I think it’s because for too long the saying was used to excuse disgusting behaviour as just a phase, or something a boy does out of impulse, and too often it was at the expense of girls. Sad reading previous comments below. I’m really grateful this generation is pushing old, outdated ideals out. I wish someone said it wasn’t okay when I was young.

Boys will be Boys does not have to mean that Boys are allow to act badly and get away with it.
I dont see any reason for this brand to remove these pjs. Gross over reaction by yet another drama maniac

In my opinion – there is nothing wrong with it at all.

This is political correctness gone cray cray – boys attitudes have nothing to do with a slogan on a t shirt some people need to get a life when there are real issues going on in the world.

All good, we need to teach boys to not expect to behave better, make the next generation more rounded. I agree with Tim Winton too. If we want women to do less housework and women to be treated as equal and with respect then it starts with boys knowing they cannot be excused for their actions that may hurt someone.

I personally don’t have a problem with “Boys Will Be Boys”, having grown up with 4 brothers of my own and 3 boys that were the sons of our baby-sitter. Maybe if the top had little muddy hand/foot prints or something similar, it might not have caused such affront. The pendulum has swung so far in the opposite direction, that nobody seems to see the sense of fun or humor in anything anymore…
sugar and spice and all things nice…snakes and snails and puppy dog tails…applies to all children, it’s not ‘gender specific’ anymore

This is ridiculous and way over the top! These idiots are taking things out of context. The phrase ‘boys will be boys’ is used as an expression for the cheeky and mischievious behaviour of young boys and is not meant to excuse more extreme behaviour! Boys will be boys is the perfect term to describe my boy being outside for half an hour and coming back in covered in mud. Seriously? Stop the politically correct bull crap!

Geez, as a society, I think we’ve lost the plot!

It’s just what you read into it. Could be innocent or not depending on your way of thinking.

Boys will be boys =sexual??? When I hear that term I see boys outside in the dirt with toy cars or a messy teen in his stinky room reading comics.

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  • • mom293526 replied
    • 09 Jul 2018 , 8:41 pm

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  Absolutely

Firstly, let’s redefine or look at what that statement means. I’m the Mum of a boy and that top does not bother me at all. Would I buy it? No, but it doesn’t bother me. I have seen many shocking girl tops with slogans that I would never allow a daughter of mine to wear, but I don’t see people jumping up and down too much. Let our boys be who they want to be. Let’s not label them, but allow them to be who they want to be. My son is kind, respectful, loyal, empathetic to a fault, sensitive, funny and loving. Too many words to fit onto a PJ top.

I wonder if that same mother would complain about a girls jumper that said sugar and spice and all things nice? Kids don’t understand writing in their clothing most times, but what they do pick up on is the attitudes of their parents. You might not agree with it, so don’t buy it… if it contained swear words or something derogatory, that would be a different story and I would complain.

I have a similar jumper and same writing on it I didn’t think of the writing that way

Some people are reading too much into the slogan.

As soon as I heard it, I took it as boys will play in the mud and get dirty etc. The only issue is that girls do that too so as long as the girls have an equivalent jumper, I see no harm. I think people are taking things just a little bit too far.

There’s a song by stella Donnelly called ‘boys will be boys’ and that is all I can think of now when I hear someone use that slogan. Like someone else commented, it’s not being a boy that is the problem, it’s being a man who thinks that being a man can be used against someone else. But unfortunately that type of thinking begins when you are a boy, told to you by society or maybe even your own parents. So yes, I’m glad they’ve decided to pull the shirt. Because I have a son (my sweetest, more emotional child), but I also have daughters and I am terrified that they could end up on the news as a girl murdered/raped in a park in the dark. So yes, everything people say or do now is being scrutinised more heavily than before, because people are realising that something has to change.
Perhaps you should use some more critical thinking to understand the message being sent, and why it may be offensive to (a lot of) other people.

Why was she all alone
Wearing her shirt that low?
They said, “Boys will be boys”
Deaf to the word “no”

Seriously?? Are we that precious that every little statement/ phrase has to be dissected and rejected because one person has over thought it ? Why didn’t Peter Alexander just come out with a GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS shirt in response ?

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  • • mom135705 replied
    • 29 Jun 2018 , 6:51 am

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  People should definitely be scrutinising things like this. Girls will be girls is just as problematic, dismissing behaviour because it fits with gender stereotypes is no longer acceptable. As someone else commented, it should say ‘kids will be kids’.

Gosh we are living in a time lately where every thing can be taken completely the other way.
We all just need to take a chill pill.

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  • • mom135705 replied
    • 29 Jun 2018 , 6:54 am

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  Maybe. Or maybe we need to stop dismissing/ignoring pervasive societal attitudes like ‘boys will be boys’. There is a lot of outrage over many issues today, but there are a lot of things to be outraged by.

What a joke! I’m for empowering people in general to be strong, kind, compassionate, good people, not just women or girls! Honestly, so many people these days are just looking for something to have a beef with. It really gets my goat the way men are now being targeted because they’re men. There are just as many bitchy arsehole women than there are men, I actually probably know more female jerks than male jerks. I just want to move my family away from everyone and stay off the grid sometimes!

It’s nothing wrong with that slogan , I have a son , for me that means boys like to play in the backyard and get dirty.Seriously , people are putting everything under the microscope.