"What do you think of this doll Johnny? -"Dolls are for girls!" "No. Dolls are for everyone, Johnny" -"I don't want to play will the doll!" "Pick up the doll, Jonny" -"No" "PICK UP THAT DOLL!!" -"NO!" "Johnny, it is for the good of mankind that we emasculate you. We are placing our expectaions about how the world should be, squarely on your shoulders! How dare you dissapoint us!
If you really think that I force my son to play with dolls, well, then you're either a non-parent or a really bad one (please say you're not a teacher). If my son wants to play with dolls, we let him. If he wants to play with blocks, we let him. If he asks "Why do my classmates say boys don't play with dolls?" we say "Some people have this silly notions that some toys are for boys, and some are for girls. Isn't that strange?" The basic idea is that boys can do anything girls can do, and everyone is different, so there are no right or wrong choices about how you want to play.
Too bad kids have to have things like this injected into their lives. Let them be kids for chrissakes.
I agree completely. Don't force-feed something like blue-for-boys and pink-for-girls at such a young age. Let them be individuals!
Theirs (I assume you means there's) scientific proof to the differences between men and women, so in a way, what you're doing to your son is unnatural.
Really? For a second there, I thought you had made a point. Oh well. I am unaware of the studies that show that man-made dolls, blocks, trucks, and cookware were somehow linked to differences in male-female biology.
You've succumbed to the neurosis of some popular belief and using your son as a guinea pig.
Oh, now I see. I am "testing" my son. How quaint. Tolerance must be passe.
Don't be ashamed that you have balls.
Are you going to quote more scientific studies about the relationship of testicles to doll-playing?
Like I said folks, don't trust anyone else to raise your kids for you. They get enough bad influences outside of the home.
How do we deal with the fact that girls get different treatment?
As any other change requires - gradually, one individual at a time.
Can family support overcome that?
It better. I wouldn't trust our school system or our social order.
How about the way we raise our girls?
Absolutely. We have to change the way we raise children, not boys and girls.
I have a 5 year-old son. His mother and I are striving to teach him how to be a person, how to ignore these inconsequential differences between boys and girls. We constantly say things like "Girls can do anything boys do" and vice-versa. We point out strange observations, like "Isn't it strange that [so-and-so] says that you can't play with dolls because you're a boy?" and "Isn't it strange that they used to say that girls couldn't wear pants, or they couldn't be doctors?"
I agree with a previous poster that targeting "women" is too late. Targeting the school system, the media, the government - that will all fail. The only way to make a difference is by the parents.
Kids are sponges. Feed them properly, and the world will be a little bit better tomorrow.
If someone were to start the National Association for the Advancement of White People, would the NAACP get to have them shut down for being racist by excluding blacks?
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I don't normally respond to AC's, but...
"What do you think of this doll Johnny?
-"Dolls are for girls!"
"No. Dolls are for everyone, Johnny"
-"I don't want to play will the doll!"
"Pick up the doll, Jonny"
-"No"
"PICK UP THAT DOLL!!"
-"NO!"
"Johnny, it is for the good of mankind that we emasculate you. We are placing our expectaions about how the world should be, squarely on your shoulders! How dare you dissapoint us!
If you really think that I force my son to play with dolls, well, then you're either a non-parent or a really bad one (please say you're not a teacher). If my son wants to play with dolls, we let him. If he wants to play with blocks, we let him. If he asks "Why do my classmates say boys don't play with dolls?" we say "Some people have this silly notions that some toys are for boys, and some are for girls. Isn't that strange?" The basic idea is that boys can do anything girls can do, and everyone is different, so there are no right or wrong choices about how you want to play.
Too bad kids have to have things like this injected into their lives. Let them be kids for chrissakes.
I agree completely. Don't force-feed something like blue-for-boys and pink-for-girls at such a young age. Let them be individuals!
Theirs (I assume you means there's) scientific proof to the differences between men and women, so in a way, what you're doing to your son is unnatural.
Really? For a second there, I thought you had made a point. Oh well. I am unaware of the studies that show that man-made dolls, blocks, trucks, and cookware were somehow linked to differences in male-female biology.
You've succumbed to the neurosis of some popular belief and using your son as a guinea pig.
Oh, now I see. I am "testing" my son. How quaint. Tolerance must be passe.
Don't be ashamed that you have balls.
Are you going to quote more scientific studies about the relationship of testicles to doll-playing?
Like I said folks, don't trust anyone else to raise your kids for you. They get enough bad influences outside of the home.
As any other change requires - gradually, one individual at a time.
Can family support overcome that?
It better. I wouldn't trust our school system or our social order.
How about the way we raise our girls?
Absolutely. We have to change the way we raise children, not boys and girls.
I have a 5 year-old son. His mother and I are striving to teach him how to be a person, how to ignore these inconsequential differences between boys and girls. We constantly say things like "Girls can do anything boys do" and vice-versa. We point out strange observations, like "Isn't it strange that [so-and-so] says that you can't play with dolls because you're a boy?" and "Isn't it strange that they used to say that girls couldn't wear pants, or they couldn't be doctors?"
I agree with a previous poster that targeting "women" is too late. Targeting the school system, the media, the government - that will all fail. The only way to make a difference is by the parents.
Kids are sponges. Feed them properly, and the world will be a little bit better tomorrow.
The NAAWP already exists: http://www.naawp.org/