General Discussion

Withywindle

(9,988 posts)

3. Good for her! (the sales clerk) and good for him! (the brother)

Mon Jan 9, 2012, 05:26 PM

Jan 2012

Gender-policing of children and their playthings makes my skin crawl. It's bad enough that so many toys on the market reinforce rigid gender roles to begin with--but to have the parents abusively ENFORCE this? Gah.

I think it's good for boys to enjoy entertainment with female protagonists. Whole generations of girls have grown up following the adventures of Encyclopedia Brown, Frodo Baggins, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, Tintin, Spiderman, Doctor Who, you name it, with no great huge barrier to identification with the character just because of gender. Why can't boys do the same with female characters? Are boys' imaginations that much more inferior? I doubt it.

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13 replies

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Dear Customer Who Stuck Up For His Little Brother ... [View all] one_voice Jan 2012 OP

Aw. And as the father of two boys, I love this post even more. villager Jan 2012 #1

K&R for a very nice story... Fumesucker Jan 2012 #2

Good for her! (the sales clerk) and good for him! (the brother) Withywindle Jan 2012 #3

There's a very serious problem in this family zipplewrath Jan 2012 #4

when the older brother leaves home he'd better take the little brother with him nt msongs Jan 2012 #5

I thought the same thing zipplewrath Jan 2012 #8

You're right... one_voice Jan 2012 #6

Agreed micraphone Jan 2012 #11

Everybody needs a Big Brother like that! bvar22 Jan 2012 #7

Kicking for the kids and I don't have any kids myself. Hotler Jan 2012 #9

I do feel for that little brother dsc Jan 2012 #10

I think it's a safe bet that everyone in that sad, dysfunctional family knows that this kiddo tavalon Jan 2012 #12

Kids are nicer today than we were wryter2000 Jan 2012 #13