Smart like Dad/Pretty like Mommy/Dumb like America

I could probably do an entire blog on the stupidity of and rigid gender roles reinforced by children's clothing and toys, but I will save my full rant for another day and another ad.  A friend of mine in Facebook posted this photo of Gymboree onesies, as shared from SPARK summit  Facebook page.

In case you can't read, the text reads "Smart like Dad" and "Pretty like Mommy," and as SPARK notes in their caption, "Spoiler alert: there is no 'Smart like Mommy' onesie."

As I have noted in my previous entry about a similarly stupid item of clothing, the problem isn't necessarily with the clothing itself, which is stupid and insipid, but someone is always going to tell you that you're "missing the joke."  The problem is that someone thought this was ok, that this didn't raise any red flags.  There were no moms on the planning committee who thought that their intelligence rated a tacky graphic?

This brought to mind a great post by Lisa Bloom on the Huffington post, "How to Talk to Little Girls," where the first thing we talk about with a female child is her looks.  The idea is so ingrained in us that we don't even realize we're doing it.  After reading Bloom's piece, things like the above photo irk you all the more.

So before you say "you're overreacting," read the Bloom piece and realize that we are still a long way away from having "Smart like Mommy" onesies.