When toys are no longer toys

When are toys no longer just toys?
When we, as adults, assign certain values to toys and tell children which values belong to which of the binary genders. We tell children that there are only two genders and that Girls can only play with toys with Girl Values and Boys can only play with toys with Boy Values. These values stay with the children into their adult lives and translate into jobs, roles, and interests. Check this article for same sentiments.

And gender swapping toys is just as bad!!
"Oh, I have my son play with dolls to break gender roles!" for me translates to "I know dolls are Girl Toys and I'm so hip for making my Boy play with them."

I will never stop being grateful for my mother being who she was when it comes to toys. She never tried to influence me or my sister when it came to the toys we wanted to play with. She encouraged me when I dressed up as He-Man and ran around the house, screaming "I'm He-Woman!!". This is where conservatives would go "What!? A girl, dressed as a male action figure, and telling everyone she's He-Woman? My mind can't handle the gender-ception anymore!" Psst - there are more than two genders, and generally, a 3 year-old don't really care either way.
My sister and I had a wide range of Legos, Barbies, cars, My Little Pony knock-offs, glass marbles, build-a-slide things, fire crackers, and basically any variety of toy that could get stuck in a bath tub drain, stepped on, lodged in the vacuum cleaner, brushed, braided, or beaded imaginable. We also rode bikes, skied, skated, built tree houses, and climbed hills and trees. My sister was in a soccer team, she played in U17 competitions in tennis (when she was 12-13 years old), and played land hockey. I was a competitive swimmer and practiced martial arts. I can't imagine not being allowed to play sports or collect plushies because of my percieved gender.

Someone, sadly can't remember who, gave me this gem:

Just change "For boys or girls" to "for all gender identities"

And this is really my view on toys. Toys are toys. They usually don't have genders and playing with a toy does not asign any values or traits to the player. Once society stop stereotyping gender and toys, we can all play and have fun and learn without bias.


DFTBA