A part of the adoption approval process is obviously exploring adopters values and attitudes - and as part of that we discussed how we would encourage our child regardless of gender stereotypes and sexuality. Likewise, we demonstrated how we would ensure our child's cultural heritage was celebrated.
However, I feel that there is a fairly large double standard at play from our local authority. We had 2 profiles shown to us - one of each gender - and several others shown through the process to familiarise us with the type of information we might receive. These were always coded in very gender specific styles. For example, of the 2 profiles we received, the girl was described as wanting to be someone's little princess whereas our boy was described as wanting to be a little soldier. Both children were of the same age and had near identical backgrounds.
My son's sw also recently expressed surprise at seeing him in a sort of reddy/pink sleep gro thing. Not in a negative way, just in a , "oooh, he is in a pink sleepgro" comment - she has never once before commented on an outfit.
Is this something unique to my LA? Did others have "little soldiers" or "little princesses" described to them when actually a stable, drug free, violence free, supportive, nurturing family was more what my little man might have asked for...if he could have talked!