As I have been studying the ‘ins and outs’ of youth popular culture, I have relished the opportunity to once again escape into the vast array of worlds and contexts that our youth are captivated by. It has been enlightening and captivating. But for this particular post, I wanted to step outside of the predictable English teacher role and leap head first into something different. Still popular culture related, but completely removed from the curriculum content that drives my day. Fashion, outfits, couture, apparel, attire or simply clothing are visual popular culture texts. The everyday outfit can be read by others and provide an understanding of who we are. The manner in which we adorn ourselves assists in defining our identity; essentially, the fashion that we choose can establish our place in society, align us with like-minded groups of people or even affirm our place on the social hierarchy. All of this is particularly important in the teenage realm. So, through fashion, I cling to my youth because as a woman, I love clothes and everything that comes with them (except maybe the washing). However, there are very real issues that have come to my attention in recent months in regards to children’s fashion in particular.
Before I continue, let me set the scene for what instigated this particular post. Outside of my ‘job’, I am a mother to five-year-old boy/girl twins – which is a whole other realm of work!!! Now, recently we had to do some clothes shopping, something that as a female, I have always enjoyed. As we wandered through the maze of fashion items in various department stores I became increasingly frustrated. Why you may ask? Well, let me enlighten you.
We began the morning by looking for summer items for my son’s wardrobe, which was a fairly harmless task. T-shirts adorned with ninja turtles, motorbikes and dinosaurs were his items of choice and shorts, well there’s not a great deal of variety when it comes to boys’ shorts is there? A fairly mundane task that was addressed fairly quickly with a five-year-old boy. We then ventured into the girl’s section. As I mentioned my children are five, they are not of an age where the clothing that they are wearing should be suggestive or revealing in anyway and this is reflected in the boy’s section which is filled with bright, fun clothing. So, we attempted to find my little girl some shorts first and to my incredible amazement, not one pair of girl’s shorts were of a length that I felt was suitable for a five-year-old. There were crop tops, bikinis and skirts that I would have considered appropriate for an 18-year-old. All of this in a section that is dedicated to girls in the size 1 – 7 bracket. We eventually left with a couple of t-shirts and a dress to begin her summer wardrobe with a promise to find her some more appropriate clothing. I even suggested that we visit a fabric shop so she could choose fabric so that I could create something amazing and appropriate for her.
A part from the obvious disparity in the appropriateness of clothing when it comes to gender there was one other issue that was concerning. If the clothing that adorn ourselves with assists in shaping our identities, then what do the messages that are emblazoned across them suggest? Captions on boys’ clothing promotes being strong and powerful, to be heroes and be bold! However, girls’ clothing is somewhat more submissive or passive. Slogans printed across young girls’ t-shirts include:
Training to become Batman’s Wife
The happiest girls are the prettiest
Born to wear diamonds
Future Trophy Wife
Meh!
Inspirational aren’t they?
Let’s compare the statements presented on t-shirts for young boys:
Someday I will change the world
I maybe small, but I think big
Wild and free
Dream big
Genius
I am aware that as five-year-olds, they can barely read or even comprehend the messages, however, I can. And so can the world. I can interpret that the manufacturers of products such as this have little consideration for the purpose of girls in the world other than to decorate it. I want my little girl and boy, as well as every other child to grow up knowing that they are worthy and that they have the ability to ‘dream big’. That they can achieve great things. Again, I know that these are only items of clothing, but our clothing, even in these initial stages of life, allow us to express our identities. As we move into our teenage and adult years, our clothing tells our tale. It identifies what we believe in and how we want to promote ourselves to the world.
Even a young girl has taken to YouTube to address this disparity.
(Standard YouTube Licences, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R1Pf7zFHFI)
I understand, that for centuries now, girls and women have been addressed in popular culture in a variety of ways, but until recently, they have generally been created as the pretty character. Those who are there to be saved or rescued. However, modern texts have been challenging this through novels such as The Hunger Games and Divergent. Strong female characters and role models have become a staple in the popular culture diet of our youth. Girls around the world have been devouring these texts, in both written and visual form. They idolise strong young women who are using their voices and celebrity to assist in changing the world (let’s just ignore the Kardashians and similar ilk). And, if this is the case, then shouldn’t the manufacturers also make a concerted effort to reflect attitudes and values of young girls around the world? Shouldn’t we be encouraging the all of the youth to dream big, to change the world and to embrace the opportunities that lay before them? In response to these questions, I chose to make a stand. I refuse to purchase clothing for my daughter that simply makes her a decoration piece in the world. I refuse to select items that prematurely sexualise my young daughter. I choose to put both of my children on an equal playing field and this begins with their clothing. Let’s just hope she agrees with me….
I understand, that for centuries now, girls and women have been addressed in popular culture in a variety of ways, but until recently, they have generally been created as the pretty character. Those who are there to be saved or rescued. However, modern texts have been challenging this through novels such as The Hunger Games and Divergent. Strong female characters and role models have become a staple in the popular culture diet of our youth. Girls around the world have been devouring these texts, in both written and visual form. They idolise strong young women who are using their voices and celebrity to assist in changing the world (let’s just ignore the Kardashians and similar ilk). And, if this is the case, then shouldn’t the manufacturers also make a concerted effort to reflect attitudes and values of young girls around the world? Shouldn’t we be encouraging the all of the youth to dream big, to change the world and to embrace the opportunities that lay before them?
In response to these questions, I chose to make a stand. I refuse to purchase clothing for my daughter that simply makes her a decoration piece in the world. I refuse to select items that prematurely sexualise my young daughter. I choose to put both of my children on an equal playing field and this begins with their clothing.
Let’s just hope she agrees with me….