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Sleepwear brand removes kids "Boys Will Be Boys" pyjamas after complaint

Eduardo Corrochio

Eduardo Corrochio

Banned
Feb 6, 2018
794
I know that "political correctness gone mad" is a silly meme at this point but.... is this really an issue?
https://www.smh.com.au/national/boys-will-be-boys-pyjama-top-pulled-after-parent-complaint-20180627-p4zo5l.html

IDK, I guess i'm just out of touch but I think this is pretty harmless.

2018_07_02_10_28_03.jpg

A popular Australian pyjama brand has removed a boys' jumper emblazoned with the slogan "boys will be boys" from the market after concerned parents complained about the use of the phrase.

The grey pyjama top was marketed in Peter Alexander's children's range, and was spotted by Melbourne mother Bridie Harris in a shop last week. She then made a complaint to the company on social media.

"Boy won't be boys," she wrote on Facebook on June 20.

"Boys will be held accountable for their actions. I hate to see an Australian store, who makes such great pjs, put such a sexist statement on a t-shirt intended for young boys. Excusing boys of their behaviour is not a step in the right direction. It's 2018."
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"I just think that it allows boys to do whatever they want because they are boys. It gives them an excuse for inappropriate behaviour. If a girl hurts someone or does something, you never hear someone that says girls will be girls."

She said the phrase had the connotation that men "tend to get away with stuff just because they are boys".
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"I would be worried if someone were to hurt her, boy or girl, that she thinks it would be ok, and ok for them to do so just because 'boys will be boys'. I don't want her to think if someone pushes her on the playground it's just 'boys will be boys'. I want her to stand up and tell someone and be able to feel safe, playing in playground or walking home at night as an adult," she said.
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The pyjama top is no longer available on the website's online store.
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jwk94

jwk94

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,422
Yeah I'm fine with this. We need to stop excusing shitty behavior based on what gender you are.
 
Platy

Platy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
27,698
Brazil
"Boys will be Boys" is a sentence used to excuse rape, theft, violence, harassment, public urination and everything shitty when it is a white male younger than 40 year old, so yeah, I am COMPLETELY ok with that
 
Xiaomi

Xiaomi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,237
I'm fine with the phrase for small children (age 12 and under or so). Boys will run around and shout and get dirty and generally be little bastards. In those cases, boys will be boys. Once they become teenagers and especially once they finish high school, they should be expected to act like young men who give a shit about their behavior, though.
 
Maximo

Maximo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,175
Xiaomi said:
I'm fine with the phrase for small children (age 12 and under or so). Boys will run around and shout and get dirty and generally be little bastards. In those cases, boys will be boys. Once they become teenagers and especially once they finish high school, they should be expected to act like young men who give a shit about their behavior, though.
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Education starts as boys not teenagers, should be taught as early as possible.
 
Xiaomi

Xiaomi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,237
Maximo said:
Education starts as boys not teenagers, should be taught as early as possible.
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Right, and they are being taught (I teach a lot of middle- and high-school boys). To me the phrase always meant "boys will do a lot of stupid shit," not "boys should get away with everything because it's okay if they do stupid shit." But I'm aware how others have used it.
 
Typhon

Typhon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,113
Funny coming from parents who always love to use the line "kids will be kids " to excuse any unruly behavior their undisciplined brats engage in.
 
OP
OP
Eduardo Corrochio

Eduardo Corrochio

Banned
Feb 6, 2018
794
Platy said:
It is also used for shitty things in little kids but in the op you asked why the sentence is an issue and I was explaining it why
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Fair enough. But I guess my point is that context matters. My old ass associates the phrase with boys running around throwing mud pies and falling out of trees.

The fact that it's been co-opted to excuse adult pieces of shit is unfortunate.

I can see why it's potentially an issue, but I disagree with the mother attacking the brand as condoning that sort of shit.
 

