Conversations with my four year olds: Gender Stereotyping

 

It got me to thinking that they have no idea about gender sterotyping in society, but the reality is it’s alive and kicking. My hope and dream is that by the time they are old enough to understand about gender sterotyping that it has been eradicated once and for all in society. It’s manipulative behaviour  does conditions them that pink is for girls and blue is for boys. The twins were conceived at the same time and born within two minutes of each other, yet their similarity ends there. Their characters are very different.

The conversation was really quite fascinating. M was pretending to cut my hair with plastic scissors and R was brushing it while I sat on the floor. M said to me I think I want to be a hairdresser when I’m older, but swiftly changed her mind. No, actually I want to be an indigo unicorn called Twilight Star and live on indigo land she said. Can I be that dad? I didn’t have the heart to say no! Of course you can! Why burst the bubble of innocence? She’s only four.

 

R then spoke up and said I want to be rugby player and a football player when I grow up and asked me would you come and watch me. To which I replied of course I will. I’ll come to every game you ever play.

All the time my twin girls continued to give me a pretend haircut! I mentioned to both of them that you can be anything you want to be., but they were very certain what they wanted.

Why can’t society and shops and people in general take the time out to listen to four year olds! They might realise that they are indivuals and shouldn’t be conditioned by their gender in allowing them to be free spirits and wear and do whatever they want to.

 

The fascinating thing for me is that although they are twins, their personalities and characters and tastes are very different. That’s not to say that on occasions they like the same things.

My twins are most definitly girls as defined by gender, but one is most certaintly more girlie and the other has a liking for what society conceives as boys tastes.

 

Eradicating gender sterotyping is slowly becoming a passion for me and we need to remove it from society.