1. I have no time to sit around listening to commercials and my main concern is either, "Did I program it to go straight from Blue's Clues to Handy Manny?" and if it's nap time then I go towards, "Did Jason finally tell Lucky he's the father of Elisabeth's baby Jake?!"
2. My kid could care less if I gave him a toy truck marketed for boys only because he'll probably play with it fine at my house, then look for the box it came in, or only love it if my Mom buys it for him because toys are soooo much better at Grandma's house.
3. Yes it's nieve, but I want my kid to be shielded from all the uglies in the world until he can understand them fully and why they are wrong. That includes sexism, racism, and any other ism that partains to our little corner of the world and is introduced to him. But why try to explain to someone who still poops in his pants that girls can play with G.I. Joes too (and will want to later in life around age 20... but I digress.) and boys can wear pink shirts.

So there was an uproar about the unfairness, to which a lot of good points came up, as well as mine which I knew were against the concensus and would most likely call for me to be ripped a new one since I was being rather conservative on the issue compared to others. My points being are this (and go word for word because they are exactly what I posted.):

"I'm all for equality but I think that a slogan for a kid's toy is blowing it out of proportion a little bit. I'm sure that there are a million adds for Barbies, Bratz dolls, and other pink products that don't have boy friendly slogans in their advertising campaigns. Now unless a child, which that particular toy is for ages 12-36 months, who is 1-3 years old comes up and cries because it's unfair that it's for boys only then yes that's a problem, but kids in that age category could care less, don't know what sexism is and if given the opportunity to play with the toy they probably would or wouldn't want to play with it based on if it was fun and appealing, not based on their gender alone. We're not preconditioned at that age to recognize a boy toy from a girl toy, we just play with whatever's cool. It could be the cardboard box that it came in! I don't think children learn sexism, jealousy, etc. until it is explained to them or they are introduced to it at an older age like 4 or 5 when they start to enter the preschool/elementary school scene and they can understand the concept fully."

After not meeting approval another point was brought up about socialization and I'll paraphrase because I don't want to copy someone word for word without asking but it was basically that it comes down to at birth in the hospital we are put in our blue or pink place and that they are told from that moment how to behave gender approprately.

Another thought came from a friend of mine who said basically that most stores have larger sections for girls, bedding, toys, clothes, etc. and their accessories than boys, which I also find to be true. Personally, and it' s me speaking again, Who needs a separate pink isles for Barbie, Bratz, and then your other dolls. Is there a vendetta going on between Barbie and Bratz? Did Skipper put a hit out on one of the big eyed/big lipped dolls?

Girls have a variety of colors to choose from too because they don't have to worry that someone is going to call them a sissy. I'd like to have a holiday/birthday where Kyan didn't get a million and one blue shirts that all look the same and didn't feature either dinosaurs/cars/sports on them. I actually enjoy Christmas because of the large amount of shirts in red and green (not camo green or khaki green but green)or sweaters and tees that show moose or snowmen or something different than footballs.
I know that little girls get stereotyped too and that everything is either sparkly or ruffled and crap like that. I'm not saying that Moms of little girls probably don't get tired of every shirt having a butterfly on it (for example). Both genders have things geared towards them, whereas it's not exactly fair that Barbie gets a whole pink isle devoted to her, it's not exactly fair that I can't go to the store and find something for my son that isn't promoting sports, guns, or is a unisex toy like a Fisher Price barn yard play set or educational toys like Leap Frog. But we could argue back and forth on this subject all day.
The problem that I have is that it's not our kids saying "Mommy, dat's sexist!" at age 1-3 which is the age group that that specific toy is geared towards, and it's adults blowing it out of proportion who bring it to a child's attention. Seriously, I'm not going to watch a Bratz commercial and say, "Well that commercial is being mean to you Kyan because it says you can't have a Bratz doll." If he wanted a damn Bratz doll I'd go and get him one, but the fact is that he could care less and I could too about what a commercial says. I'm more interested in 1.) Is it suitable for his age right now because sometimes they say they are but he would enjoy it more if he were a little bit older and 2.) Can I afford to get him that in our budget for Christmas presents or would I be better off to spend the exact amount on two smaller but more enjoyable toys that he might pick out himself at the store.
Gender roles and stereotypes only stick around because we teach our kids that this is how it is. I'm not saying that firing off and e-mail to Tonka or Hasbro or whatever company is a waste of time, and not a good idea, but there are more constructive ways at teaching your kids that girls can play with trains and trucks and GI Joe if they want and Boys can have a baby doll and play dress up and wear purple/pink/peach/teal/etc. by not making such an issue of what society says is wrong or not their role and letting them play with whatever they want. Why bring up the subject of sexism or any other ugliness when they're not even in preschool when they have a whole lifetime to learn how the world is and how they can change it and for us to teach them that they don't always have to fit into the mold that this is right and this is wrong because people say it is. Let them be kids! They're not going to grasp the entire point of the subject at such a young age anyways, it's better to educate them when they're old enough to make choices on toys the like or clothes so that they take that lesson and the values you're instilling in them and use it for the rest of their lives.

But with all of this madness and chaos and sexist talk, one brave girl asked (not me but I wish I could take credit) if we were all going to petition Mattel to see why Barbie isn't marketed to boys too? And this is true. Why are we not finding petitions to both sides? Is it because we're women and we want what men have equally including Tonka trucks that aren't marketed to only people with a 'pee-pee' or is it because the Mom who wrote about her outrage has a daughter and because I have a son I don't see it the same way? Perhaps we should petition Hasbro to have a female G.I. Joe doll, but then that would counteract the fact that we'd have to turn around and complain that she needed to be G.I. Josephine or G.I. Juanita because we couldn't have just a Caucasian doll, and we'd need her to also be Brunette with Blonde highlights or something so we wouldn't offend either Brunettes or Blondes because of her hair color.. I don't know. Maybe we should just go to a daycare and ask the toddler class since it's probably worrying them so much they can't take naps.