by BabyCenter Guest Blogger posted in Parenting

By Kristen Lavallee, Ph.D.
When my toddler daughters try to do everything ?by self" and chase each other around, playing ?naughty dinosaurs,? and tell the stories I read to them back to me in their ?shows? they put on for us, I think of them as rehearsing their lines for the play of life.

They don?t yet have a clue about the roles that girls and boys are supposed to play in society and with each other. But they are about to, if marketers have their way.

When my kids don?t have enough hand-me-downs and I'm forced to shop for clothes, I'm struck by how differences in boy and girl clothing are not limited to colors (pink versus blue) and styles (rugged jeans and play clothes versus tights, soft leggings and dresses), but extend to the characters each gender is assigned. Boys clothing and toys showcase predatory, powerful creatures and objects, such as wild animals, tractors, dogs, dragons, volcanoes, dinosaurs, and rocket ships. Girls clothing and toys feature soft, objects that elicit feelings of nurturance, and that are also submissive objects of prey, such as baby bunnies, kittens, lambs, flowers, fruit, robins, butterflies, mice, cupcakes, and hearts.
Sometimes a clothing company will throw in a couple of slogans in glitter, declaring ?strong? or a similar adjective. Progress" Maybe. But it's not enough for me.
I realize that boys and girls naturally gravitate toward certain types of toys, but innate preferenc...