I read in the paper last week that a Consumer Reports-style look into the manufacture of kids’ clothes in Sweden revealed (pun emphatically not intended) that little girls’ clothes are markedly skimpier than little boys’ clothes, even down to the toddler sizes. In Europe, clothes are sized by the height of the child, which means that a pre-pubescent 128cm girl should wear precisely the same size as a pre-pubescent 128cm boy. Not so, according to the top sellers of kids’ wear in this country.

What this means is that our daughters are being taught from their earliest years that they’re expected to wear clothing that’s just a little tighter, just a little more revealing, just a little less modest than what their brothers wear. As if we parents didn’t have enough trouble fighting the early sexualization of our kids. Swedish Equality Minister Mona Sahlin said, when apprised of the findings, “This just shows how systematically our children are being taught how they ‘should’ look.” I’m inclined to agree..

The clothing manufacturers defend themselves by saying that fashion dictates the style of the clothes, and one might consider that a reasonable argument if we weren’t talking about pre-schoolers. A representative from one of the major chains passes the buck admirably by pointing out that “it’s the parents who choose the children’s clothes,” failing to acknowledge that we choose from what they decide to offer us.

While reading this information pissed me off, I suppose I should be a bit thankful because it cleared up a little mystery for me. Up until I saw this article I was under the impression that Lydia was an abnormally big kid because she wears sizes that are supposed to be for nine- and ten-year-olds (she’s not quite eight). Now I know that “her” size, clothes that barely cover her body, really were meant for little girls her size. Unbelievable.

Oh, and we’ll be sticking to the “too big” sizes.

Source:Aftonbladet, August 20, 2004, page 16