A retail company in Japan enraged netizens after it announced the sales of a clothing line including shirts with ‘sexist’ designs discriminating against fathers.
Birthday (バースデイ), the retail company Shimamura’s (しまむら) speciality store focusing on children’s clothing, announced their new clothing line on 29 July. The clothes featured lines like “Daddy doesn’t take care of me at all”, “Daddy is always sleeping”, and more.
The retail company announced the clothing line in a now-deleted post on X. Produced in collaboration with contemporary artist Ken Kagami, the products include shirts, socks, and hairbands for children with the controversial lines printed on them.
Soon after the announcement was made, netizens became enraged. Many were incensed that the statements printed on the clothes were discriminating against fathers.
Some even said that releasing such a product by a children’s clothing company reinforces the stereotype of fathers working and never raising their kids, especially as awareness of gender imbalances is starting to spread in the country.
Others asserted that nowadays in Japan, both parents work together to raise their kids.
And while childcare is still a responsibility that is disproportionately expected of women, the percentage of men in Japan who are actively involving themselves in childcare is increasing, according to Huffington Post Japan.
Following the outrage, Huffington Post Japan reached out to Shimamura for comments. The retail company then told reporters that they were currently discussing their response to the outrage.
The product was not meant to discriminate, but to highlight the daily communication with children, they added.
Source: @natsu_0605 on X
On 30 July, Birthday posted their apology on X. They apologised for any inconvenience they have caused and said they will be discontinuing the product line after the strong public feedback.
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Featured image adapted from @jj_w293074 on X and @natsu_0605 on X.
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