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Back off, hyenas - get your own $80 diaper

ADRIANA BARTON

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 10:07 PM EDT 17/11/07

For earthy moms with money to spare, cloth diapers aren't just a greener alternative to disposables - they're wearable art ...Read the full article

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  1. My eyes are open, Are yours? from Canada writes: Okaaay, people are spending $80 for something that is meant to be excreted on.

    Kudos to the WAHM's that are making a killing in this biz. Meanwhile, I think this takes conspicuous consumerism to a new level. Never mind that the poor kid shouldn't be out in public with a diaper showing (I don't care if it's made from a Van Gogh painting or whatever) there are little pants and bloomers made to cover that up.

    PS I used cloth diapers exclusively for my son for the first year, and then used disposable only for the daycare because that was the rule. So I've been there, and never thought that diapers, used or not, were a collectable. Sheesh.
  2. Kevin Dooley from Canada writes: Hmm... art that is intended to absorb feces. I've seen a lot of art that deserved this treatment (most of what's for sale at various venues along Queen Street West), and I've seen a lot of art that appears to have been created that way (ironically, in the same venues). So it's nice to see the avant garde finally reaching the mainstream.
  3. Kevin Dooley from Canada writes: Hmm... art that is intended to absorb feces. I've seen a lot of art that deserved this treatment (most of what's for sale at various venues along Queen Street West), and I've seen a lot of art that appears to have been created that way (ironically, in the same venues). So it's nice to see the avant garde finally reaching the mainstream.
  4. james bell from Canada writes: pretty soon the world is going to be up to its armpits in disposables. and the manufacturers want everyone to be wearing them. that's the way it should be, but consumers should use that lump of grey for what it was intended rather than keeping their heads from imploding.
    diapers for "golden agers"? oh please, a little exercise, and a little thinking. the world is turning into one enormous garbage dump.
  5. ezvanetree ezvanetree from Canada writes: While I don't care what kind of diaper someone puts on their baby's bottom, I don't understand the above comment re: a "kid shouldn't be out in public with a diaper showing...there are little pants and bloomers made to cover that up." Why on earth can't a kid be in public with a diaper showing?? Is there something about diapers and the public I don't know about? Is there a health issue involved?
  6. Peter Cromerovich from Erehwon, Canada writes: Sounds like a load of .... to me.
  7. Chris H from Canada writes: I feel a new edition of Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique coming on... I guess this is what happens when highly-intelligent people direct their creative energy to wiping bums. The trendier your baby is, the better parent you are, right? By all means, use cloth, but let's be honest, your baby's poo is not sweeter-smelling than mine. Don't let your diaper choices dictate your identity.
  8. Nature Lover from Two Hills, Canada writes: Would you call that crappy art? Cloth diapers are great, but stalking them online. Go play with your baby instead.
  9. V C from Toronto, Canada writes: Ezvanetree - I think it's more about having some respect for your child. You wouldn't parade your child around naked in public - most parents want to respect their child's dignity and most bystanders don't want to see a stranger's bodily wastes through a diaper.
  10. My eyes are open, Are yours? from Canada writes: V C. Exactly. Diapers are not clothing. Would you be fine with an incontinent senior mowing the lawn in a tank top and a 'Depends'? How about at your favorite restaurant?

    Didn't think so.
  11. ezvanetree ezvanetree from Canada writes: It would seem that, according to some of the people who have participated in this forum, babies can only appear in public wearing a very narrow choice of coverings: they can't be seen in diapers alone, nor in diapers that cost more than the standard issue, nor can they be naked. I was ignorant of these limited choices and have obviously been offending people by not covering my infant son's shameful diaper when we go to the swimming pool (I always considered it ridiculous that people put bathing suits, gender appropriate of course, on tiny babies, but now I know why) and when he sported around naked on the lawn this past summer (I will know better next summer) and I certainly won't cover him in any diaper, cloth or otherwise, that costs more than the people here consider an appropriate amount. Before I had my son, I was aware that the only people subject to more arbitrary and rigorous rules than parents are prisoners of war camps, but the reality of the situation still takes me by surprise. Further, I think we are confusing adult fecal and urinary incontinence. Adult diapers are usually limited to people who are urinary incontinent, so showing bodily waste through the diaper isn't much of a problem. Regardless, to compare an incontinent 'senior', who is incontinent for health reasons, to a baby, who doesn't know any different, is very offensive. And the use of the word 'senior' and not 'adult' is offensive in itself; most seniors are not incontinent and any adult can experience incontinence for various reasons. However, we are a bit off topic here. These diapers sound interesting. A good baby shower gift, I am sure!
  12. Anne Martin from central TX, United States writes: "Diapers have fetched staggering prices at online auction sites such as HyenaCart.com and eBay.com (until it banned the sale of diapers earlier this year, stating hygiene concerns)." I just wanted to point out that ebay only banned the sale of USED diapers. Brand new ones are still allowed. In fact, there are 751 items in the category "Cloth Diapers" at eBay right now!
  13. Alisa Harrison from Cowichan Bay, BC, Canada writes: I am currently cloth diapering my second child (used cloth with my first, as well). I chose to use cloth for its clear environmental benefits, and I've kept using it for this reason and also because the diapers are super cute (and come on, parents, don't try to tell me I'm the first person to buy a baby item for its cuteness factor). I am familiar with the world of "Hyena dipes" this article describes, and I felt compelled to say that this article is a serious misrepresentation of what cloth diapering is about. By putting disproportional focus on extremely expensive diapers, it paints cloth users as spendthrift, consumerist freaks with too much money in their pockets and nothing better to do than shop online. It's a shame that the article doesn't give equal attention to the fact that MOST cloth users aren't spending $80 on diaper "artwork," but are in fact buying workhorse diapers to be used by multiple children; diapers that are one-size so that they fit a child from birth to toddlerhood, etc. It's a shame the article didn't quote any of the women I know who have shared diapers, for free or cheap, with friends who are financially strapped, or the caring women who have created organizations like Miracle Diapers, a nonprofit organization that provides free diapers to people in need. (http://www.miraclediapers.org/) It always sells to deride so-called women's issues or activities that attract women as their primary participants. This article, and the attention it has attracted in earlier comments, is one more moment in a long tradition of dismissing women's interests as irrelevant. Sure, there are people out there who make frivolous purchases of cloth diapers. But these luxury diapers are made by work-at-home-mothers, and one mother's frivolous purchase may be another mother's means of feeding her family for a period of days (or weeks, as the case may be). In any case, frivolity is hardly the 'norm' for cloth users; caring for the planet and our kids is.

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