Monday, March 23, 2015

Out n a limb

Its probably a good thing no one reads here, anymore, because my thoughts today might irritate some.

     I'll preface this post by stating that I am, of course, a fan of gender equality. I'm not a rabid, mouth foaming feminist, but, equality is important. That being said, though, frankly??
     I'm tired beyond tired of reading about people creating things just for girls!! I get it, I understand, but I really feel like we are sending a message to boys, now, that it's more important that we focus our time and energy on the girls in their classroom. It looks to me that we are trading one problem for another. While we are striving for equality, we are instead going too far in the other direction. As a mother of a little boy, I see this, multiple times a day. It worries me.. Why do we, as a society, feel the need to assign gender labels to everything? How did one decide that science kits were 'boy toys' and, now, we have to market a separate set just for girls? Or rockets, or countless other things. Where are the EZ bake ovens designed for boys? How about a boy focused my little pony? And when I'm shopping for clothing to put him in? The boys section is about 1/3 the size of girls clothing. And the "nice" boys clothes??? Oh, Please. Pastel-ish colored dress shirts do not go down well with a 3.5 year old. Or his father, for that matter. If I luck into nicer button down shirts in colors they both approve of, I buy them in a couple sizes, because if I don't I will never find them again. As he gets older, I see this getting harder. As a woman, I have to teach my son to love and respect women, and treat them as equals. All the while, he is seeing society now bend over backwards to cater to girls his age. These boys are going to resent the hell out of this. I see it coming. But this is all my opinion. I hope I am wrong....