Why I Bought Boys’ Underwear for My Daughter
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure.
It’s no secret that the husband is a huge fan of Star Wars. When Layla was born, the husband was so excited to share his love of Star Wars with her that he talked to her about it all the time. And now, I can honestly say that Layla has become a Star Wars fan in her own right. Ask her about any of the movies, and she’ll be able to tell you who all of the characters are: From Darth Vader to Yoda to BB8 to Rey to Boba Fett. She can tell you what the Death Star is, and identify all of the ships (Millennium Falcon vs. X-Wing vs. Tie-Fighter anyone?) on her own. She even knows the tagline “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” by heart.
And actually, after seeing the newest movie and reading Layla the books about the original movies, I have to say I’m a pretty big Star Wars fan myself.
We’re a Star Wars family. Pretty much.
So when Layla started becoming interested in going pee on the potty, we immediately thought of getting her Star Wars themed underwear – since we figured the reminder “Keep Yoda Dry” would help motivate her to go on the toilet instead of in her diaper.
I thought that would be easy to accomplish through a simple search on Amazon, right?
Wrong.
Do a search for “Star Wars Toddler Underwear” on Amazon, and all you get are boys underwear.
Do a search for “Star Wars Girls Toddler Underwear” on Amazon, and you get no results.
Do a search for “Star Wars Girls Toddler Underwear” on GOOGLE, and across all merchants there is just one option for older girls (not toddlers) where the primary colors are pink and purple. So basically, when clothing manufacturers finally provided a Star Wars underwear option for girls, they made Star Wars pink and purple because, of course, girls will only like light sabers and Darth Vader if they are pink??
I was shocked that clothing manufacturers somehow decided that only boys would enjoy having their favorite Star Wars characters on their underwear. That only boys would be interested in sci-fi and space. That only boys would like underwear that’s multicolored instead of primarily blue (vs. girls, who of course would only prefer underwear that’s pink and purple). That only boys should have access to the identities and themes in Star Wars: that of intelligence, engineering, problem solving, space exploration, adventure, strength.
And then again, I shouldn’t have been too surprised because of the recent #wheresrey debacle – where toy manufacturers failed to create a Rey doll for Star Wars, despite the fact that she’s the HERO and the MAIN CHARACTER.
Layla is a girl who loves Star Wars. We talk about space at home. She enjoys learning about planets, pretending she’s an astronaut, and pretending to “fly” around our house. She likes all colors, not just the color pink. She also enjoys skirts and dresses, and especially enjoys wearing those skirts over her favorite Star Wars pajamas.
Layla can’t be put into a “girl” box, just because she happens to be a girl. Here she is, wearing her favorite space t-shirt (note: I had to buy that from the boys’ section) underneath a pink fluffy sweater.
I was originally going to write a post about how we potty trained Layla (potentially using healthy snacks as bribes, and healthy treat ideas for potty training) – and that post will come eventually. But in the lead up to potty training, this was so outrageous that I had to write about it.
So, when Layla asked for underwear, and we wanted to get her Star Wars underwear, we ended up just buying her boys underwear. Because 1) who cares about that little flap in the front, she won’t know the difference and 2) she deserves to have access to the same interests and identities that boys her age do.
Clothing manufacturers, get on board. Girls like Star Wars too.
#makestarwarsunderwearforgirls
#wheresmystarwarsunderwear
Yup, having this exact dilemma and I’ll probably just buy some boys undies for my 2 year old baby girl. She’s potty training and loves r2d2 “artoooooooo!” – and big brother who is currently Obsessed with all things SW wants to get her R2 undies for her bday. Hanna Anderson has some cute (but expensive) PJ sets but as far as undies go, the “girls” options are definitely sub-par!
Awwww your daughter sounds a lot like mine at that age!! I totally agree – the boys options are still way better! Hope you find some underwear she likes! 🙂
Hi Anjali,
I had a recent experience with PJ mask underwear. Only boy briefs were available. My only concern is, are they uncomfortable in any way for the girls? Thank you
Hi Rebeka! My daughter loves PJ Masks too! To your question – no it wasn’t uncomfortable at all for her — it fit her more like boy-shorts-style briefs and worked great at that age. Hope that helps!
Great article! It’s outrageous that Star Wars clothing is so skewed in this century. Back in 1980, Underoos made girls’ sets with R2D2 and C3P0, and I wasn’t the only girl wearing them–so you’d think they’d be offering more options, not less, in the present. (A quick Google search finds R2D2 underwear sets for adult women but not little girls, and a girls’ set on eBay–but who wants to wear 37-year-old synthetic underwear?!)
We love Star Wars, too. We don’t let our kids watch the movies until about 5 years old because of the violence, but our daughter who’s now 3 recognizes Darth Vader, R2D2, and C3P0 from the toys and things we have. She LOVES robots of all kinds, so I’m always on the lookout for robot stuff for her, and it is really hard to find except in merchandise and color schemes that are clearly “for boys.” Grrr!
I completely agree with everything you said Becca! That is really crazy that they used to have more options for Star Wars clothing for girls back in the 80s vs. now – that makes no sense at all! Makes sense about watching the movies — Layla has only seen clips from the movies (the non-violent, innocuous, non-scary clips! 🙂 ) I agree we wouldn’t be able to just let her watch one of the Star Wars movies straight through because it can be pretty violent/scary without some major curation of the movie. I’m so glad this post resonated with you – and I’m with you on the robot stuff – I just end up buying Layla stuff from the boys section since the girls section is so lacking!!
This is another example of total disregard for the female population who supports an industry. I was a single mom and I introduced my daughter to Star Wars. She loved them so much, she read every single book in their series! Thanks for bringing this up to our attention because girls deserve to have access to gender-equal fan based merchandise.
Yes!! Exactly – I couldn’t have said it better myself! Love that you introduced your daughter to Star Wars too! 🙂
This post is exactly what I have been telling to all my peers. They believe that I have a superficial outlook when I talk about gender stereotypes. This article is the thing that I always wanted to say.
Thanks so much for the support Megha!
Not only the fact that they assume that girls only like and want pink things, but, have you notice the outrageous pink tax on all things for girls? My 20 month old loves Yo Gabba Gabba and I recently did a search on Amazon for a FooFa shirt, the price for the shirt was $29.99, while a Brobee one was half the price. This happens accross the board. Pink legos are more expensive than regular legos, for example. It’s infuriating!
Yes!!! I saw an article about this a while ago — how all “girl” products are more expensive than the “boy” versions. It’s completely infuriating, I agree, and completely inequitable from a gender standpoint.
Girls do love Star Wars too and it’s unfortunate that many manufacturers don’t cater to girls in many genres, not just Star Wars – try finding wolverine undies for girls. The manufacturers may have their reasons for this but this must change.
Completely agree David!! Well said 🙂
The only thing I can think of is the demand is much lower. So they won’t be able to turn a big profit off of the time invested into making the underwear. It is sad though because it limits girls to specific types of brands/movies.
Hi Jamie! Thanks for your comment – I agree with you that the clothing manufacturers think the demand will be lower for girls underwear with superheroes or star wars on them, but I think they are wrong 🙂 Hopefully things will change though as more people ask for these options!