Those of you who know me, know I don’t give two shits about “Gender Roles”. In my house, my wife works the long hours and makes the big money that pays the bills, while I work part time, cook, clean, and take care of the baby. By standard gender roles I’m the “Good Wife” and my wife is the “Good Husband”. As for our daughter we have a house full of gender neutral toys. Now we didn’t seek out toys that were gender neutral, its just she can’t play with complex toys yet, and my wife and I really dig animals, and there is NOTHING more gender neutral than animals. Everybody loves cool animals.
Now the other day I dropped LaWeer’da off at Daycare and they gave her a dolly to play with. It was a really cool doll that had a long coat and toys hanging off her that could be suspended by a play gym. Now I already know how the school treats this toy because I’d seen a young boy playing with this doll the other day.
I’m fine with her playing with dolls or play kitchens (which she’ll probably do because she LOVES watching us cook) and vanity toys, just as much as I’d be fine with her playing with trucks and tools. Toy guns I have some reservations because this little girl WILL learn to shoot. I feel having people capable of using a gun and not knowing HOW to use one safely and responsibly, and I don’t think toy guns should be treated differently. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Still I stand this way because I don’t care. I want my girl to have fun when she plays, and whatever is FUN she should play with it. I had a Cabbage Patch doll as a child, but I really liked my stuffed animals better. I liked my action figures, my toy guns, and my toy swords and knives even more. This isn’t because I’m a boy, or whatever, it just turns out I like guns and swords and knives.
I loved the Ninja Turtles! Animals, swords, and action figures! SO COOL!
Now the Progressives are a little more…well Bossy, about it. They don’t want to assign a gender identity or something and don’t like kids playing with gender-typical toys. They encourage ONLY gender neutral toys, or boy toys to girls and girl toys to boys. Well Kinda:
Sadly, 9-year-old Grayson Bruce has gotten used to being bullied. The torment reached new and unbearable levels last week, though, when he showed up to school with a ‘My Little Pony’ lunch bag.
“The first day I brought it to school, people smirked, you know, laughed. The usual, ‘That’s hilarious. Why would you bring that?’” the North Carolina grade-schooler says of the bag, which features the character Rainbow Dash.
In the school yard, though, the abuse turned physical as some of the other kids targeted Grayson for his supposedly “girlie” taste in toys.
“They’re taking it a little too far, with punching me, pushing me down, calling me horrible names, stuff that really shouldn’t happen,” he tells WLOS News13. “Most of the characters in the show are girls, and most of the people put it toward girls, most of the toys are girlie.”
Though the bullies were punished – Grayson says they were made to walk laps – the school went a step further to resolve the issue, reportedly asking that the Rainbow Dash bag be left at home from now on as they worry it’s become a “distraction” and a “trigger for bullying.”
Fuck you in the neck! First up, while My Little Pony these days is slightly skewed to females, it has a HUGE male following. Just ask Erin and McThag!
Plus this is a great lesson on individuality! If you like something the other people like that makes you an individual! Hell since this is a gun blog I’ll note that I carry a 1911 and a Ruger LCR. Now Revolvers and 1911s have really come under fire as “outdated” compared to double-stack polymer pistols, and .357 mag and .45 ACP have gone out of favor for 9x19mm. But I LIKE the setup I have, and I don’t care what others think.
Do I want the teacher to take away my “Outdated” guns? No, and nor should the teachers take this boy’s My Little Pony bag away. Now growing up I made a few fashion choices that I thought were cool, that got me ridiculed by my friends in school. I decided it really wasn’t a battle I wanted to fight and that was the end of that.
There’s a lot to learn in that, and the school did the wrong thing.
H/T Mrs. Weer’d
This. If your boy wants to play with dollhouses, knock yourself out. If your girl wants ot play with GI Joes, knock yourself out.
If anyone tells you that you are doing it wrong, tell them to mind their own gorramed business, as politely – or not- as you prefer :).
As for this school… well, it seems as though public schools never fail at an opportunity to provide a perfect reason to send one’s kids to private schools or to homeschool. Blaming the victim? Really?
And what has the school taught the kids with this idiotic move? That bullying someone might get you a slap on the wrist, but you’ll still win.
Don’t teach the bullies that bullying is wrong, just blame the victim for “triggering” the bullying, and punish him by making him give up his awesome* new bag. Bastards.
* Guaranteed to be 20% cooler than other bags.
More than merely *win*.
They’ll be vindicated. The bully’s position will be officially sanctioned and endorsed.
What the school is saying is: “Yes you were right that this kid is wrong and should be punished but *we* will do the punishing.”
Gotta maintain that monopoly of force.
Good point!
Another brony here. I think taht show’s a good example of how a series can bridge traditional gender lines. It’s also an example of how a merch driven show can be good.
And don’t forget the school’s reprehensible actions by blaming the kid. They’re basically saying: “Know what, those bullies were right to abuse you. In fact we’re going to punish you for it. Because they’er 100% right that there’s something wrong with you.”
Heck of a lesson for a school to teach.
BTW: Your phrasing of “Just ask Erin” could be read in a rather akward way.
My niece had a teacher yell at her for stealing a little boy’s coat once- the problem was, it wasn’t his coat, it was hers, and the kid wanted it. He damn near got it, too, till they called my sister about her ‘misbehaving’ and she put them back on the straight and narrow. She was 4 or so at the time. Now she’s 10, and she has her own .22 and bow. Meanwhile, I’m writing this because I am home full time, caring for the kid, the house, the grounds, garden, etc. I made decent dough as a carpenter, but My Lovely Wife has a degree and a much more stable and generous income. Gender roles are only useful as long as they remain useful, like specialization is for plants and insects.
Know what’s a good gender neutral toy? For when she’s older?
tomahawks.
My daughter loves throwing hawks and we’ve taught all of her little friends.
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