This Woman Shows Just How Hard Can It Be To Buy Gender-Neutral Kids' Cards

"This is what is going on in the crazy land of gender."
Milkos via Getty Images

A woman has shared her struggle of trying to buy a gender-neutral birthday card for a child – as she was faced with few options that weren’t stereotypical “male” or “female”.

Author Kate Long said many of the cards were in pairs – one for a girl, one for a boy – and could directly be compared, which what she called as “boys, predator, girls, prey”.

“But I took a swift look at the others, specifically the ones tagged ‘boy’ or ‘girl’,” she continued. “The cards were divided on the stand, though, so even if it wasn’t spelt out, a shopper could easily see which set were for whom.”

Well my goodness, you warned me about greetings cards. I had to pop to the Post Office and then Sainsbury's, and this is what's going on in the crazy Land of Gender.

— Kate Long (@volewriter) July 31, 2019

And Long noted that even if you’re not sending or receiving these cards, you’re standing in queues in post offices or supermarkets and seeing them – and taking in their message about what kids need to do to be a “boy or girl”.

The mum posted a Twitter thread with many examples of the cards.

Here are just a few:

Boys, predator. Girls, prey (again). pic.twitter.com/pf7WRhZqL5

— Kate Long (@volewriter) July 31, 2019

That prey and predator thing again. pic.twitter.com/WCzRxuU6r7

— Kate Long (@volewriter) July 31, 2019

Boys get an Adventure with trucks and dinosaurs! pic.twitter.com/MKwaP9uoN3

— Kate Long (@volewriter) July 31, 2019

Girl does get to ride a horse (pink, surrounded by love hearts) but the boy rides a dangerous bucking bronco. pic.twitter.com/z7yl4lYAHK

— Kate Long (@volewriter) July 31, 2019

Boys, active! Girls, passive and nurturing. pic.twitter.com/jCpph7Redd

— Kate Long (@volewriter) July 31, 2019

Boys, dinosaur! Girls, ladybird. pic.twitter.com/NiRFvXzHet

— Kate Long (@volewriter) July 31, 2019

Although, she noted, there was one in the girls’ section, which was “cool, noisy and active”.

Although, special shout-out for this cool card - noisy, active - that was in the girls' section. pic.twitter.com/Sz3WxAlp1k

— Kate Long (@volewriter) July 31, 2019

People on Twitter shared their own examples:

Girls must be little and boys must be big. pic.twitter.com/FKugCrXqLj

— Rachel Woodworth (@arrwoo) July 31, 2019

And people could relate to the card shopping challenge.

Coming at this from the angle that my three year old boy loves pink and purple and fairies, unicorns etc and now he’s coming home saying he’s been told by his friends that “those are for girls”. 🙄

— Anne Whitmore (@Annie_Whitmore) July 31, 2019

It's pretty horrifying out there. Even more so when you attempt not to indoctrinate son or daughter but the societal norms are so strong they gravitate towards their assigned preferences anyway (my daughter and son would reliably choose the "correct" options from all of them!)

— Jason Knight (@JasonDerRitter) July 31, 2019

My daughter is 19 & it has got harder every year to get a Birthday card for her that isn’t pink and sparkly

— SecretaryBird MEPAA (@pinkladyapril) July 31, 2019

In my local card shop the non-gendered baby cards are kept in a sealed box under the counter. When I asked they said "oh... You're one of those...
" 😬

— Hannah Ford (@hlf30) July 31, 2019
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