"I think it's actually got worse in the last few years compared to when I was a child."
Yes, considerably worse.
It's - at least in part - down to higher disposable incomes and lower cost in real terms of toys.
Before, things were just toys and were expected to be handed down between siblings, cousins and friends. They were (usually) robust, well-built and in bright colours (except 1979s when everything turned brown for a while).
Nowadays, the marketeers - in a straightforward aim to double profits by more consumption - push the idea that things are only for boys or girls, so that people buy twice as much, and do not hand on even big-ticket items such as bikes if they are for the 'wrong' sex.
And of course, the early stereotyping is pervasive and is leading to a generally more gendered society. Where people think it's just 'natural' for boys to like skulls and pirates, and girls to like unicorns and princesses, rather than the result of conditioning, advertising etc.
And those parents who say 'but it never did me any harm' are probably not talking about the same phenomenon - unless they are teenage parents - because it simply wasn't like this until very, very recently.