Penna Dexter
Over time, Target Corporation has made a string of marketing and policy decisions that blur gender lines — and more.
First, the company stopped separating children’s clothing according to sex. Boys’ and girls’ departments ceased to be specifically identified and much of the clothing for kids skewed androgynous.
This didn’t generate much controversy but, in April 2016, Target made a public announcement that did. Management said bathrooms and dressing rooms would open for use by customers and employees according to the gender with which they identify. This sparked a nationwide boycott. A longitudinal study amassed a shocking number of stories of voyeurism, changing room attacks, and attempted molestations. The company took a financial hit as 1.4 million consumers signed a pledge to boycott the stores. The company’s sales took a hit the next quarter — and the next. Stock prices dropped. The policy remains.
Now there’s evidence Target Corporation has what Family Research Council calls “a much more serious agenda.” Target is stocking and marketing undergarments to transgender youth to aid them in social transition. The company has partnered with a brand called TomboyX to create and sell compression tops, advertised as a more comfortable and less restrictive version of a chest binder. There’s also underwear that helps girls look more like boys and compression underwear for males. Unisex swimsuits comprise about a third of the swimwear section.
FRC says Target is “filling its racks with one invitation after another for young people to reject the bodies God gave them” and pursue a transgender identity “despite the cost,” which can be irreversible.
I’m not much of a boycotter. It’s hard to break entrenched shopping habits. But Target’s action six years ago was a brazen attempt to normalize the transgender lifestyle. I joined the nationwide boycott of Target. I wrote them a letter informing them. And I haven’t set foot in a Target store since.
It’s past time to take a side in Target’s destructive war on reality.