The Importance of Language

I love sewing doll clothes. They come together so quickly, and there is such a thrill to see an idea in your head become reality.

I have multiple favorite pattern designers who design beautiful doll clothes.

Unfortunately, sometimes there are doll clothes patterns that are problematic and I have to call them out.

You can read my protests against racist doll clothes here and here and here.

I have a different protest this time.

I was perusing Pixie Faire, and I thought that the Genniewren Designs Mackenzie Dress was pretty.

I clicked on it to have a better look.

I have no problem with the dress. It's a very pretty dress, and it's perfect for little girls and for summer.

My problem with this is with the pattern description.

The first line of the pattern description is:
"A sweet fitted sundress that's innocent-looking in the front but has a sun seeker's strappy back view, the Mackenzie Dress is just perfect for spring and summer. "

This description sexualizes the dress, and by connection, the dolls. The dolls of ten year old girls.

It's a perfectly fine dress! The back of the dress is not even that low, nor is it in any way objectionable.

Here is a closer look at the back of the dress.

By saying that the front of the dress is "innocent," the description implies that the back is NOT.

This is just gross and wrong.

And there is nothing wrong with the doll dress! They failed so badly in writing an appealing description to sell the dress.

It's very sad.

Luckily, this is an easy fix, because all they need to do is rewrite one sentence.