by Nicole Garofalo, staff reporter
With the holidays coming around the corner, children of all ages will be asking for all kinds of gifts. If a little girl asks her parents for a toy car, or maybe some superhero action figures, there’s barely a thought in someone’s mind that it’s strange. But the second a young boy even takes a second glance at a Barbie or princess doll, there’s a sudden uproar in society.
The majority of people today feel as though a little boy playing with something thought of as a “girls toy” automatically takes away his masculinity; even if the boy is as young as 4. This is basically teaching young kids that they shouldn’t be themselves in fear of something that isn’t definite or logical. A little boy playing with a baby doll isn’t going to make a negative difference in his older years. It can only give him something valuable; education. Letting the child be himself and explore different interests is a part of growing up. Limiting children on what they can and can’t do, can and can’t play with, could be considered as sheltering them.
“If my son asked for a doll, I would absolutely buy it for him. If he wants to play with Barbies that’s fine. What he plays with doesn’t define him. There are no toys for only girls or only boys,” junior Kailey Bosyk said.
It makes little sense that people see a problem with boys playing with “girls toys,” but in most cases, girls playing with “boys toys” aren’t in the wrong at all. A little girl playing with an Iron Man figure isn’t going to get much grief regarding how it diminishes her femininity. It seems strange that children so young have to deal with such double standards. Doesn’t it seem ridiculous, especially over a couple of toys?
An argument that is thrown around about the topic of boys playing with dolls, is that it will end up “turning them gay.” This argument is honestly one of the most ignorant comments that is uttered by many people. Going back to the double standards for a moment, people of society don’t say that girls playing with “masculine” toys are going to make them “turn lesbian.” Plus, homosexuality isn’t something that can be influenced by what a child plays with, wears, watches, etc.
“People in society are judged by everything they do; whether it’s what they eat, what music they listen to, and, in this case, what they play with. But just because a boy plays with a doll, that doesn’t automatically make him gay. That’s ridiculous,” junior Adriana Ramku said.
Telling a child that they can’t play with a certain toy because it’s “not for boys” or “not for girls” isn’t something that should be so common. Let kids play with what they want, whether it be a boy asking for a Cabbage Patch Kid, or a girl wanting to play Power Rangers. It’s not going to harm them mentally like society may think. How could it? It’s simply just a toy!
