"I know it’s my responsibility to teach my son about the world around him. I also know that, right now, a number of things are already influencing him, including but certainly not limited to: school, television, books, movies, and other children. While I haven’t sat my son down to specifically discuss the gender spectrum and the various gender identities, I’m doing what I can to keep my language more gender-neutral, explain that people are simply people, and highlight the fact that there are more than two genders."
"As a mom of both a boy and a girl, I can understand why some parents might have hesitations about sending their little ones to school in t-shirts explicitly promoting feminism. Other people have opinions, and kids (and parents) can be mean. But the fact that putting our boys in feminist tees (or anything even slightly considered "girly" in any way) might seem controversial is exactly why we need these clothes in the first place. Fighting back against sexism isn't easy. But the earlier we can teach our kids that their gender doesn't determine their worth, the better."
Many individuals still confuse the concepts of sex and gender and use these terms interchangeably, but “sex” is an anatomical term, and “gender” is a social construct. But beyond being conscious of how we absorb and pass along gender constructs, gender-neutral parenting encompasses a range of views and approaches. True to its mission, gender-neutral parenting is anything but black and white.
These stereotypes have implications that run much deeper than the toy aisle at Target. What happens to the little boy that doesn’t like to dig in the dirt and play rough but, rather, wants to play with dolls and carry a purse? What about the little girl who wants to play with trucks? By creating toys and clothing marketed toward gender stereotypes, we are sending children the message that anything that does not fit inside these two categories is wrong.
According to Girl Scouts of the USA, Girl Scouts have sold cookies since 1917. While today Girl Scout cookies are baked by two large commercial bakers — ABC Bakers and Little Brownie Bakers (owned by Kellogg's) — in the early days of the iconic fundraiser, the scouts themselves baked cookies at home, using their moms as their go-to "technical advisers." According to the same website, the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, OK was the first Girl Scout troop to bake and sell cookies to raise money.
A major reason there are fewer moms competing in Olympic Games is that fewer women compete in general. There are fewer competitions for women than men, and women have had to petition to have the opportunity to compete in the same sports men already do. "Women ski jumpers petitioned to compete in every Olympics since the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan," reported Mother Jones, and they were only recently included for the first time in 2014, according to Sports Illustrated.
They talk about how poor dad is going to go broke with so many girls in the house, because all girls love to shop. And, of course, girls are naturally going to emasculate, manipulate, and henpeck the father of the family — just being around so many girls is going to sap the manliness right out of him. Essentially, this version of "poor dad" purports that every obnoxious stereotype about women and girls is true.
A large body of research has proven that, when you reinforce gender roles, you do damage to young girls and boys. But a global study published this year shows the depths to which enforcing gender stereotypes harm children. Researchers behind the Journal of Adolescent Health study found that youth subject to strict gender expectations are at an increased risk for mental and physical health problems during and after adolescence. Girls, for example, are at a higher risk for pregnancy, exposure to violence, child marriage, pregnancy, and leaving school early. Boys, on the other hand, are more likely to experience substance abuse, die by suicide, ad have a shorter life span, according to the study's findings.