As for baby clothes, I am currently expecting. This week, finally, the gender of my baby was revealed. Practically the instant we knew it was a girl, I was out shopping with my mother. I already had a (very) small supply of yellow and white bodysuits. We didn’t go crazy, but I went ahead and got the violet wunsies I’d been lusting after, and the little green with pink flowers and the ruffly butt.

In every store I did my pre-buying informative shop, the selection of clothes in infants that was aimed towards little girls exclusively was larger than the section aimed towards boys…and the supposedly gender neutral colors were also leaning towards the cutesy feminine side. There were more pink bibs and socks and what have you to choose from, than there was of any other two colors combined.

Indoctrinating little girls into a fashion aquisition state of mind seems to start at size 3-6 month.

Of course, as I just admitted, my mother and I were already perpetrating that feminine stereotype by shopping while the men sat and had donuts…Also, in an earlier pregnancy, when I was carrying a son, I bought very little in the way of clothing, and only one item in any color other than yellow, green or white, and that one because my husband picked out the blue with tools and ‘daddy’s litle helper’. When I was having a boy, I was preoccupied with trying to keep everything ‘gender neutral’ but as soon as there was a girl on the way, the rules changed to anything goes.

Dunno what that says about me.

What isn’t?

I live in the UK so that’s where I’m getting the trucks and dogs. But we have plenty of graffiti too. The patriarchy is clearly terrified of letting little boys wear anything other than stereotypically masculine stuff.

In my limited personal experience, I find the cheaper the store the more hideous the clothing and the more obvious the camouflage/candyfloss divide. If you look at horrifically overpriced designer stuff you get a slightly less stereotypical range and your boy is allowed paler colours until an older age. A lot of it is French. I went to France recently and the kiddie clothes section of this supermarket had better range of colours that blended across the genders. Still a divide but not as bad as in the UK. Back in my own country, I could not believe how long it took me to find plain white socks recently so I could pass them from girl to boy later on. Clearly the patriarchy deems plain white socks too serious for a girl and too wimpish for a boy.

Is it just me or has this pink/blue divide got worse? Looking back at photos of my youth, I see brown corduroy flares, paisley, tartan and stripy viscose jumpers that that would make your hair stand on end, literally and figuratively, but we all seemed to be in technicolour hell together, boys and girls alike. Not so any more.

Word, TrespassersW, word.

There is also an epidemic here of pink camouflage prints.

And I’d like to know where you’re finding the relatively innocuous trucks and animals prints; the non-military preschooler boys’ clothes here seem to focus on motorcycle, graffiti and skull-and-crossbones prints. If they don’t have slogans like “Here Comes Trouble” or “Heartbreaker” on them.

On a related point, the “worth the wait” slogan seems to me to refer to nothing more sinister than that pregnancy can be a long, tiring, anxious nine months.

Lately I’ve been covetting the hand sewn flea market onesies that say “Made in Africa”. (Get it? Heh-heh-heh)

Anyway. I totally agree with you Twisty.

I often shop at Woolies (very similar to the UK’s Marks & Spencers) for stuff for my niece and nephews. Its the one-stop place for middle to upper middle class peeps to get their kiddie gear. And what always bugs me is that the little t-shirts that say “Troublemaker” and “It wasn’t me” or “Impending tantrum” can only be found in the boys section. Its not quite the same pseudo-sexualizing that happens for little girls but its the same thing, of trying to mould little boys into aggressive, rebellious little maniacs. Condoning anti-social behaviour in boys. But heaven forbid your little girl be a “Troublemaker”. Oh no, she needs to be a “Heartbreaker”.

Meanwhile, across the aisle all the little girls clothes are designed exclusively in shades of purple, pink and yellow. Oh, and lets not forget the g-string underwear and bras for eight year olds. (Yes, Woolies – you know I mean you!) Last time I looked, eight year old girls didn’t have breasts.