Pal Violet, and at Easter he asked for, and got, Buildabear Hello Kitty, and one of his favourite tv programmes is Winx Club, a cartoon about a bunch of girls at college learning to do magic and be fairies but he doesn't always want other people to know about them.

Walked past the baby clothes in Boots recently. Boys get jeans http://www.boots.com/en/Mini-Club-Newborn-Boys-Rib-Waist-Jean_1215689/. Girls get... http://www.boots.com/en/Mini-Club-Newborn-Girls-Embroidered-Jeans_1215703/ which were constrictive and</< more expensive.

[ailbhe]

There's a shoeshop near my mother where we have good luck, called Little Piggys, in Midleton, Co Cork. Lots of brands.