Target found itself under social media fire towards the end of last month, as a result of selling t-shirts that read TROPHY, MRS, and THIS IS MY BACKSTAGE PASS (among others)… in their junior girls department. Many groups representing different perspectives weighed in: outraged parents, verklempt feminists of all ages, fashionistas. Target responded by issuing an apology, assuring the public they never meant to offend anyone.
Fast forward to the present. Now Target is the focus of another social media storm, this time for removing gender qualifiers from several departments, such as Toys and Children’s Bedding. This move makes me both, incredibly happy and incredibly suspicious.
Why am I happy?
I identify as bi-gendered or androgynous, and people’s obsession with pegging each other as either male or female prevents me from enjoying life’s simple pleasures, like taking a piss in a public restroom without getting angrily redirected to the crapper people perceive as being the appropriate one for my gender presentation: I’m too feminine for the men’s room, and too masculine for the women’s. So I am stuck in an awkward limbo, where I have to wait until I’m about to wet my pants, so the urgency of taking a leak can supersede the feelings of embarrassment-driven hyper-awareness, or anger-driven self-righteousness.
Very much aside from my bathroom dilemma, I believe we should stop shaping up adults to grow up male or female, and focus more on cultivating individual strengths and aptitudes. Is it really that important for a child to wear pink or blue, or to love G.I. Joe vs. Hello Kitty, dependent on their genitalia? Shouldn’t we care more about nurturing and supporting them, period? Are we breeding to make gender-conforming individuals, or to bring productive happy caring humans into the world?
Why am I suspicious?
The timing of this controversial decision is worthy of attention. I have no way of knowing if Target has been considering this move for a while, or if they just scrammed in an attempt to distract people from the accusations of degrading sexism that stemmed from the Trophy t-shirt fiasco. To be fair, they have stirred the conservative pot quite a bit, but I don’t think it’d hurt to ponder on their motivations, even if only as an exercise in objectivity.
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Lol, bad choice for JUNIOR girls’ t-shirts. Seriously. Terrible choice. They probably decided to take them down because people reacted badly. That’s all stores care about. 😉
Cultures have always had stereotypes about what boys and girls want. I have two opinions on this: 1. There is no mass conspiracy to make little girls want barbies, or to make little boys play with trucks. Stores sell different things in different aisles because they sell well. Generally, these stereotypes are true. But there are a lot of exceptions. For example, I grew up in a house with 6 girls and one boy. For presents, people bought us all girly things and they bought my brother “boy” things. But I never really liked barbies. I enjoyed his toys. But he never liked playing with barbies. Maybe some boys do.
I was lucky that my parents indulged my distaste for dolls. But I’ve also never had a maternal instinct… well, not for humans. Now, cats and dogs, that’s a different story 😀
Thanks for your comments, btw. I appreciate any and all honest/civilized exchanges. It’s bueno for the mind and soul.