Do girls really prefer to play with dolls?

[lcakethereforeIam]

Just happened across this fascinating article in the Telegraph

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/dolls-childhood-psychology-barbie-design-museum-london/

https://archive.ph/BatH4 girls can build and break walls too

The writer, Cat Bohannen, wrote Eve about evolution and the female body. It came in for criticism for being laced with genderwoo. I've not read it, the woo put me right off, but I'm struggling to understand how someone who wrote the above article could be remotely twaw.

I didn't like baby dolls as a young child, I was into plush toy animals. And I played with Lego, little cars, planes, plastic animals and figures. It was only later on, when I started doing more grown up role play about teens, that I liked playing with Barbies. So I was still into Barbie aged 11!

What fun I would have had playing with the child-version of some of the previous PPs! Meccano, trains, Action Man dolls - sorry, figures. A working baooka, nocoolnamesleft? Wow!
Most of my toys were 'boys' toys, but I had two dolls that I absolutely loved, and a teddy I couldn't live without.

Eye roll at ‘feminine’ choices being presented as lesser.
I think as far as toys and child's play is concerned, girly toys are lesser, in an important way, in comparison with boys' toys. I learnt to cuddle my teddy, and to dress up my dolls - indisputably both highly relevant skills for later life

But- the 'boys' toys' I had as a little girl included a working 'junior' woodworking tool kit, a meccano set and many many Airfix model planes. As a result, I developed dexterity in handling tools, how to handle them safely, and the functions of different kinds of tools; the ability to follow detailed written instructions; spatial awareness; the ability to concentrate deeply on minute tasks.
I was able to take up with great confidence a non-traditionally-female job that involved all those skills which I had acquired from play from the earliest age.

Not to mention the ability to cheerfully take on a tricky IKEA assembly job with a song in my heart

I don't think Barbie and dolls are very interchangeable atall. Dolls typically are played with as if the child is a parent or caregiver. Barbies are "adults" and kids play at being adults with them.

FWIW I think girls are a little more likely to be interested in dolls than boys. and this should not be surprising as women are the ones who need to have a strong instinct towards doing things like breastfeeding. It would be very odd, scientifically, if this didn't follow in terms of behaviour. The idea that humans are totally and completely culturally determined with no instincts isn't a particularly prevalent idea among scientists whatever some feminists might say.

I worked as a TA for many years when my children were young, mainly with 3/4 year olds in a school nursery.

There was no difference in the toys the children liked to play with in any year group I worked with. The preferred activities for both groups was always any type of messy play.

My personal experience has been that most girls prefer to play with dolls, dollhouses, and gentle dance/ skipping games. Most boys prefer to play with mechanical toys eg lego/ mecchano and boisterous sports/ fighting games.
I'm xx female but was boyish in my preferences and grew up to be a manly woman. I was often lonely among girls whose interests didn't match mine. As a woman I've had women laugh in my face when I have suggested activities such as a bike ride. Conversely i wouldn't enjoy a "pamper" evening that many women seem to like.
Although all kids play with most toys, the state of being fully engaged and immersed in particular activities is what differs.
Loving wheels or dolls doesn't make you a boy or a girl. But I find it odd when people try to say it's learnt and not innate preferences.
To me it seems like internalised misogyny, to describe girlish interests as less important than boyish ones.