As a kid I was incredibly artsy and wanted to experiment with jewelry making and beading and all sorts of other fun types of arts I hadn’t yet tried out. I remember being just kinda upset that the packaging and branding for the jewelry making kits and beading and sewing and knitting stuff made it very clear this was a GIRL thing and as not a girl who wanted to try it, I felt a little gross and innappropriate doing this GIRL stuff even though I thought it was kinda cool. I do wonder if I would’ve gone more into jewelry making or sewing if it hadn’t been presented to me in such a heavily gendered fashion
I also remember little pre-school me being very excited because my best friend was going to bring a “boy barbie” that I could play with then being confused by the ken doll she brought because i thought it would be a Barbie for boys, not just a Barbie that is a boy. Later she got in an argument with another girl because the girl was playing with the Barbie and she wanted to play with the Barbie but the only one available was the Ken doll but she can’t play with the Ken doll because that’s a boy and she’s not a boy! And I was just very confused because why does she have to play with the girl barbie? What’s wrong with playing with the boy barbie? So i went back to playing with the kitchen set at that point and kept pretending to cook stuff and put away groceries.
Point is, kids don’t give a crap about gender norms until they’re told to care about them. Both my kids love toy cars and pretending to cook with their toy kitchen, and often I see them tucking in cars to sleep and doll fight clubs because we don’t bother to tell them which toys are for little girls or boys and just let them play with whatever they feel like playing with
For me the distinction helped allievate alienation. But that shit should really be applied per case >_< And if it would be dropped altogether, I guess I wouldn’t need it as a kid either.
As a kid I was incredibly artsy and wanted to experiment with jewelry making and beading and all sorts of other fun types of arts I hadn’t yet tried out. I remember being just kinda upset that the packaging and branding for the jewelry making kits and beading and sewing and knitting stuff made it very clear this was a GIRL thing and as not a girl who wanted to try it, I felt a little gross and innappropriate doing this GIRL stuff even though I thought it was kinda cool. I do wonder if I would’ve gone more into jewelry making or sewing if it hadn’t been presented to me in such a heavily gendered fashion
I also remember little pre-school me being very excited because my best friend was going to bring a “boy barbie” that I could play with then being confused by the ken doll she brought because i thought it would be a Barbie for boys, not just a Barbie that is a boy. Later she got in an argument with another girl because the girl was playing with the Barbie and she wanted to play with the Barbie but the only one available was the Ken doll but she can’t play with the Ken doll because that’s a boy and she’s not a boy! And I was just very confused because why does she have to play with the girl barbie? What’s wrong with playing with the boy barbie? So i went back to playing with the kitchen set at that point and kept pretending to cook stuff and put away groceries.
Point is, kids don’t give a crap about gender norms until they’re told to care about them. Both my kids love toy cars and pretending to cook with their toy kitchen, and often I see them tucking in cars to sleep and doll fight clubs because we don’t bother to tell them which toys are for little girls or boys and just let them play with whatever they feel like playing with
For me the distinction helped allievate alienation. But that shit should really be applied per case >_< And if it would be dropped altogether, I guess I wouldn’t need it as a kid either.