“I Hate My Thighs” Onesie for Babies Causes Major Backlash—Get the Scoop!

Company pulls snapsuit after significant backlash

Here we go again!

Another day, another social media uproar that resulted in a company snatching the offending item from its website—and this time it involves babies and their cute chubby legs. Kitschy children's line Wry Baby was under fire last week for selling a purple snapsuit emblazoned with the phrase "I Hate My Thighs." Now, this is from a brand whose name is Wry Baby, so it might be safe to assume that the onesie was more tongue-in-cheek than literal. But still, there was significant backlash, beginning with Ms. magazine senior editor Michele Kort, who published a blog on March 10 that described the snapsuit as "baby fat-shaming."

In the post, she writes, "Yes, we know—it's meant to be funny. After all, the company that sells this onesie with the saying "I Hate My Thighs" is named Wry Baby. And we feminists do have a sense of humor. But really, there's something icky about projecting fat awareness on babies."

(OK, she has a point, and women especially are inundated with unrealistic body image ideals from a very young age. Even in jest, it's not preposterous that this snapsuit would rub some the wrong way.)

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There was even news pickup on the story, including a Today segment in which Savannah Guthrie called the onesie "kind of funny" and Matt Lauer added that he was "shocked that people are offended by this." A Today.com poll, though, revealed that 56 percent of viewers found the snapsuit in poor taste. 

Wry Baby pulled the onesie from its website temporarily and engaged with Kort's point of view by posting any alternative "Love Me For My Leg Rolls" snapsuit to Facebook. (Heh heh.) In the comments section of Kort's post, the brand also initiated a challenge: "We've pulled our 'Love Me For My Legrolls' Snapsuit out of retirement and placed it toe-to-toe with our 'I Hate My Thighs' Snapsuit, so that your readers can have the chance to vote whether sweetness or irony wins. The style that sells the most units by midnight on Sunday, March 15th, will be the one we keep. ALL PROCEEDS from both styles during this challenge will be donated to the Ms. Foundation for Women."

And no, Kort was not amused: "Please make the donation to Ms. magazine, Wry Baby. The Ms. Foundation for Women is an entirely separate organization," she wrote. "And sorry that we don't see much difference between I Hate My Thighs and Love Me For My Legrolls; the subtext of the latter is that someone would NOT be loved for her legrolls. But of course we're making too much of this, right?" (And yes, this back and forth continued for quite some time.)

Other snapsuits on Wry Baby's site include one that, well, puts thighs aside to hone in on a baby's backside and another that reads "Turnt Up" with a graphic of an infant guzzling milk from a bottle. All in the name of humor, we think of course.

(E! and Today are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)