The O-town Scene

Laygirl Fashion by Emily Popek Baby clothes for all Readers of this column know well by now that I thrive on sec- ondhand clothes. So you can imagine my joy when I received a box in the mail last week, packed to the gills with cute dresses, striped legwarmers, a fuzzy hoodie and a veritable arsenal of adorable onesies. Oh yeah, did I mention they were baby clothes? Maybe it's a sign of my impending motherhood, but getting that box of tiny garments was just as exciting as a great haul from the Salvation Army. And it got me thinking about how I'm going to dress this wee one _ which is a complicated subject. First off, you should know that we're pretty sure we're hav- ing a girl. But regardless of the sex of the baby, dressing a child _ even a newborn _ seems to me to be unduly fraught with gender issues. Go on Amazon to look at baby clothes, and right off the bat you'll be asked to choose "baby boy" or "baby girl." Well, I'm sorry, but does it really matter? As we grow older, we use clothing (consciously or unconsciously) to express things about ourselves to other people _ including messages about gender. But I'm pretty sure my newborn is not going to feel the need to express his or her gender identity to the world. It annoys me that we can't give little children a grace period from the social pressures of gender identity. Yes, I know there is unisex/gender-netural clothing out there, especially for newborns. But once you get into the 6-month size range and up, it gets pretty scarce. Why is this? To whom does it matter if my little girl is wear- ing pink or blue? I'm definitely not immune to the charms of a little girl in a frilly pink dress. But it annoys me that we can't give little children a grace period from the social pressures of gender identity. So if you see me pushing a stroller around town in a few months, don't be surprised if you see my little girl wearing the adorable blue outfit with dinosaurs on it that I just got in the mail. Emily F. Popek will totally let her son grow his hair long if she has a boy. She is also assistant editor for The Daily Star. Have news to share? E-mail tips and ideas to Scene Editor Cassandra Miller at editor@otownscene.com Sept. 29, 2011 O-Town Scene 5

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