Please choose to continue your session or sign out now.Angry mum declares war on Target and Big W for "inappropriate" girls' shoes A Melbourne mum was furious when she found heels on little girls’ shoes in her local chain stores. A Melbourne mum - who spoke to Kidspot on the condition of anonymity - went shopping for summer shoes for her 18-month-old daughter at Target in Forest Hill Chase, in Melbourne this week and she didn’t like what she saw. A rack of shoes for toddlers described as “ballet flats” each had a small heel. “It was ridiculous,” she told Kidspot. “Flats don’t have heels. Or if they have a small one it’s a flat, stable, horseshoe shape that goes across the whole sole. I don’t know why they think this is necessary for a one-year-old, who could ever have thought this was a good idea.” Annoyed, she took her little girl into Big W - and found the shoes there had exactly the same heel - right in the middle, mimicking a woman’s high heel.
The heel on the ballet “flat” at Target They looked, she said, “precarious” for a girl so young. “It even looks like they could roll their ankle,” she says. This mother decided she’d had enough. She went home and made up two signs - one for Target and one for Big W. Then Wednesday she snuck into each store and replaced their product signs with the ones she’d made: Targeting Baby Girls/Big Win for Paedophiles Introducing our new training heel! Part of our range of sexualised toddler products. Why not a standard shoe-heel the width of the shoe you ask? There are 5 good reasons to start your female child’s self-objectification at the age of 1! Help indoctrinate your female child into our patriarchal culture. Teach proficiency in heel-running, to better escape male predators. Improve balance and poise. A female child should always be graceful. Strengthen ankle and knee muscles, preventing future heel-wearing injuries.
Ready your toddler for the workforce. Heels are a must for the working woman, especially in the now-empowering careers of stripping, prostitution and porn! Available in Fiesta, Foxy and Frann. Because we love F words. “Even the shorts I try to buy her barely cover her nappy” “No one saw me,” she says. “And I took a quick pic and hot-footed it out of there.” She hopes other parents see the sign and think about the messages inappropriate clothing is sending to little girls from a young age. “It’s everywhere,” she says. “Even the shorts I try to buy her barely cover her nappy. None of the boys’ shorts are that dainty. The companies say they sell these sorts of clothes because they sell but I think people only buy them because there are so few choices.” The little things add up The mum knows that some people might think she’s overreacting. “The culture that teaches our daughters to self-objectify is a drip, drip, drip,” she says.
“These little things add up to learned behaviour and learned expectations.” And as for the profanity? “If anyone’s more offended by my one swear word than the issue at hand, that’s their problem.” The mum’s little girl is too young to understand what her crusading mama got up to on her behalf but she’s going to know the whole story as she grows up. “I’ll definitely show her the signs I made,” she says. “And I’m going to tell her a lot about the media and society’s expectation that she look and act a certain way, to prepare her for what she’ll face her entire life.” It’s not the first time the retailers have been targeted for clothing that some say objectifies little girls. Parents have protested both stores before because of their girls’ ranges Last month, Target removed its controversial “Batgirl” t-shirts that suggested little girls should dryclean her cape, and wash her Batmobile before fighting crime. In August, mums complained about the Kardashian Kids range being sold in Big W. “Is it just me or does anyone else find this shorts inappropriate for a little girl?” the mother asked on the company’s Facebook page.
“I don’t know if I’m getting old or something but there’s no way I would buy these for any little girl in my family, I don’t know how or why Big W would sell these!” Both Target and Big W were approached for comment. “At Target our heel on our girls ballet shoes is not considered a ‘high heel’ by industry standards,” a spokesperson for Target said, adding that the heels measure 3mm. “These children’s ballet shoes have a small heel which is standard on many ballet shoes which elevate a flat shoe to protect a child’s arch and are sold by several retailers across Australia.” The spokesperson offered to speak directly to the mum about her concerns but she has refused. “They’ve got the message,” she says. “I’m not interested in having someone try to talk me round. I think it’s telling that none of the boys’ shoes have that heel. Those shoes are what they are.” 1. Standing calf stretch (gastrocnemius) Stand about three feet from a a wall and put your right foot behind you
ensuring your toes are facing forward. Keep your heel on the ground and lean forward with your right knee straight. Rotating the toes in and out slightly will target the medial and lateral parts of this muscleHold this for 30 to 60 seconds. Click here for more information on how long to hold a stretch. 2. Standing calf stretch (soleus) Stand away from a wall and put your fight foot behind you and be sure your toesLean forward at the ankle while bending the right knee and keeping your heel on the ground. Because the knee is flexed, tension is taken off the gastrocnemius and placed on the soleus. Hold this for 30 to 60 seconds. 4. Wall calf stretch Stand about two feet away from a wall. Place the ball of your right foot against the wall while your heel remains on the ground. gently lean into the wall while keeping your knee straight. 5. Downward dog yoga stretch Get down on all fours with your hands under your shoulders on the