Gender bias gets start in early childhood
by Brandy Bramblett, reporter

    Even with women joining the military and men staying home to watch the kids, boys and girls are still being raised differently.

   As a former toy-store employee, several times I saw a father steer his son away from the doll aisle because “those are for girls,” or a mother take a remote-controlled car from her daughter’s hand because “that’s a boy toy.”

   The way a typical toy store is set up reflects this attitude. So-called “girl toys” such as Barbies and baby dolls are placed on one aisle while “boy toys” such as Hot Wheels and action figures are on another.
   But why are Barbie’s car G.I. Joe’s truck separated? On a car lot, are the pink cars and green cars segregated?

   And isn’t a Spawn action figure essentially a doll? Why isn’t it sitting on the shelf next to Sailor Moon?

   Why do toys aimed at girls come in pink boxes and those aimed at boys come in blue?

   Does every girl inherently like pink? Is blue every little boy’s favorite color?

   If children use play to learn about themselves and the skills they need as adults, why are their toys so different?

   As a potential father, shouldn’t a boy learn nurturing skills? Isn’t playing with a baby doll a great way to cultivate his natural nurturing instinct?

   And shouldn’t girls learn that aggression can be healthy? Wouldn’t a mock sword fight help a girl develop the inner confidence needed to stand up for herself?

   While adults are expected to take on both gender roles, children are still put into male/female categories. No one is born entirely masculine or entirely feminine.

   When I was 6, I got a monster truck for my birthday, helped my mother bury a dead bird in the backyard and begged my father to take me hunting.

   By the time I was 10, I had more than 20 different styles of Barbie, thought dead animals were gross and considered hunting cruel and unnecessary.

   How and why, in the span of just four years, does a child go from tomboy to girly-girl? Or mama’s boy to school bully?

   Turn on your television. While you may find the occasional strong, smart girl role model such as Dora the Explorer or the soft and squishy male role model Sponge Bob Square Pants, most role models for kids are either ultra-girly, like Britney Spears, or ultra-masculine, like the Rock.

   Even if parents don’t push children in one direction, society does. Advertisers gear commercials for dolls, karaoke machines and dress-up clothes exclusively toward girls, and ads for water guns, Transformers and sporting goods toward boys.

   With so much pressure to behave one way, it becomes impossible for children to remain true to themselves.

   Essentially, we are forcing children to repress the part of their personalities that doesn’t fit into the gender roles we have assigned to them.

   As the older sibling of three sisters, I know first-hand that children are gender-neutral.

   The oldest child, who spends half an hour putting barrettes in her hair, will not hesitate to push her sister down and take her toy.

   The middle child, who cries during the Lion King, will later stage her own mock-battle where everyone dies and no one wins.

   And the youngest, 2, hasn’t learned the difference between boys and girls. She does, however, know her favorite color. It’s blue.