Politically correctness – where it’s all at?
Genderism is the hot topic at the moment …
..with John Lewis announcing it will drop gender labels from its children’s clothing range.
‘The department store chain has not only taken “girls” and “boys” labels from clothes, but has also done away with the separate sections in stores.
John Lewis own-brand children clothing will now simply say “Girls & Boys” or “Boys & Girls’
The Independent
The move has divided consumers …yes, I agree it’s a tricky one.
On BBC news this morning, Campaign group Let Clothes Be Clothes praised the move as giving consumers more choice – and suggested it would help prevent gender stereotypes forming from an early age. I get that – but will this really make a difference?
There have been gender stereotypes for hundreds of years, has it made a huge difference to how we live our lives? There have always been ‘tom-boys’ – is that still PC? I was a tom-boy, never a girly girl, I liked cars, not dolls – Lego, scaletrix and even transformers. I have a brother, and my parents were liberal.
We have a thriving LGBT community and I would say the UK is one of the most inclusive and liberal places to be – socially there aren’t really many boundaries. People choose to live their lives as they want to, and there is no longer a stigma to coming out, being gay, trans or anything else. Will re-categorising everything make a big difference?
There’s being PC for PC’s sake – which I don’t think this is. The question is will other retailers follow – and how far do you take it? Which other areas need to be de-gendered? Are we all PC enough in the workplace? What’s next toy departments, public toilets, beauty products….?
A quick aside on Ageism
All hail Helen Mirren, she is a fabulous role model and she has impacted the world of celebrity once again, stating that no one is in denial about getting wrinkly, no one is ‘anti wrinkle’ as such.
“She recounted a conversation she had with L’Oreal Paris when the brand first appointed her as an ambassador: “I said, ‘This word “anti-ageing” – we know we’re getting older. You just want to look and feel as great as you can on a daily basis.’”and as a result– L’Oreal are renaming their ‘Anti-Ageing’ product range to ‘Age Perfect’. ” The Telegraph
Perfectly done Helen!
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