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Home / Lifestyle

'It's Victorian misogyny!' Clothing store slammed for 'sexist' children's clothing

By Emily Chan
Daily Mail·
27 Jul, 2017 05:31 AM3 mins to read

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Morrisons have been caught in a sexism row after customers complained over 'misogynistic' children's clothes being sold in store. Roche Jacques

Morrisons have been caught in a sexism row after customers complained over 'misogynistic' children's clothes being sold in store. Roche Jacques

Morrisons have been caught in a sexism row after customers complained over 'misogynistic' children's clothes being sold in store.

A photo shared on Twitter showcases several offending t-shirts available in the kids clothing section of the supermarket, the Daily Mail reported.

In one case two tops are near-identical apart from the slogans, with the male version reading 'little man big ideas' meanwhile the female take says "little girl big smile."

In another example, a boys t-shirt reads "King of the Castle" while a girl's top has the logo "Pretty Little Me".

Looking 4 kids' holiday clothes this morning @Morrisons Didn't buy anything. I see you don't think much of girls @letclothesbe @PinkstinksUK pic.twitter.com/aSuXcEWBJx

— ShelleyRoche-Jacques (@RocheJacques) July 24, 2017
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The picture was shared by Twitter user Shelley Roche-Jacques who accompanied it with the following tweet: "Looking 4 kids' holiday clothes this morning @Morrisons Didn't buy anything. I see you don't think much of girls".

Many other mothers were in agreement with Shelley, arguing that the slogans suggest girls should be valued for their aesthetics while boys are valued for their brains.

User Rainbow Murray‏ responded: "@Morrisons this is a horrible example of gender stereotyping and @EverydaySexism. Please don't diminish girls in this way."

Irene Soldatos‏ agreed adding: "This is absolutely appalling, @Morrisons. It's Victorian.Rank sexism and misogyny. Girls must smile & be pretty, but boys have the big ideas?"

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Morrisons responded to the tweet, writing: "Sorry you feel this way! I've fed this back to our buyer for review. Thanks for raising this - Matthew".

Kate Land set out to correct the stereotypes at play on T-shirts by using notes - changing the slogan on the boys' T-shirt to 'Diverse groups working together are the cleverest'. Photo / Twitter
Kate Land set out to correct the stereotypes at play on T-shirts by using notes - changing the slogan on the boys' T-shirt to 'Diverse groups working together are the cleverest'. Photo / Twitter

Elsewhere, other children's companies have faced backlash over their gendered clothing.
One unhappy mother recently went on mission to correct gender stereotypes after spotting a pair of T-shirts on sale in Mothercare that left her in "utter despair".

Angered by the gendered messages displayed on the tops, Kate Land, from London, decided to stick post-it notes on them in order to 'fix' them.

The slogan on the boys' T-shirt read "My daddy is the cleverest", while one on a girls' top said: "Make the world a prettier place".

She changed the slogan on the boys' T-shirt to "Diverse groups working together are the cleverest", and the girls' one to read "Make the world a fairer place".

She changed the slogan on the girls' T-shirt from 'Make the world a prettier place' to 'Make the world a fairer place'. Photo / Twitter
She changed the slogan on the girls' T-shirt from 'Make the world a prettier place' to 'Make the world a fairer place'. Photo / Twitter

Taking to Twitter to express her frustration, Kate wrote: "Trip to @mothercareuk today left me in utter despair.

"Please wake up! This isn't harmless. You are influencing small minds!!"

Sharing pictures of her handiwork, she added: "It's ok - I've fixed it! @mothercareuk @letclothesbe".

Her tweets were shared by the Let Clothes Be Clothes campaign, which aims to end gender stereotyping in the design and marketing of children's clothes.

Other parents were quick to praise her for her actions, with one asking whether the store had a "My mummy" equivalent to the "My daddy is the cleverest" T-shirt.

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