Woman points out a design flaw in girls’ shirts that is ‘inviting’ others to ‘touch your child,’ then reveals the items are discontinued
Her efforts bore fruit
Everyone born in the 90s has, at least once, written an essay about the pros and cons of the internet. Since then, the platform has evolved significantly, but its core positive and negative traits have mostly stayed the same. Fortunately, in Kat (@hackorwackofficial)’s case, the advantages seem to outweigh the disadvantages.
Following up on an earlier video in which she highlighted how the designs on girls’ clothing invited people to touch them in sensitive areas, Kat updated in a second video that the same clothes had been moved to the clearance section. Not only that, she later learned the items had been discontinued, which meant her words were being taken seriously and bringing about real change, no matter how small.
However, she wasn’t willing to take a risk with it, so she did what she thought was best. She bought all the shirts. All 25 of them. Speaking about the unexpected victory, Kat said, “We are protecting little girls. 25 shirts are at home with me instead of in little girls’ closets. 20,000 comments, and that’s great. That’s so exciting. But the 25 girls that won’t wear these shirts to school—that’s the number that makes me feel so grateful.”
“So YOU actually made a change”
A deep dive into Kat’s TikTok account shows she has been doing this for a while. Kat doesn’t have a girl child, but she spent about $165 on girls’ clothes, believing her actions would cause real change. People in the comments section of her post appreciated her efforts. One user wrote, “So YOU actually made a change.” Another said, “youre the hero.”
In her video, she explained what she planned to do with the T-shirts, which were of no use to her. She said she would take them to the senior center in her town and ask people in the sewing club to remove the decals. She said she would donate the items to local schools, hospitals, and places where “kids might be stressed and might want something to fiddle with because this is a great toy.”
While people in the comments section appreciated Kat’s intentions with the shirts, they also offered other suggestions. One user commented, “You could cut the shirts in half and one half could be sewn to another half to make a full normal shirt, and the other half can be a fidget toy like you said.” Another remarked, “Why not make pillows and donte to a school or hospital? kids can touch and play with the pillows instead.”
A problem that did not need a solution
In the original video where Kat pointed out issues with girls’ clothing, a few viewers responded that they saw no problem, echoing the sentiments of the commenters under the post of the woman who went to Costco and noticed something unusual. “Yet another thing that us boy moms don’t have to think about. Nobody’s inviting your child to touch their chest in the boy clothes, and yet all of these girl clothes are like, hey, come push this,” Kat said while running her hands over girls’ shirts containing decals on them.
She continued, “It’s almost like inviting other kids, whoever, to come and touch your child in a sensitive area, and I don’t like that. Something about that has always rubbed me the wrong way.” One person specifically mentioned that decals on T-shirts are mainly for aesthetic reasons and are common in boys’ clothing too, emphasizing they didn’t find any issue with them.
They wrote, “I get what you’re trying to say, but my son has plenty of shirts with those changing sequins, he even has a shirt that has the same thing as the girls shirt you showed except it has aquaman instead of Ariel and the things inside are sharks.” They continued, “I don’t think it’s a huge thing. Just a cool shirt.”
Do you think Kat’s actions in this context were justified?
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
Follow The Mary Sue:
