2 year old boy 'hates girls'

[angryhummungbird]

So recently I've met a mum who has just moved into our area. She mentioned that she was struggling a bit and was lonely as she didn't know many people locally. She has a son who is 2 which is the same age as my daughter. I invited them over and she said 'I would love to but unfortunately my son 'hates girls' and wouldn't want to play with her'. I was really shocked and quite angry at this as how can a 2 year old hate anyone? How can she be ok with this and think this is normal? Where has he picked this up, where has he learnt that playing with girls is somehow wrong and it is ok to hate girls? I mean should a 2 year old really even know what a girl and a boy is? It just seems so ridiculous. A 2 year old just shouldn't care about that stuff. This is why there is so much mysogyny in our society, because children as young as 2 are being taught it is ok for boys to hate girls. This is the reason why so many men think we are weak and below them. Most of the men out there assaulting and abusing women started as innocent 2 year olds who were taught that it was ok to 'hate girls'. And boys like him spread these ideas that it is ok and normal to hate girls and wrong to want to play or be friends with them to other boys. This is why some children as young as 3 or 4 are identifying as trans, imagine if he had not been a typically masculine boy and had the same upbringing and these same attitudes taught to him. Why is this considered okay? Why are we normalising gender ideology rather than trying to change attitudes like this?

I think people are more sceptical that a 5 month old can. I also know for sure that not all small children can tell - as I said upthread kids used to very often assume I was a man based on my short hair.

I think people are more sceptical that a 5 month old can. I also know for sure that not all small children can tell - as I said upthread kids used to very often assume I was a man based on my short hair

My dd was five months old back in the 1980s and nearly all little girls had short hair and wore jeans. She loved boys and knew which was which right away

And I am not telling this story to justify the misogynist mother either.

Froth 😶‍🌫️

Fascinating subject. A few things I have come across reading about it.
Infants can instinctively differentiate between their mother and father by sight at three weeks.
Studies have found that children tend to gaze longer at women's faces when young. However the study also found that if the main caregiver is male the child states longer at male faces. This suggests they can perceive differences in sex.
By three months babies have been shown to show an understanding of difference in male and female faces but aren't able to fully process or use the information.
Sex as an abstract notion, complete with language catagorisation remains fluid till 2-3. This means it's perfectly normal for a boy to declare himself a girl or call mummy a boy.
From personal experience they start seeing and remarking on physical difference around this time too. Which means they'll get confused why mummy doesn't have a winky.

I'd be very, very surprised if human infants don't have a basic level of self preservation and caution that's different to males and females. It's in their interest to survive. Have you seen what male primates can do to infants? Not pretty.

So I wouldn't be surprised that a male child might have a preference for one gender over another. Whether that preference is based on experience(eg sibling, parent) stereotypes or instinct it'd be hard to say.

Why is this in feminism- sex/gender debate section?

Probably because the splitting of the feminist section is a mess.
It's still not clear whether s&g should be exclusively for gender identity threats to feminism(and if it is someone should tell all the drive bys who wag their fingers because 'more important stuff' is not being discussed.
Or IF sex and gender is where those feminist issues that are directly related to biology should be (abortion, maternity, sports etc) that would, however, leave very little in the chat section as our bodies have a huge impact on equality and the way we navigate the world.
Or is it just a fish barrell to make shooting GC posters easier?
Who knows. I certainly don't and I do t think hq do either!