Hello everyone! I wanted to touch on a topic that may be a little more sensitive this week. I was reading an excerpt from an article entitled, "Infants Prefer Toys by Gender," and found it pretty interesting. I learned some new things I had never thought of before and wanted to share some of what I read.

You may have noticed growing up your parents, grandparents, or other friends and family members bought you either “boy” toys or “girl” toys depending on your gender. Some people have increasingly expressed their concern with creating and implementing gender stereotypes on children at a young age. They may believe purchasing their infants and young children certain colored clothing or specific types of toys usually catered towards one gender may prevent them from being able to express or discover their individual selves. What I did not realize was that there have actually been studies done that show there is a reason boys gravitate toward certain “boy toys” and girls gravitate toward “girl toys.” Males and females think differently and so the things they play with or are interested in at a young age in fact correlate with how they think. Males are typically more competitive and it makes sense that it is common to see little boys racing each other with hot wheels, while girls naturally have social and cooperative skills that perhaps make them want to play house or have their Barbies talk to each other.

While there are certain toys or interests that are normal for girls to like or for boys to like, not everyone enjoys the same things other people their gender do. The issue with these stereotypes is not that different genders are interested in different things, it is that if someone does not like the same things they may be made fun of, alienated, or bullied. It is perfectly fine for a boy to like to play with Barbies or a girl to play with trucks. However, if a group of boys see another boy playing with a Barbie they might make assumptions about him and make fun of him. The same goes for girls, but I am going to use the example of boys as I discuss this next bit of information I recently learned. Sometimes a boy really does not enjoy the typical things other boys like doing. The child most likely does not consider himself any different until other boys begin to say he is. Now the boy feels alienated or singled out and be too afraid to play with the other boys. During puberty, there comes a point when boys and girls begin to realize they are different from each other and because of that, may want to stick to hanging around people of their same gender while they figure out the weird feelings they now have about the opposite gender. Well when a boy feels strange about being around other boys, he may seek friendship from girls who enjoy the same things he does. The child now fits in with the girls but not with boys. Often these boys who "do not act like normal boys" desperately wish to be accepted by kids their own gender. At a young age, this has nothing to with sexuality but everything to do with wanting to fit in and have friends. This boy may have his sexuality actually labeled by others as "gay." Even though the boy is probably not gay, he may start be believe he is. He may not even know what being gay means. Eventually, this belief that he is something he may in fact not be, can lead to actual feelings.

Learning that some people become gay through childhood experiences was pretty interesting. I would have never thought that it could happen that way, but it does make sense. What bothers me is that some of these kids were bullied and left out by people that simply liked different things. My biggest takeaway was everyone should be kind to everyone regardless of any differences in beliefs, interests, or anything really. It is important that we all show respect and love towards each other because in reality, we are all just trying to figure things out and become the best versions of ourselves we can be- so why don't we do so together?