A supermarket has been accused of ‘sexualising’ young girls by selling fake leather shorts for children as young as three.
Sainsbury’s was criticised on Twitter after shopper Deborah Hughes shared a photo of the black shorts, which she described as ‘leather effect hotpants for 4-year-olds’.
“How about you stop the sexualisation of young girls @sainsburys?” she said. “Awful.”
But while she spotted them in store for ages four and up, the shorts are actually available for ages three to 14 – and it’s not gone down well with other shoppers and campaigners.
(Image: Deborah Hughes)
Hundreds of people responded to Deborah’s tweet from @debbieraa, with many saying the ‘sexualisation of children needs to stop’ and asking ‘What were Sainsbury’s thinking?’.
“Good grief – these are awful,” said Claire Jenkins @dinkypinkygirly. “What are you selling, a junior school pole dancer range?”
While others described them as ‘terrifying’ and ‘shockingly grim’.
Let Clothes Be Clothes, a campaign to end gender stereotyping in the design and marketing of childrenswear, shared its own picture of the shorts and asked where the same product is available for boys.
After quoting the retailer’s description ‘these cute little plum faux leather shorts with tie waist are a sweet option for your little one this winter’, Let Clothes Be Clothes tweeted: “Plastic shorts, for 3 year olds, in Winter.
“Sure accessorise with tights, or just not? Sold “for girls” @tu_clothing Can you point me to the boys version of these?”
Replying to the tweet, @motherofaffens said: “I just don’t understand the thinking behind this, who on earth thinks this appropriate in any way for small girls??”
While Nicola @nicola_dEU said she finds it difficult to find any appropriate clothes for girls.
“My daughter is 11,” she said. “Clothes are a nightmare! Why is everything black/cropped? We buy from the ‘boys’ section now.”
Mum-of-two Deborah, whose daughters are aged five and six, told the M.E.N’s Manchester Family, why she chose to highlight the clothing, which Sainsbury’s says will make the wearer ‘feel like a mini model’.
“I am increasingly frustrated and concerned about the segregation of children’s clothing and marketing separately to boys and girls,” she said.
“In particular the prevalence of adult style clothing for young girls, which is often tighter, cut shorter and smaller than equivalents aimed at boys.
“These shorts in particular in my opinion are adult clothing, notably only marketed in the girls section but inappropriate for any child.”
Sainsbury’s isn’t the first retailer to be accused of ‘sexualising’ girls.
We reported last year how similar remarks were made about Matalan’s Candy Couture clothing.
Highlighting cropped tops, side lace denim shorts and a tight black bardot dress, Let Clothes Be Clothes said many of them items were inappropriate as ‘they are short, tight and skimpy because they reflect adult, sexual designs’.
And just days earlier River Island was called out over selling heels to girls as young as five.
(Image: Sainsbury’s)
A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s said: “Our kids range is based on popular childrenswear trends and customer feedback, which has been positive for this item.
“We continue to offer a variety of styles for customers to choose from and we do not label our items ‘boys’ or ‘girls’.”
What do you think about the faux leather shorts for young girls? Would you buy them for your daughter? Let us know your views in the comments here.
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