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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/15/save-our-girls-from-the-tyranny-of-pink
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| Save our girls from the tyranny of pink | Save our girls from the tyranny of pink |
| (11 days later) | |
| Your article Clarks pulls ‘Dolly Babe’ shoe after accusations of sexism (14 August) struck a chord with me. As we prepare to go back to school in September, I am faced with the dreaded trip to the shoe shop to buy school shoes for my seven-year-old daughter. She is not a fussy child, but she does have a fussy mother. I am unwilling to spend £30-£50 on a pair of shoes in which she is not able to kick a football with her brothers, climb a tree or even go out in the rain without having wet feet for the rest of the day. The unfortunate sales assistant is usually the recipient of my ire and often responds: “It’s what sells.” It may be what sells, but when it’s all that a company (or companies) produces, there is no other choice but to buy them. By not producing suitable footwear we are denying our girls the same opportunities that we give to our boys. We have decided to get boots instead of shoes for this year.Cerian WathanSwansea | Your article Clarks pulls ‘Dolly Babe’ shoe after accusations of sexism (14 August) struck a chord with me. As we prepare to go back to school in September, I am faced with the dreaded trip to the shoe shop to buy school shoes for my seven-year-old daughter. She is not a fussy child, but she does have a fussy mother. I am unwilling to spend £30-£50 on a pair of shoes in which she is not able to kick a football with her brothers, climb a tree or even go out in the rain without having wet feet for the rest of the day. The unfortunate sales assistant is usually the recipient of my ire and often responds: “It’s what sells.” It may be what sells, but when it’s all that a company (or companies) produces, there is no other choice but to buy them. By not producing suitable footwear we are denying our girls the same opportunities that we give to our boys. We have decided to get boots instead of shoes for this year.Cerian WathanSwansea |
| • I have a 14-month-old daughter and have been dismayed to find how little choice is out there for girls in both clothing and shoes. On a recent trip to Clarks, we were confronted with mainly pink and sparkly shoes, adorned with bunnies, hearts and flowers. When I clarified what sort of shoe I was looking for (something not garish, pink and sparkly), the shop assistant admitted he’d better not bother showing me the contents of the boxes he had brought out. He laughed and admitted that was the limited choice they had available. We went home empty-handed and rather disappointed. | • I have a 14-month-old daughter and have been dismayed to find how little choice is out there for girls in both clothing and shoes. On a recent trip to Clarks, we were confronted with mainly pink and sparkly shoes, adorned with bunnies, hearts and flowers. When I clarified what sort of shoe I was looking for (something not garish, pink and sparkly), the shop assistant admitted he’d better not bother showing me the contents of the boxes he had brought out. He laughed and admitted that was the limited choice they had available. We went home empty-handed and rather disappointed. |
| Shoes haven’t been my only hurdle. Clothes in general are a challenge for girls. I look hard to find clothes for my daughter with different bright colours, but am frequently faced with nothing but pink. I attempt to buy her clothes without silly catchphrases on them, but was particularly appalled when in the Tesco girls’ clothing department to find the range of clothes not only predominantly pink but also adorned with sexist slogans. I search for clothes with fun pictures or motifs, such as my three-year-old boy wears, but am consistently confronted with princesses, mermaids, kittens, hearts, flowers etc. She has one T-shirt with dinosaurs on it, a hand-me-down from a like-minded friend. I will keep looking. Surely our girls deserve better? What messages are we sending them if their choices are so limited?Sarah HughesLeicester | Shoes haven’t been my only hurdle. Clothes in general are a challenge for girls. I look hard to find clothes for my daughter with different bright colours, but am frequently faced with nothing but pink. I attempt to buy her clothes without silly catchphrases on them, but was particularly appalled when in the Tesco girls’ clothing department to find the range of clothes not only predominantly pink but also adorned with sexist slogans. I search for clothes with fun pictures or motifs, such as my three-year-old boy wears, but am consistently confronted with princesses, mermaids, kittens, hearts, flowers etc. She has one T-shirt with dinosaurs on it, a hand-me-down from a like-minded friend. I will keep looking. Surely our girls deserve better? What messages are we sending them if their choices are so limited?Sarah HughesLeicester |
| • Has the gender revolution passed Clarks by? It is somewhat depressing that these shoes with their rather adult message, never mind the sexist one, passed through their advertising and production sections. To add insult to injury, the male counterpart, which comes in a more sturdy and practical design, is named Leader Play. This is vacuous stereotyping. Young girls are now leaders in waiting and this company needs to heed that and design accordingly.Judith DanielsGreat Yarmouth, Norfolk | • Has the gender revolution passed Clarks by? It is somewhat depressing that these shoes with their rather adult message, never mind the sexist one, passed through their advertising and production sections. To add insult to injury, the male counterpart, which comes in a more sturdy and practical design, is named Leader Play. This is vacuous stereotyping. Young girls are now leaders in waiting and this company needs to heed that and design accordingly.Judith DanielsGreat Yarmouth, Norfolk |
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