Thursday, March 28, 2024
ADVT 
National

Target Canada Accused Of Selling 'Sexist' Baby PJs After Prof Posts Photographs On Twitter

Colin Perkel The Canadian Press, 30 Sep, 2014 12:30 PM
  • Target Canada Accused Of Selling 'Sexist' Baby PJs After Prof Posts Photographs On Twitter

TORONTO - Hundreds of people denounced Target for selling "sexist" baby pyjamas after a university professor posted a photograph of the clothing on social media.

The boy clothing features a Superman logo and the line "Future Man of Steel," while the girl item has the same logo but the line: "I Only Date Heroes."

"It seems kind of ridiculous to talk about who an infant girl is going to date," said Aimee Morrison, an associate professor of English at the University of Waterloo.

"Even for tiny babies, we seem to think of girls as gaining power and worth from whom they're romantically linked to and boys get to become agents of action in their own right."

The photograph was taken on the weekend at a local target store by Morrison's friend, Christine Logel, also a professor at the university.

Logel initially put the picture on Facebook but gained little traction.

"We were all sort of complaining about the sexism in the image and the same 10 people always commenting, and she said, 'Nothing ever changes'," Morrison said in an interview.

The women decided to share the image on Morrison's Twitter account, sparking hundreds of retweets and comments.

The response was overwhelmingly against the gender stereotyping, with many responders passing along their own examples.

One person sent her a photograph of a similar set, with one shirt saying, "Training to be Batman," and the other saying, "Training to be Batman's Wife." Another person said she found the same outfits in New Brunswick but her posted photographs on Facebook didn't get much attention.

The responses came from as far as Spain.

The girl shirts in Spanish said "Beautiful like Mommy," and the boy one said "Smart like Daddy."

The point, said Morrison, is that the stereotyping found in the Target clothing is not an isolated occurrence.

"They were really very easily and very quickly able to send me picture after picture that demonstrated this deeply held but not explicitly discussed bias to thinking about girls and women in terms of their sexual currency and men in terms of their capacity to conquest.

Not everyone saw a problem with the clothing.

About a dozen people called on Morrison to get a sense of humour.

"There are more important problems in the world like world hunger," one tweeted.

"You obviously don't have anything important to do," another posted while yet another urged her to "grow some balls."

Target refused to discuss the issue but released a statement saying it "strives to treat all our guests with respect, and it is never our intent to offend anyone."

"We appreciate the feedback we've received and will continue to listen to our guests to ensure we offer merchandise that appeals to, and reflects, our diverse guest population," the company said.

MORE National ARTICLES

Four Arrested After Five People Shot In Toronto: Police

Four Arrested After Five People Shot In Toronto: Police
TORONTO — Four people have been arrested in a shooting in northwest Toronto that sent five people to hospital, one with life-threatening injuries, police said Thursday.

Four Arrested After Five People Shot In Toronto: Police

Conservatives Months Late With Jihadi Tracking Tool, No Word On Completion Date

Conservatives Months Late With Jihadi Tracking Tool, No Word On Completion Date
OTTAWA - The Conservative government is three months late on delivering a tracking system it continues to tout as a means of stopping homegrown terrorists from joining overseas conflicts.

Conservatives Months Late With Jihadi Tracking Tool, No Word On Completion Date

Canada Cannot Support 4th Carrier: Telus

Canada Cannot Support 4th Carrier: Telus
GATINEAU, Que. - Canada should heed the lessons learned in Europe about adopting rules intended to keep wireless prices low, the former head of Austria's telecom regulator has told the CRTC.

Canada Cannot Support 4th Carrier: Telus

Ontario Nurses Ask Province For Medical Tourism Info

Ontario Nurses Ask Province For Medical Tourism Info
TORONTO - The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario is asking the provincial government for information on which hospitals are letting foreign patients pay for health care.

Ontario Nurses Ask Province For Medical Tourism Info

Russia Upset Over Canadian Visa Denials For Space Conference

Russia Upset Over Canadian Visa Denials For Space Conference
Canada's refusal to allow Russian delegates to attend a prestigious international astronautical symposium has angered Moscow, which said the decision flies in the face of international space co-operation and amounts to politicizing space exploration over the conflict in Ukraine.

Russia Upset Over Canadian Visa Denials For Space Conference

Magnotta Trial: Jury Looks At Photos Of Parcels Mailed To Ottawa, Vancouver

Magnotta Trial: Jury Looks At Photos Of Parcels Mailed To Ottawa, Vancouver
The jury in Luka Rocco Magnotta's first-degree murder trial took a closer look on Tuesday at photos of parcels that were mailed to political offices in Ottawa and schools in Vancouver.

Magnotta Trial: Jury Looks At Photos Of Parcels Mailed To Ottawa, Vancouver

PrevNext