Gendered marketing

This week’s reading about looking at LEGO through gendered lens provided positive reinforcement for the choices I have been making with my daughters. I’ve rejected the idea of gendered products, avoided pink and purple like the plague, and actively promoted gender-neutral toys and activities, and TV shows and movies that portray strong female characters. I was also happy to learn that research has shown that boys and girls are far more alike than different in their cognitive abilities, and the differences that do exist are trivial. To me, it says that nurture, rather than nature, plays a stronger role in developing my daughters’ visual-spatial abilities. As Caryl Rivers and Rosalind Barnett say in The Truth About Girls and Boys: Challenging Toxic Stereotypes About Our Children, I can provide the counterbalance to the overwhelming barrage of gender stereotype messages from media and marketing, by simple actions like choosing to play baseball with my daughters instead of playing with a cooking set.

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