Why this 'sexist' babygrow is upsetting dads everywhere

Dads aren't happy about this babygrow [Photo: Reddit/Voldermort_Putin]
Dads aren’t happy about this babygrow [Photo: Reddit/Voldermort_Putin]

Dads are not happy. The cause for their anger is the existence of a babygrow that patronisingly instructs men on how to dress their baby.

Taking to Reddit to share his fury, one dad shared an image of the belittling onesie alongside a caption calling the makers out for being sexist.

“This shirt is bulls**t,” he wrote on the Daddit thread.

The image shows a white babygrow with the words “This shirt is daddy-proof” emblazoned across it as well as arrows pointing to where the baby’s arms and head should go.

Unsurprisingly, other dads were also unimpressed about the seemingly sexist nature of the garment.

“The 1950s called, they want their onesie back,” one person wrote.

“This is so patronising. How did this actually reach the shelves in whatever shop it is?” added another.

Other dads used the post as an opportunity to share their own stories of prejudice they’d faced while looking after their children.

“I took my kids to the aquarium while my wife was out of town and received tonnes of comments about ‘Where’s mum?’ and ‘You have your hands full’,” one dad wrote.

“Some nosy mum decided to comment on how my daughters clothes didn’t match and her braid didn’t look like ‘a good mum would do,’” added another.

Some dads also vented their fury about being told they were ‘babysitting’ their kids.

“Hate the stereotype that dads can barely hold it together with kids. I am a super involved dad. Like someone else mentioned – we don’t babysit, we parent too,” one dad wrote.

Dads don't 'babysit' they parent [Photo: Josh Willink via Pexels]
Dads don’t ‘babysit’ they parent [Photo: Josh Willink via Pexels]

It isn’t the first time dads have called out society for sexist attitude about fatherhood. Last year parenting blogger The Dad Dynamic won the Internet after a picture of him wearing a T-shirt that read “Dads don’t babysit. (it’s called ‘parenting’)” went viral.

While it’s easy to shrug off those throwaway comments about hapless dads ‘babysitting’, sexist attitudes towards fathers are a very real problem for both sexes.

While the role of bringing up children might once have been seen as a woman’s domain, many dads are taking a much more equal role in childcare nowadays. Which is brilliant because if we’re striving for gender equality in all areas of life, that has to include parenting. And poking fun at dads who are trying to take a more active role is just going to set us back.

As one mum pointed out about the ‘daddy-proof’ babygrow, the Internet might have found it hilarious if it was aimed at parents in general. “See, this could be funny if it wasn’t singling out dads,” she wrote. “If it said “tired parents” or something, yeah it’d make me laugh and I’d buy it instantly. But poking fun at dads isn’t on for me anymore.”

Too right!

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