I’m a massive fan of learning from the best. Let’s face it you don’t get to be a John Lewis without being exceptional at business and marketing. So I’m always interested in what their marketing team will come up with next. (Think of the hype the John Lewis Christmas Advert gets!) But with the announcement that they have a gender neutral line of clothing coming out, I have to say I think they got it dead wrong.
I have no doubt at all that the clothing line aimed at children will generate millions in sales. It’s already hit the holy grail of marketing and stirred up organic discussion across the interwebs. And there will be a raving fan tribe in support of what they are doing that will fall in love with the brand forever.
But I also happen to believe that businesses have a social responsibility.
And John Lewis...I think promoting a line as ‘gender neutral’ leads us into a discourse that is damaging for society.
Allow me to expand...
There are very few species on earth that are gender neutral. Humans are not one of those species. Science has shown repeatedly that there are physical and horemonal differences in the way a male and female brain operate. This different is one of the reasons we can confidently say some people feel they are born into the ‘wrong’ body. Because their brain function is like that of the opposite gender.
It is an indisputable fact therefore that we have two genders according to science.
The problem is that society gets involved with its cry for equality and everything gets muddled.
We get drawn into a discussion about how men and women should be treated the same, have the same rights and not be discriminated against.
We start to say that children should be able to choose their own gender later in life.
We have people who feel they do not want to be assigned a gender at all.
Where do these conversations come from?
I get that in the real world women and men are treated differently based on their gender.
We have different rules.
We have different pay structures.
We have different stereotypes.
I agree that this is a significant problem.
But it’s a cowards way out to suddenly decide that ‘gender neutral’ is the solution.
The real conversation, the one we should be having with our children, is one around the appreciation of diversity not equality.
Now I understand this is a much more complex conversation. For starters we have to know a little bit about the real differences between men and women and as far as I can remember in education this extended to the fact that we have different genitalia.
Differences between men and women are much more complex than that.
What if instead of talking about gender neutral and equality we began a conversation about the biological differences we have?
What if we began to appreciate the unique benefits we can all bring to the world.
What if we understood that our natural strengths and weaknesses were not something to be ashamed of or feel inadequate about but just the luck of the draw?
How would the world look if instead of teaching our children that everyone is equal we taught them that everyone was completely unique and this very fact is cause for celebration?
Gender neutral clothing has been around since the first White T-Shirt was created. And I couldn’t care less if you are a boy and want to wear pink or a girl that wants to wear a jumper with diggers on.
Because to me a child is so much more than the clothes they wear. A person is so much more than their gender. And society needs to grow up and stop pretending we are all the same when quite frankly we are all strikingly different and thank evolution we are!