Thread by @volewriter, Occasionally I come across someone who doesn't believe gender stereotyping of children [...]

Occasionally I come across someone who doesn't believe gender stereotyping of children exists, and that even if it did, it wouldn't have any impact as all boy children and girl children naturally like different things and behave differently.

I'm always a bit shocked because it's everywhere all the time - till I remember I used to think the same. Messages about gender and the way boys and girls are supposed to behave are so ubiquitous they've become invisible and normal, and 'just how things are'.

So it's quite reasonable that people suppose little boys are naturally more active and daring than little girls, and all of them like dinosaurs and predators and science and competition and sport; that little girls like looking pretty and hearts and cute animals and being good.

That baby girls come out of the womb already covered in pink glitter, while - did you know? - the male foetus is actually gun-shaped.
(joke)

But once you see the obsessive hammering-home of gender stereotypes coming at kids from every angle and relentlessly, it's impossible to unsee.

I've gathered together some of the evidence that's sitting on shop shelves.

https://twitter.com/volewriter/status/1029020130431434755

This is me, on my own, very occasionally taking a wander through the children's department of the odd high street store. My sons are grown up, so I don't watch kids' TV or go in toy shops or shop for children's bedroom decor. Vast amounts of this stuff is passing me by.

But even so, even just dipping my toe into the water every 5 or 6 months, my head nearly caves in at the desperate nagging these children are getting to be like THIS or THAT, and woe betide them if they deviate.

So forgive me, stranger, if I don't have the time to debate this issue - whether it exists, the extremely real impact it's having on children's development - because I've already put in the hours finding the evidence. It's here. It's laid out for you to read. Over to you.

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