Mumsnet Talk

Get a grip OP. You have obviously not read any of the research carried out with young babies/toddlers. The babies themselves have strong identities as to whether they are male/female. Twas ever thus and ever will be.

What utter shite. Point me to that study and I'll point you to a million that point to nurture not nature.

People treat boys and girls differently. Give a person a baby boy in a pink babygro and they'll say "oh she's so pretty and wee" where they'd say "oh he's so big and strong" if he was in a blue one.

What the hell is a "strong female identity" anyway? I sure as hell don't feel "female", I just feel like me.

Since when is MN such a den of people who are so dismissive of any feminist belief? Shite.

I'm not suggesting that they don;t put the pink stuff togheter. Heaven forbid.

Just suggesting that defining by gender is lazy and outmoded.

I totally agree with you OP.

I find it really limiting and people can say as much as they like "oh buy what you want for your children" but when was the last time you saw a 6-year-old boy play with anything pink?

I work with children and the girl/boy thing is such a major thing for them and it really does my head in.

YY Greta Grip! Drag these Edwardian Laydees into the 21st century!

I find it depressing too. But equally depressing is that normally sane mumsnetters are apathetic or even happy to have these stereotypes reinforced again and again and again. Because our children are immune to marketing aren't they? Doesn't influence them at all. Totally free choice. Genetics even. Girls are after all pink and glittery cupcake makers at heart and boys are fearless adventurers and astronauts. You can't fight it, it's meant to be. Nothing to do with outside influences.

Now, where did I put my flowery apron? My husband's tea need serving to him. S'cuse me...

I know. It's sad

Last time I was in Toys R us looking do for a dinosaur for DD and the assistant told me they won't sell dinosaurs for girls and wrestled me to the ground and sat on my shoulder until I agreed to only buy a Barbie doll.

Won't somebody think of the children

Greta- I don't normally venture onto these threads as they rather make me want to put my head in a pillow and sob. Come across to the Feminism boards and you'd have a rather different response.

<<holds out tentatvie hand>>

Remember, as a wise MNer once told me, people are very invested in gender stereotypes. You tend to get an angry response when you suggest that maybe, just maybe, it isn't all innate and that maybe, just maybe, we condition our children even if we think we don't.

Oh come, it's nice there now. Honest. I was scared, but they are very gentle with me.<Holds out hand>

Off to bed. Come play with us. Honest.

Yes Hoolio that's exactly what the issue is. A+ for comprehension.

Can I come too? I hate pink.

Surely the whole point is to stop the indoctrination, so that little girls don't automatically 'know' that a toy is 'for girls' because it is fucking pink.

Funny thing is not so long ago girls wore blue and boys pink. Pink was seen as a variant of red and therefore masculine and strong, blue was seen as being dainty. Then a lovely man called Adolf Hitler decided pink was the colour of homosexuals and suddenly it became a 'feminine' colour.. And so now girls just have to like pink and boys blue. Little history lesson for you all there.

There is evidence boys prefer cars and the like because of the motion, their brain reacts better too it than girls. Girls prefer to copy adults and thus baby dolls. However the pink/blue divide and the 'only girls like dolls' or 'only boys like cars' is a cultural thing. They only stick to liking the so called 'girly' or 'boyish' things because that's what they're fed from the start.

Yanbu at all. I don't like the boy/girl divide at all and it should be merged. I also would like to see less pink/blue in general. Why are dolls always so pink? .. Pink makes me gag.

Shops aren't interested in pandering to or enforcing stereotypes. It's not their job to promote anything of the sort.
They lay out their goods in the way that they have found best sells the products, and by definition that must be the way their customers want them.
It's really that simple.

Flipping typical. Try to make a new friend and they've buggered off without me <sighs and goes to bed>

It's true. I still have the bruises. And DD is still crying because no one will buy her a dinosaur

Ooh, just realised that sounded pervy as the word 'tomorrow' was missing. Come and play on the feminism boards 'tomorrow'. Or tonight. But i won't be there and I am lovely .

<Greta backs away from scary MNer who propositioned her apropos of nothing>

Was I the friend Illget. I will be your friend. Or were you after the OP?

YANBU. I loathe the strict gender lines that are drawn in merchandising. And it is relatively new, actually. In my childhood there were no pink legos or whatever. It's rather genius marketing, I suppose, if you manage to convince people that their children can't share toys, that there must be toys for boys and toys for girls. Sadly, many people swallow this hook, line, and sinker.

Of course boys and girls are different. But it is sheer nonsense to claim some sort of biological imperative for a preference for pink and the like. That is entirely culturally determined.

You're back Youllscream! Now I've made a fuss about nothing! I will be there tomorrow! I hate pink.

I really don't understand the big issue about gender. <shrugs>

I'm not a massive fan of all pink or all blue on girls/boys simply because...there are more than two colours to choose from! Red,white,orange,green and purple are much better.

When I have children I may put them in the "wrong" colour baby grows to see if the reactions they get are different as someone suggested upthread. baby has to keep me amused one way or another

Come, come discuss. Honestly, the feminism boards had a scary rep for a while, but I find them really friendly and they let me rant

I have never noticed a girl/boy section in any shop, but then i don't pay too much attention, i just wander around picking up what i want, so all the dino stuff will tend to be in the same place, all the doll stuff in the same place, generally all the blocks in the same place, then a hello kitty wall, a dora wall etc....I have never ever noticed it labelled as girl/boy, it is just grouped according to what it is!