“If their options were limited by their sex, it was
due to social traditions that had existed for so long that few questioned or
even noticed them.”[1]Even
today, these attitudes are learned. We take it step farther with ultrasounds
and modern technology that can tell the sex of a child even before the moment
of birth. Everyone always wants to know is it a boy or girl? Gifts given to the
mother are gender specific, pink outfits for girls, blue for boys. As a mother
of two boys and one girl I have seen this first hand. These gender roles we
give our children, either consciously or unconsciously, are difficult to avoid
even if we wanted to, because baby products are so typed by gender. Even the
diapers I used buy for my children had gender roles instilled on them; blue for
the boys and pink for the girl. What does this say about society? Have we come
as far as we’d like to think we have in terms of equality? Would you let your
son play dolls or paint his fingernails, would you let your daughter play
football?
[1]
Gail Collins, When Everything Changed:
The Amazing Journey of American Women From 1960 to the Present(New York:
Little, Brown and Company.2009). Kindle edition. Location 370 out of 8155.
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