Thoughts I've thunk while sippin' at a cup of tea and reading something provoking, often get dropped here for the benefit of humanity and my own hubris.
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I love a good conspiracy theory as much as the next bloke, but the other day while I was waiting for a friend of mine, I picked up one of those indie zines— you know, the ones that have nothing but editorials— and this person was going on about how the toy factories are in on this conspiracy to subjugate women into consuming and teaching boys to become soldiers.
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I’ll admit that it would be clear to anyone with even a casual perusal down the isle of your favorite department store toy section which are the “boy” isles and which are the “girl” isle. However, I don’t buy that the toy manufacturers have any hidden agenda or covert operations … their motives are obvious.
They want to sell toys to the greatest audience to maximize their profits.
I believe that you shouldn’t thrust dinosaurs, trucks and guns at little boys, nor should you push pink dolls and satin purses at little girls… especially if they don’t care for it. However, the majority of little girls like the stuff peddled down that pink isle … and the majority of little boys are into big horrific plastic creations.
It’s just the facts.
The other year when my daughter was 3 months old, I was stuck in one of those super-big-gulp-size department store with nothing to consume but my curiosity of my new baby and her quickly developing neural net. So, I slowly walked down each of the isles of the toy store to see what interested her.
Granted, I had my hunches … the fuzzy animals and whatnot, but I tried to be fair to the dinosaurs with all the sharp teeth. Guess what she reached for? Barbie. And guess what? She hasn’t changed. She’s two and she loves pink purses, high heeled shoes … and Barbie dolls. The other day I suggested that I should paint her finger nails … she was all over that idea. For days she would point to her fingernails and say, “Boooo…. Booooo” until I took her down and bought her some blue polish.
Will she play soccer? I hope so. Will I be upset if she wants to be a cheerleader? Of course not … she has preferences, and right now, they are pink. She may change, but for the moment, it is pretty easy to shop for her.
© 2003-2005, Howard Abrams • Except where otherwise noted, all original content is licensed under a Creative Commons License (see details).
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