Gender Equality -- Why Can't Boys Have Dolls?

We've come a long way in this country when it comes to sexism. 200 years ago, women couldn't own property. Now we've come much closer to equality. Now, don't get me wrong, there is a ton of sexism out there still and it's not acceptable, but in this post I want to talk about the other side of sexism. Women can wear any color they want and society is fine with girls playing with what are considered "boys' toys", however if a boy touches the color pink, society freaks out. Girls can wear pants but boys can't wear skirts. That doesn't sound like equality to me.

There is this weird idea society has that boys somehow stop being boys if they wear, do or play with something that society associates with girls. If a boy is seen playing with a baby doll people don't think "Oh, isn't that sweet? He's going to be a great dad someday." Instead they totally freak out and take the doll away because it's "not for boys". Sure, we're not used to seeing boys wear skirts or pink and it seems kind of odd, but only because it's not what's been acceptable in the past. Remember, society used to think it was weird and unsightly if a woman wore pants. Now, I know many boys would rather have toy cars than dolls, but a boy should be able to play with whatever toys he wants without being criticized.

I thought this illustrated my point about colors.
(note: I do not own this image and I am not the author)

Another area where this is prominent is in color choices for boys' and girls' toys, clothing, etcetera. Our society has assigned different colors to genders. Girls can have pink or purple, and sure you can wear blue if you want, but boys can only wear red, black, blue and green. Maybe orange if society's feeling generous. I find this really weird. Why the heck does it matter? It's just a color. Why are specific colors limited to genders? How is it that if a girl wears a blue shirt to school nobody cares, but if a boy wears pink he gets beat up? How does that make sense? It's literally just different wavelengths of light. What makes it for girls or boys only?

In the past women's careers have been limited to domestic roles like raising children and doing housework. Today women aren't limited to that anymore, thankfully, so women and men can split up those duties. But society is still out of touch with logic here. In the media when a man is shown taking care of children, or cleaning houses, and it's treated like an odd and humorous thing. There's the idea that men can't sew, cook, or clean for a living, that some professions would make them less masculine. But I think that children should grow up thinking that they can do what they want, be who they want and that gender doesn't matter. Girls can be race car drivers, boys can open sewing stores. Gender should not determine what you can do, who you can be, or what colors you can like.

-- Captain Sarah Jane