[dhshahsndeisjwn]

Except that many girls are made to feel abnormal for expressing an interest in stereotypically male activities (as are boys in reverse).

The key is to acknowledge first that our society is incredibly gendered (and racist) in ways we often oblivious to.

[magduf]

I think that, these days, in western countries, it's much worse for boys. Girls are still actively shamed for stereotypically male activities within extremely conservative and religious groups, but outside that, there's been a big push to get girls interested in "male" things.

The same is absolutely not true for boys. Just look at what happens to a little boy if he decides he wants to wear girls' clothes or play with dolls. Whereas a girl wearing pants and playing with trucks will, at worst, be called a tomboy.

[chongli]

Except that many girls are made to feel abnormal

How much of that is due to the efforts of men or boys? Or how much is due to bullying by other girls in middle school and high school?

As far as I can tell, schools have put in enormous effort to stop boys from fighting each other. I can’t find much evidence of their efforts to stop girls from bullying each other by spreading rumours. Girls are highly susceptible to peer pressure, particularly from other girls.

[Pigo]

I've never studied parenting across the country, and I acknowledge that there are definitely cultures around the world where women are treated like property, but I've never witnessed a parent enforcing some gender stereotype for toys. It's hard to imagine a parent even caring what toy a kid is playing with, unless they are hurting someone.

[brazzy]

Then your experience and your imagination are rather limited.

Just a few quotes from /r/Parenting:

"BUT his dad had a conniption when he found out that I bought him a baby doll and he thinks that he should not play with “girl” toys." https://www.reddit.com/r/Parenting/comments/b403o6/how_do_yo...

"A lot of adults (men, women, young, old) make snarky comments in my son's presence about his toy selections (doll houses, play kitchen sets)." https://www.reddit.com/r/Parenting/comments/b403o6/how_do_yo...

"Now, my husband generally doesn't mind that my step-son plays Barbies or dollies with his sister. However, he draws the line at actually buying "girl" toys for him." https://www.reddit.com/r/Parenting/comments/53p1ut/boys_and_...

"I'm constantly reminded my girl isn't very "girly". At times I'm even asked whatever I'm concerned about her enjoy so many "boy's things"" https://www.reddit.com/r/Parenting/comments/2ke89r/parents_w...

[shantly]

The generous view of the dads worried about sons playing with girls' toys (no quotes around girls', because I guarantee the marketers intended them that way) is that they're concerned it'll signal "ostracize me and kick my ass, please; I'm an easy mark for gaining social status at the expense of another" to their peer group. Which doesn't make the effect any different, but the intent might not be to limit their sons' play per se.

[edit] what I mean is simply that those kinds of sentiments might be a reaction to perceived bias in culture, expressed as bias but not driven by same, if that makes sense. A kind of re-enforcing meta-bias. Again, doesn't make the effect any better.

[jedieaston]

Lego used to have to ship a note to parents in the box of sets to make sure they didn't get mad about what toys their kids were playing with: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/11250366/Lego-letter-to-pare...

[rtkwe]

It does still quite a bit, it's easy to forget how varied the US is. My cousin married a guy who's very into traditional toys for his son, a few Christmases back his son was playing with a doll with the other kids and he was not a fan of that at all.

[circlefavshape]

It's much more subtle than that. A child isn't raised by his/her parents alone. If you have daughters, your family and friends (and their friends) will by default mostly buy them stereotypical girls toys