Woman goes shopping for 18-month-old boys’ shorts at Walmart. Then she compares the inseam to 18-month-old girls’ shorts: ‘Girl moms, I’m so sorry’

A woman went shopping for children’s shorts at Walmart, only to notice a huge difference between the girls’ clothing options and the boys’. Now, she’s posting on TikTok to talk about it.

TikToker @m_eeker walked to Walmart’s children’s clothing section. While there, she closely examined two pairs of shorts: One for girls and one for boys. She realized soon after that the boys’ clothing was bigger when compared to the girls’.

She posted a video about the difference, which subsequently received more than 12.3 million views. Later, she posted videos at other stores highlighting just how many companies offer significantly larger clothing options for boys when compared to girls.

A notable difference in sizing at Walmart

The creator went to shop for children’s clothing, but she noticed something unusual. While at Walmart, she saw that the clothing for boys was noticeably larger than the clothing for girls.

“18 months boys’ shorts,” she said, while holding up a pair of regular, blue shorts for an 18-month-old boy. Then the content creator said she picked up a pair of black shorts.

“18 months, same size, girls,” she added, while holding up the smaller pair. “Why is this hiked up [on] the side?”

M_eeker pointed out that the inseam area for girls was smaller. She also said the clothing itself was tinier.

“ Look at [the girls’] inseam. Look at the boys’ inseam. Hmm,” she said.

For closer analysis, she put the two pairs side by side, which revealed the big difference. That showed that the clothing for 18-month-old boys was larger than the clothing for 18-month-old girls.

Are boys and girls the same size as children?

Multiple viewers said that when children are growing, they grow at the same rate. But is that true?

Experts generally say that children grow at the same rate, to a varying degree, up until the age of 10 years old or the onset of puberty.

The publication Andrology says that “Prior to pubertal onset, both birth‐assigned sexes have similar heights during childhood.”

And while boys do have a longer prepubertal growth period and a longer adolescent growth spurt according to the Merck Manual, the difference in size between birth and 24 months is relatively negligible.

Comparing average growth charts from birth to 24 months for boys and girls reveals that most children are relatively similar to each other in size at that age, regardless of sex. At later ages, there are starker differences between boys and girls. But in early development, growth tends to depend on perinatal factors, such as a baby being premature, and genetic factors.

Boys versus girls: a clothing debate

Online, other parents have pointed out that girls’ clothing tends to be “skimpier” when compared to boys’ clothing, despite most babies being the same relative size when developing. One girl dad on TikTok, for instance, went viral after pointing out that clothing for his child is often too small for her.

Other viewers on his post said they had similar complaints.

@m_eeker I can’t be the only one that thinks this is weird… #momlife #backtoschool #boymom #girlmom ♬ âm thanh gốc – m_eeker

“Every time I go to Target or something, I always notice that [girls’] clothes have extremely deep v-necks and always have some sort of glitter design on them,” a viewer said.

In an update, M_eeker said that the companies themselves address the fact that boys and girls are the same size at 18 months. She pointed out that the shorts from Walmart—despite having a visible discrepancy—had the same listed height as well as the same listed weight for each gender. For that reason, she reasonably surmised that girls could wear boy shorts comfortably.

“[It’s] all about sexualizing as early as possible now,” a viewer said.

Another commenter added, “And girls will still be blamed for being sexualized because of what they wear.”

The Mary Sue reached out to M_eeker via TikTok direct message and Walmart via press form for comment.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]