I have always believed that an object in itself is not sexist, but it is we who characterize it in one way or another and so a washing machine is nothing more than a pot that saves having to spend hours removing the stains of fruit porridge of our clothes, but as much as I'm looking for I can't find the "only for women"even though many insist on putting them on.
The same goes for toys, a ball or a doll does not have to serve only one of the two sexes, they do not even have to be used to kick or snack in the middle of the room. Toys are just that, toys.
I have seen all this very clearly in my children. How at first they went to any toy and they simply played, without further complications, without thinking about who it was or if it was right or wrong to play with it.
Over time, I see how my oldest son refuses to play with certain toys because "It's a girl thing," So as is and it is just the phrase that makes me see that it is something that has been learned and not something that comes naturally. That is, what it does is mimic peer behavior. He sees that there are his classmates who refuse dolls for being a girl thing and he does the same, he simply joins the group.
What is already more serious is to see how we parents encourage this separation and avoid buying from our children those toys that we consider of the opposite sex. I continually see how parents and grandparents say to their children, "not that, you don't see that it's children." Maybe we do it sometimes because at that moment it is good for us not to stop trying to play, but they keep the couplet and we know how good our children are generalizing.
It is also happening that there are parents who avoid giving toys with a large sexist load, socially speaking. Thus, for example, they do not give away kitchens, or balls or guns, and try to have only neutral toys. I believe that we must not force something that in many cases will inevitably arise.
We must stop this behavior
I would say it depends. Just as I don't think you have to shout in the sky if our son asks us for a doll, I also don't think you have to say no to a child when he asks for a ball or tell your daughter to ask the Magi for a gun When she wants to bring her the game of my princess dresses.
We must try to let our child see with total naturalness that tasks to date assigned preferably to one of the sexes can be performed by the other. That roles can change and that change can even be a lot of fun. Let us convey that football is not only for boys and they can also play or that cooking clay pies does not imply carrying pigtails.
Fighting against our own education
I don't know about you, but for me there are things that cost me more than others in this of sexism, and thus I recognize that it would cost me, although I would do it (what a remedy), to go around with my son dressed in a skirt, although I think that in the middle of August it is the most comfortable garment to wear.
They educated us in a way that we were the strong ones and they took care of them and that is what we have to fight against. To force our son to be the strong one is to generate expectations that can pass a very high bill in the future, in the same way that if we do not educate our daughters to be submissive caregivers of babies Perhaps we can reduce future statistics of sexist violence in the future.
Everything depends on us. For the moment I will try to remember this Christmas that A toy is just that, a toy.
