That's what I want to know. Why do some people act like it absolutely should NOT happen to their sons? If it's not because they're holding onto some ancient narrow minded homophobic paranoid idea that playing with dolls and such will turn little Johnny queer, then what is it?

'Boys and girls are not equal' isn't good enough. 'If he wanted to wear a dress, would you approve that too?' isn't good enough. There has to be an ACTUAL reason, some actual THREAT of what will happen to the little boy if he plays with girls' toys for some people to be so deathly opposed to it. Otherwise, why let girls play with boys' stuff? After all, isn't that going to make little Jenny grow up to be butch and wear flannel and play softball if playing with Barbies foreshadows Johnny's coming out party?

Kids use their toys to fantasize and often times will embody that character. Boys fantasize about being GI Joe. Girls fantasize about being Barbie. If a little boy wants to play with a Barbie doll, the chances that he may be envisioning himself in her place are too good. See where I'm going? Furthermore if you let a boy get comfortable playing with "girls' toys" at home, chances are he will wanna do it outside the house too. Schools and playgrounds can be very harsh places when the other little boys finds out that little Joey like Ballerina Barbie. If I had a son I'd be a-ok with him not being into alpha-male action figures and such. If he'd rather play with nuetral things like Play Doh, Legos and electronics instead, then that's cool. But he's not getting a Barbie doll for Christmas. That's out.

What I find funny is everybody brings up BARBIE dolls...'other dolls are okay but no Barbies'. Okay, what about the Bratz dolls, and the Pussycat dolls? Are those okay or are they out too? Because if it was my kids, all of those would be OUT, the only dolls I think I'd have with my kids would be the ones like they stand on their head and do somersaults and that kind of stuff.

Supernova wrote:

What I find funny is everybody brings up BARBIE dolls...'other dolls are okay but no Barbies'. Okay, what about the Bratz dolls, and the Pussycat dolls? Are those okay or are they out too?

No. For intents and purposes, they're the same thing. I only said Barbie because it was the example previously used and because she is the grand dame of girls toys. There's a reason why these things are marketed to one demographic (sex/gender) over the other. Any doll or toy that is marketed specifically to little girls and personifies the image or fantasy of a girls life isn't suitable for a boy to play with IMO.

So by that logic are Batman toys suitable for girls to play with? You know, Batman, Robin, Joker, all men, not much room for girls there, and what about soldier dolls? It's not like you see a GI Jane line coming out for Christmas at Toys R Us. And for that matter, what about toy guns that aren't specifically painted pink for little girls? I mean where is the line drawn? And WHY are boys' things more tolerated with girls using them than the other way around?

And is it just limited to toys? Or what about children's books, should boys be forbidden from reading Nancy Drew and girls from the Hardy Boys (even though girls made a large pecentage of the HB readers during their original run in the 20s and 30s and thus Nancy Drew was spawned for them)? And what about movies? I mean you have the Goonies, you have Dennis the Menace, all these with guys up front, doing everything, what do the girls have in comparison? Barbie movies? Where's the barf icon, I could sure use that here...or My Little Pony movies? About the only reason I COULD see for not wanting boys to take an interest in girls' things is that generally, girls' toys suck, the boys' stuff is what's actually made to be fun and exciting. That said, if a boy takes an interest in a girls' toys, he must be able to see something good in it that most people, fellow girls and women included, overlook and can't see.

Supernova wrote:

And WHY are boys' things more tolerated with girls using them than the other way around?

It's more tolerated because an 8 year old girl is more likely to eventually grow out of her Tonka truck tom-boy phase than an 8 year old boy who wants a makeup kit.

JM130ELM wrote:

It's more tolerated because an 8 year old girl is more likely to eventually grow out of her Tonka truck tom-boy phase than an 8 year old boy who wants a makeup kit.

According to whom? When my nephews were 8 and 9, they wanted me to paint their nails, they wanted to wear dresses, one of them dressed up as a girl for Halloween a couple of times, and now both of them are fighting over the same girl to take to the school dance.

JM130ELM wrote:

Kids use their toys to fantasize and often times will embody that character. Boys fantasize about being GI Joe. Girls fantasize about being Barbie. If a little boy wants to play with a Barbie doll, the chances that he may be envisioning himself in her place are too good. See where I'm going? Furthermore if you let a boy get comfortable playing with "girls' toys" at home, chances are he will wanna do it outside the house too. Schools and playgrounds can be very harsh places when the other little boys finds out that little Joey like Ballerina Barbie. If I had a son I'd be a-ok with him not being into alpha-male action figures and such. If he'd rather play with nuetral things like Play Doh, Legos and electronics instead, then that's cool. But he's not getting a Barbie doll for Christmas. That's out.

I would instill in my son that it was ok (actually GREAT) for him to be his own person and to not care what other people say about his tastes and interests. I would rather he be his own person than a sheep. IMO

RobbieFTW wrote:

I would instill in my son that it was ok (actually GREAT) for him to be his own person and to not care what other people say about his tastes and interests. I would rather he be his own person than a sheep. IMO

Indeeeeeed, the whole thing just sounds to me like these people are SO afraid of what the neighbors might say if they found out little Johnny likes dolls or the color pink. I mean for these people going on about 'it's just NOT right', 'it's not how boys are supposed to be', could any of them honestly say that how people will talk about the kid, and them and their choice of parenting, has absolutely NO factor in their opinion about it?

Supernova wrote:

So by that logic are Batman toys suitable for girls to play with? You know, Batman, Robin, Joker, all men, not much room for girls there, and what about soldier dolls? It's not like you see a GI Jane line coming out for Christmas at Toys R Us. And for that matter, what about toy guns that aren't specifically painted pink for little girls? I mean where is the line drawn? And WHY are boys' things more tolerated with girls using them than the other way around?

And is it just limited to toys? Or what about children's books, should boys be forbidden from reading Nancy Drew and girls from the Hardy Boys (even though girls made a large pecentage of the HB readers during their original run in the 20s and 30s and thus Nancy Drew was spawned for them)? And what about movies? I mean you have the Goonies, you have Dennis the Menace, all these with guys up front, doing everything, what do the girls have in comparison? Barbie movies? Where's the barf icon, I could sure use that here...or My Little Pony movies? About the only reason I COULD see for not wanting boys to take an interest in girls' things is that generally, girls' toys suck, the boys' stuff is what's actually made to be fun and exciting. That said, if a boy takes an interest in a girls' toys, he must be able to see something good in it that most people, fellow girls and women included, overlook and can't see.

(shaking my head)

Supernova wrote:

Indeeeeeed, the whole thing just sounds to me like these people are SO afraid of what the neighbors might say if they found out little Johnny likes dolls or the color pink. I mean for these people going on about 'it's just NOT right', 'it's not how boys are supposed to be', could any of them honestly say that how people will talk about the kid, and them and their choice of parenting, has absolutely NO factor in their opinion about it?

Yes, I can honestly say it has NO factor in my opinion at all. Cause I already don't give a fuck if you don't like the fact that I would not let my son play with a Barbie doll so I already don't care how people would question my parenting skills, lol. I'm raising my son. Not you. Now how bout you answer the question like I said earlier: Would you let your son wear a dress to school? Or I got an even better one.....how bout wearing a dress to church? Ponder it, come back and asked that same question.