If you take a closer look at the clothes, toys, and books geared towards girls and compare them to the ones marketed towards boys, you’ll notice a stark difference in the message they’re communicating. However, we’ve gotten so used to these sexist messages that we often don’t even notice that they’re there.
One 8-year-old girl has. In an impassioned speech that has since gone viral, Daisy Edmonds spells out the problem with gendered clothing that some adults still have trouble wrapping their heads around, as Scary Mommy reports. In the video, Daisy launches into a rant after being frustrated with the lack of options in the girls’ section at a supermarket in England.
“Why should boys’ and girls’ clothes even be separate?”
She points out that while the girls’ shirts have motifs that read “Hey!”, “Beautiful”, and “I feel fabulous”, the boys’ shirts read “Desert adventure awaits”, “Hero”, and “Think outside the box”.
“Its unfair because everyone thinks girls should just be pretty and boys should just be adventurous,” she said, hitting the problem of gendered clothing right on the head. “I think that’s wrong because why should boys’ and girls’ clothes even be separate because we’re just as good as each other.”
On the next page: Daisy’s mom tells us more about her.
As of this writing, Daisy’s video has been viewed 1.9 million times, has been liked 18,000 times, and has over 20,000 shares.
“When I saw what Daisy was doing I felt really really proud that she knows who she is. She is so confident,” her mother Becky told wrote the Daily Mail. “I decided to film her for the family. I never expected it to get this big. I think she will keep on doing it until something is done.”
“She loves exploring and being brave, and there is never anything that says anything like that on girls’ clothes”
Daisy’s scowl is replaced by a fit of mischievous giggles later on in the video as she decides to take some of the boys’ shirts and sneak them into the girls’ section. “I also want to be adventurous and I think girls should be heroes, so I’m going to put them in the girls section,” she said. And she ended up getting the green shirt that read “Hero” for herself.
“Daisy doesn’t understand why there has to be separation. It’s the same with toys,” Becky said. “She loves exploring and being brave, and there is never anything that says anything like that on girls’ clothes.”
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