Quote:
Originally Posted by wittynickname
I seem to notice this becoming more and more prevalent as time goes on. I'm in my 30s, and I don't recall nearly so many distinctly gendered products for children back then. Yeah, boys had action figures and girls had dolls, but it felt like there was a wide array of gender-less entertainment available when I was younger. Now it feels like absolutely everything has to be either pink or blue. Like we're now hyper aware of gender norms. And not just for children's toys--like why are there specific pens that are marketed to women? We all have hands. They aren't different enough to warrant different pens.
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I find the opposite. Toys and childrens' play were far more gendered when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s than it is today. Back then it was G.I. Joe, Tonka trucks, and Stars Wars figures for the boys, Barbie, pink strollers, and Easy Bake Ovens for the girls. Any cross-over was unthinkable - never once did a girl play Star Wars with us, and never once did I see a boy play with a Strawberry Shortcake.
In fact, we never played with the girls at all. Recess and after-school play was absolutely self-segregated by gender. As a boy, your friends were drawn from other boys in class. Girls were the same. No girls played soccer with us ever. You would occasionally see a boy among the girls who clustered around the teachers, but he was ruthlessly ridiculed for it.
It's completely different with my kids today. I have a boy and a girl, and they both have boy and girl friends. My daughter eats lunch and hangs out mostly with boys playing soccer and basketball. One of my son's best friend is a girl. Another of their friends is a boy who dyes his hair pink and wears a dress. Nobody cares.
I doubt there has been a generation of children in history that has grown up less encumbered by gender roles and expectations than children in Canada today.