Deleted member 15737

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,432
Xiaomi said:
I'm fine with the phrase for small children (age 12 and under or so). Boys will run around and shout and get dirty and generally be little bastards. In those cases, boys will be boys. Once they become teenagers and especially once they finish high school, they should be expected to act like young men who give a shit about their behavior, though.
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Girls do too? 'Kids will be kids' is a better statement. These kids aren't slaves to their assigned gender after all. But yes, kids in general tend to be loud, and dirty.
 
Merv

Merv

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,460
Eduardo Corrochio said:
Fair enough. But I guess my point is that context matters. My old ass associates the phrase with boys running around throwing mud pies and falling out of trees.

The fact that it's been co-opted to excuse adult pieces of shit is unfortunate.

I can see why it's potentially an issue, but I disagree with the mother attacking the brand as condoning that sort of shit.
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This, context matters...well it should anyway, but war on words yay!
 
Volimar

Volimar

volunteer forum janitor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,488
I saw this on Imgur several days ago. They should have just changed it to kids will be kids and went about their day since that's what they claim they meant by it.
 

Deleted member 9330

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
6,990
It's a phrase used to excuse abhorrent things that guys do, and I'm not really aware of a different truly valuable way it's used to balance that out, so yeah, bye.
 
Shauni

Shauni

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,728
Eduardo Corrochio said:
Fair enough. But I guess my point is that context matters. My old ass associates the phrase with boys running around throwing mud pies and falling out of trees.

The fact that it's been co-opted to excuse adult pieces of shit is unfortunate.

I can see why it's potentially an issue, but I disagree with the mother attacking the brand as condoning that sort of shit.
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There are also people raised in the South who don't understand porch monkey or coon as racial slurs because of how they're used by people around them. People's personal experience doesn't change how those words have been used on a societal level in the past.
 
JCG

JCG

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,537
Volimar said:
I saw this on Imgur several days ago. They should have just changed it to kids will be kids and went about their day since that's what they claim they meant by it.
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I also think this would have been the most reasonable alternative. It would easily resolve the issue.
 
Ziltoidia 9

Ziltoidia 9

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,141
I've never liked it anyway. First, it is used as an excuse, especially at a young age. And second, having that mentality means you have low expectations on a group of people.
 
Ducarmel

Ducarmel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,363
good riddance to the phrase.

Yes children should have fun, explore and be carefree, but lessons in responsibility should always be a priority for young minds.
 
KarmaCow

KarmaCow

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,160
Even ignoring the dumb phrase, that looks like the cheapest, unimaginative designed shit imaginable.
 
Soneji

Soneji

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
1,454
Xiaomi said:
I'm fine with the phrase for small children (age 12 and under or so). Boys will run around and shout and get dirty and generally be little bastards. In those cases, boys will be boys. Once they become teenagers and especially once they finish high school, they should be expected to act like young men who give a shit about their behavior, though.
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This really. It's fine when applied to not freaking out over stuff that boys do that can be an annoyance but generally not harmful. It isn't fine when they should be growing out of being boys into young men/adults and especially never to excuse actual harassment/sexual assault/rape.
 

Deleted member 42221

User requested account closure
Banned
Apr 16, 2018
2,749
Someone punched me in the face in Year 4 and called me a fag, and they gave the excuse "boys will be boys" and somehow blamed me.

Yeah, this phrase is toxic and needs to go.
 
Euron

Euron

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,773
I'm perfectly fine with this. It's typically been a phrased used by parents to justify bullying and it remains a relic of the "toughen up" culture that is very outdated today.
 

Normal

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,296
Ugly shirt. But yeah I kinda agree with you OP, seems pretty crazy to me get offended by a six year olds shirt haha.
 
deepFlaw

deepFlaw

Knights of Favonius World Tour '21
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,495
It's a shitty phrase that should die out. No harm in stopping it here.

"Kids will be kids" is ok enough; use that instead.
 

17 Seconds

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
3,589
this thread is roooouuughhhh. the majority of people know that term to mean "kids will be kids". people here are so eager to show off their awareness that you're all overstating how often the phrase is used to mean what you're saying it means. just because something has become kind of a buzzword among terrible people doesn't make is inherently bad. it's still used in the innocent way far more often than the sinister way, and that's clearly what was was intended here.
 
deepFlaw

deepFlaw

Knights of Favonius World Tour '21
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,495
17 Seconds said:
this thread is roooouuughhhh. the majority of people know that term to mean "kids will be kids". people here are so eager to show off their awareness that you're all overstating how often the phrase is used to mean what you're saying it means. just because something has become kind of a buzzword among terrible people doesn't make is inherently bad. it's still used in the innocent way far more often than the sinister way, and that's clearly what was was intended here.
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This isn't some rush to be woke or whatever.

The innocent way (which still has some weird gendered connotations anyway?) easily perpetuates the non-innocent way. It's not even "among terrible people", either; the entire problem is that "normal" people buy into it and use it as an excuse for men doing whatever.

Just let the phrase die entirely.
 
Shauni

Shauni

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,728
17 Seconds said:
this thread is roooouuughhhh. the majority of people know that term to mean "kids will be kids". people here are so eager to show off their awareness that you're all overstating how often the phrase is used to mean what you're saying it means. just because something has become kind of a buzzword among terrible people doesn't make is inherently bad. it's still used in the innocent way far more often than the sinister way, and that's clearly what was was intended here.
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So basically, live in ignorance, don't show that tuttin', fulutin' intelligence.
 
Madison

Madison

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,388
Lima, Peru
Its a pyjama that carries a possibly dangerous message. Getting rid of it is a simple business decision. Cant wait for conservative groups to blow this out of proportion!
 
Merv

Merv

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,460
Shauni said:
Uh, people are providing context for why that phrase is problematic. What you, and the OP, really want is to have context stripped away
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Thats a stretch. Other example of how it's. used have also been given. I don't let assholes who use phrases to excuse heinous shit dictate my language.

That said its a kids shirt so whatever. I'm not going to go buy up the remaining stock
The phrase isn't important.
 

Deleted member 907

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,300
17 Seconds said:
this thread is roooouuughhhh. the majority of people know that term to mean "kids will be kids". people here are so eager to show off their awareness that you're all overstating how often the phrase is used to mean what you're saying it means. just because something has become kind of a buzzword among terrible people doesn't make is inherently bad. it's still used in the innocent way far more often than the sinister way, and that's clearly what was was intended here.
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Didn't realize that "boys" was gender neutral for "kids."
 
Lentic

Lentic

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,836
I don't like the phrase, but at the same time I don't mind the shirt. No one going to take a small kids shirt that seriously. Also, I feel like these kinds of clothing are really common for kids. They are often tongue-in-cheek more than anything.
 
Coyote Starrk

Coyote Starrk

The Fallen
Oct 30, 2017
53,044
I can understand why people would want it taken down, but I myself am not personally bothered by it.
 

Deleted member 907

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,300
17 Seconds said:
had a feeling someone would try to pick it apart that way, but it was clear what i meant. the phrase is mostly used to describe little boys (kids) being a handful.
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So you knew it was problematic and you posted it anyways. Your explanation doesn't make it any better either. And no, it's about excusing shitty behavior.
 

Deleted member 4034

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
26,560
Eduardo Corrochio said:
Fair enough. But I guess my point is that context matters. My old ass associates the phrase with boys running around throwing mud pies and falling out of trees.

The fact that it's been co-opted to excuse adult pieces of shit is unfortunate.

I can see why it's potentially an issue, but I disagree with the mother attacking the brand as condoning that sort of shit.
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Not really co-opted, it's what the phrase simply evolved into. You excuse, then excuse and then keep excusing and then that boy keeps doing fucked up shit.
 
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