Stereotypes

Recently I was shopping for my niece’s 3rd birthday present and as I happened to be in town I thought I would check out Hamley’s. Knowing how she likes dressing up I checked out the dressing up costumes first. Now leaving aside the prices which meant I definitely wouldn’t be buying her one from there I was horrified at the choices. There were pink mini-skirted, skimpy bat girl or super girl costumes as well as the usual things (my niece is as likely to dress up in her brother’s muscly batman costume as dress up as a princess) and then I saw a white coat with pink on it hanging up. I picked it up thinking maybe it was a girly doctor’s coat only to discover that it was a beautician’s coat! And needless to say there was nothing like a doctor’s coat or anything similar in the girl’s section!

Out of sheer curiosity I then headed over to the boy’s section on the other side of the store where unsurprisingly there was a doctor’s coat! I wouldn’t mind there being a beautician’s coat in the girl’s section if there was a doctor’s coat as well but there definitely wasn’t! Are we still seriously sending out these types of stereotypical messages?!