May 6, 2019: Level Up 35

Kuzco1981 · Post by **Kuzco1981** » Mon May 06, 2019 2:07 am

I can relate to this one somewhat. When I was a kid I remember seeing a Kitchen Playset advertised on TV. Cant remember it exactly, but it had different cooking stations, like an oven, grill, microwave. Cooking utensils, toy food, condiment bottles, etc. I thought it looked really fun. But did I ask my parents to get it for me? No. And the reason? Because the toy was being advertised as a girls toy. And I didn't want to be mocked by my friends for playing with it. I still remember feeling a sense of injustice that I was "forbidden" from playing with a toy because I was the wrong gender for it.

DrCurry · Post by **DrCurry** » Mon May 06, 2019 9:00 am

Itâ€™s not adult dog catchers that enforce societyâ€™s preferred gender preferences, itâ€™s *the children themselves*.

I watched my own scion delightedly clamor for every toy that was advertised on TV. Then, right about the age of three or four (yeah, pre-school), he suddenly started only wanting the things in blue and brown and black ads, and repudiating the things in pink ads. He didnâ€™t get that from us, and certainly not the teachers, which only leaves the other children.