Let Toys be Toys
Alan White
How are little girls and boys supposed to grow up and “be themselves” when the toys they play with can’t be gender neutral. Why must we cram little kids into boxes they don’t want to be put in? A prime example of this is a baby boy’s onesie that says “I’m Super!” on the front, hanging up directly next to a girl’s onesie that says “I hate my thighs”. The way we are raising children is not okay, we are teaching boys that masculinity is associated with power and domination by having all “boy toys” be heavily centered around guys beating other guys up, although there is usually a reason behind it, the message is typically forgotten and little boys focus completely on the violence. Young girls are forced into thinking everything they do has to be feminine and they always have to be conventionally attractive and live up to western beauty standards. Although these ideas can seem harmless at times, these ideas are forced upon children when they are at the age they will absorb information blindly and it will be embedded into the way they think forever. No child will successfully learn to love and accept themselves for who they truly are with gender roles pushed on them at such a young age. |