Greens Senator. ....

[twinkles**stars]

GREENS Senator Larissa Waters has urged Christmas shoppers to rethink buying bright pink jewellery or dolls for little girls, linking gender-stereotyped toys to domestic violence and pay inequality.

The minor party’s gender spokeswoman has endorsed the ‘No Gender December’ campaign, set up by grassroots group Play Unlimited, which calls on retailers to stop using old-fashioned gender stereotypes as marketing ploys this Christmas.

[gleee58]

What a surprise. The spokesperson for the group promoting this was just on TV.  Why exactly was this used as an excuse to attack the greens senator?  The spokesperson presented a reasonable argument about not enforcing gender specific rules for toys which no sane person could argue against.

[raptor_rebooted]

why?

because of what she said - which has no basis:

'The separate aisles of pink and blue common in many stores might seem harmless, especially to well-meaning relatives and friends, who are buying plenty of children’s gifts at this time of the year.

'However, setting such stark gender roles at such an early age can have a long-term impacts on our children, including impacting self-perception and career choices later in life,' she added. 

The 'No Gender December' movement was kick-started by grassroots organisation Play Unlimited, and argues that subjecting children to strict gender stereotypes can perpetuate discrimination.

They have called on consumers to boycott the aisles of pink and blue merchandise which line shops across the country, and avoid stereotypes during this year's Christmas shopping.

We want kids to be able to choose rather than being told what to play with.

then let them choose instead of boycotting.

[raptor_rebooted]

she also made a specific reference to

domestic violence in connection with gender

specific toys. 

perhaps she should have prepared herself better

in order to present a reasonable argument.

people's initial reactions were to what she

actually said, not what she meant.  (i watched the

entire interview)

[cherry*135]

Lego have Girls Lego - shop, go to the beach, stay home, no jobs

and

Boy's Lego - go on adventures, have jobs, tustle with wild animals

Most of their Lego people are boys

Eldest daughter had a truck and cars amongst her toys from newborn. Never touched the truck or cars. She would hide under the bed if I put out clothes for her to wear that were not pink.

[azureline**]

I have 3 grandaughters who love pink and dolls etc........................and another  3 who prefer blue and purple and no dolls or domestic type toys. Dinosaurs, horses, craft, building, scooters, skateboards etc.

2 grandsons who played with dolls, 1 who would push them away as early as 6 months old. Colours for them are orange, blue and yellow.

No stereotypes here. All of them play with the toy kitchen.

[alexander*beetle]

It is an interesting issue though. I only have boys and once they started kinder the dolls and dress ups changed to more 'boy' stuff. Which I thought was sad as they loved their dress ups. So peer influence certainly changes once they start mixing with different genders. 

I was in Masters yesterday and saw a few of those big bins with tools in them. But they were for 'women' and they were in pink bags with pictures of women using them on the covers. Just in case women didn't know how to use special women tools. I thought it was pretty disgusting really. I appreciate that they are trying to get more women in DIY but the last thing I would buy is a pink tool. I also think it implies, in a small way, that women need pink tools so that they are still feminine and can't handle 'real men' tools. Could be reading a lot into it I suppose but I wouldn't buy one as I found it somewhat insulting.  

[wilk1149]

I'm male and I find that if I get something in pink I get ribbed about it but no one nicks it or wants to borrow it. Works for me

[nero_bolt]

[nero_bolt]

[aps1080]

"I'm male and I find that if I get something in pink I get ribbed about it but no one nicks it or wants to borrow it. Works for me"

That is very good

[aps1080]

That is very good