Recent years have seen a massive spotlight on the complexities of gender, with more transgender people choosing to identify as their chosen sex and somewhat more acceptance in the global community, mostly in first world countries. A mark of that is John Lewis’ new gender neutral clothing range for children, which the brand are introducing as they express they will “not enforce stereotypes”.
This change is seemingly radical as John Lewis is the first major U.K. store to take the leap and carry out this step. As well as the actual gender neutral clothing range, labels in clothes will now say “Boys and Girls” or “Girls and Boys”, and gendered signs in the department stores will be removed. Caroline Bettis, head of children’s wear at John Lewis said: “We do not want to reinforce gender stereotypes within our John Lewis collections and instead want to provide greater choice and variety to our customers, so that the parent or child can choose what they would like to wear.”
The announcement has been tailed with both praise and criticism, as expected. One twitter user took to the platform to say: ” John Lewis aren’t suggesting that your children are gender neutral, they’re suggesting that anyone can wear dinosaur prints. It’s not hard.” The tweet as of now as 1k likes and 295 retweets. However others such as Chris McGovern of the Campaign for Real Education, have expressed their disapproval: “John Lewis is a reputable and admirable retailer and I have no doubt that getting rid of gender labels is well-intentioned. In isolation, one retailer introducing unisex clothing and labels would not be an issue. But by following this fashion to go genderless, I fear they are supporting a wider movement which risks confusing children and foists adult worries on to young people. There is a dangerous social phenomenon occurring of gender identity theft, which says there is no difference between boys and girls when of course there is,” explained Chris in an interview with The Evening Standard.
John Lewis aren't suggesting that your children are gender neutral, they're suggesting that anyone can wear dinosaur prints. It's not hard.
— Sophie⁷⧖ (@sophieuphoria) September 3, 2017
John Lewis joins several other brands in the shift towards gender neutrality, with H&M’s unisex denim range and Jaden Smith walking for Louis Vuitton’s womenswear during their spring campaign. The motive, effect and successfulness of John Lewis’ change is to be judged by a wide range of people all with differing opinions, which means there is bound to be both commemoration and backlash, but what do you think?
Featured Image Source: The Independent
