Continuing the theme

I don't want anyone to get the wrong impression that this is an obsession of mine.  I really almost never think about it.

But in my inbox this morning was an ad for ballet lessons for homeschoolers in our local area.  Part of it went as follows:

Dress Code: 
A pink leotard is ideal but any color leotard or swimming costume is fine. Alternatively leggings with a fitted t' shirt will suffice. 

My immediate thought was, "what about the boys?  Is that what they wear in class, too?"

Well, obviously not.  Obviously the boys have simply been overlooked as possible ballet students, and the teacher has forgotten to mention the boys' uniform in her ad.

No harm done, no big deal, right?

Well, sort of.  But much like my previous post about casual sexism with homeschooling dads, these sorts of public writings both show and reinforce gender stereotypes of what is socially acceptable for boys and men to do.  This ad shows that the teacher's vision of her class didn't include boys.  And when parents read the ad those with boys will be less likely to consider signing their sons up.

Fortunately, we attend a ballet school (Rowe Dance) in which boys are very welcome.  About half of the students in Mulan's ballet class are boys, and the teacher also teaches separate boys-only ballet classes.

For this reason alone we would support attending Meaghan Rowe's classes, but on top of that she is a great teacher and also her classes are cheaper than this homeschooling one.