Sexist Huggies Ad

[Anonymous]

This AD is a perfect example of the kind of thinking where people make a true statement ,” Boys and girls are different” and then add there own
” therefore”. eg. boys will play with a truck and wear blue and girls will have dolls etc.

This stereotype , however, is the norm in Western culture and the ads just reinforce the norms and prejudices in our society. A lot of people agree that this is not a good thing per se but will go along with it anyway because it is easier and may hurt to swim against the tide. Things are slowly changing but don’t expect the market economy to lead the way, money is at stake!

Perhaps the likes of we folk should continue to set an example , but then again, while so many of us are in the closet, who are we to speak out?

Perhaps those who are strongly offended by such ads should be encouraged to make the effort to complain to the standards bods.

[Jan_Wilson]

I hate to be one to tell you but there is a difference girls.

If there was not a difference we would not be so envious I think.

I played with trucks as a kid but would have played with dolls if allowed, maybe those kids are just like us.

[Adrian]

As Jan put it – there is a difference… and it is one that might reasonably concern those in the high-tech industry of nappy design.

But seriously, if the campaign for acknowledgement of gender diversity leads to trans warriors insisting that boys and girls must be given identical clothes and identical toys – then I for one am not supporting it. That is anti-sexism gone mad.

It is a fact that the majority of the population want to grow up as either as boys or girls. To deny them the right to do that, is as bad in my opinion, as them denying us the right to be more fluid in our gender expression.

The human species has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years of hunter gatherers and cave dwellers, and in the process men and women have adapted in ways that go well beyond their roles in reproduction. We may not like it, but it is natural for people to bring up their children in the framework that has got the human race to its present position, and audacious of anyone to think they can unravel this bio-conditioning by politically correct grandstanding.

It is unlikely to seriously harm those who are intersex or gender diverse if they spend their early years playing with bricks in a blue nappy when they perhaps might later decide they prefer pink nappies and dolls.

I think we should be fighting for the acceptance of gender expression in whatever form it takes, not stopping those who wish to express themselves as male or female doing so. What society needs is an awareness that those boys in blue nappies might not want to progress to playing rough games with guns. That is where i would like to see the awareness develop in society.

Sadly, for too long debates like this have been dominated by those who see the problem simplistically as women being brought up as men, and men as women. When the debate widens to understanding that diversity can’t be labelled as blue or pink, or bricks and dolls then we might make some meaningful progress.

I’m not holding my breath!

[Jan_Wilson]

Once upon a time young well to do boys were brought up like this:

http://www.ashleyperez.com/blog/item/122-why-nobody-cared-when-fdr-wore-a-dress

Bring it back I say.

One would be hauled over the coals today.

[Anonymous]

I have read a bit about this historical period when boys often wore dresses prior to time when they would be put into trousers in an event known as ” breeching”. Ironically a major reason for this practice was the lack of a Huggies like product ( now veering dangerously toward ON- topic!) and toileting was easier in a dress.

I sometimes hear an argument where it is proposed that the past was a more accepting time for gender diversity but cases such as this, a practical reason for a fashion, along with the kilt eg, cannot be used in such an argument. It is more a case where these clothing customs were a part of male gender expression and not the same as wearing the clothing of the opposite gender.
History is full of examples where crossdressing was seen as perverse and dangerous.

[Elizabeth]

Christina commented that to cross dress was at times thought to be ‘perverse and dangerous.’ Joan of Arc was a prime example, BBQ’d for refusing to wear female clothing, insisting on male clothing and armour. Huggies Ad, last time I looked, boys and girls were different down south.

LIz