Gender roles in society.

[Diocletian]

Should children be allowed to choose their gender roles in society?

Ex. include
A boy playing w/ a barbie
A girl being the prince

[Anime Forum]

Should children be allowed to choose their gender roles in society?

Ex. include
A boy playing w/ a barbie
A girl being the prince

Um to a limit yes. Boys can play with barbies if they want, who cares? A girl can be a prince if she really wants to i guess. A limit would be this - a boy going into a girl's bathroom to go the bathroom normally and vice versa if that makes sense.

[Diocletian]

Um to a limit yes. Boys can play with barbies if they want, who cares? A girl can be a prince if she really wants to i guess. A limit would be this - a boy going into a girl's bathroom to go the bathroom normally and vice versa if that makes sense.

Mainly my point is should a boy be allowed to be a what society consideres a girl & vice versa.

[Aushkei Ver]

Unless they're trying to corrupt little children, no.
Boys have their own natural role, as do girls.
They were not picked but it was natural at some point or another.
But no, a boy is considered a boy because of their actions, same with girls.
If a boy played with Barbies and a girl pretended to be a prince, who's more masculine and who's more femenine then ?

[Khanxay]

There's a male cheerleader at the local high school here.

[Leleiron]

I don't really care but either way, I think boys should be allowed (with some extent of course and vice versa) but there are many people (lets say tomgirls) who are girls but have a boyish personality... I think though that people find it weirder for guys to do girly things (such as wear a skirt) whereas girls doing boyish things (like techinically wearing pants or male sweaters or male shorts)... I don't see the difference though...

[MoroDashi]

Everyones got to set a limit, but some people over-set it, and don't let Boys even like pink. One of friends traded me his checkered shoe laces for my pink one :3 And, it might be different, but we had a production, and the 2 Pinocchio's were both girls. That's fine : )

[None of the above]

Course they should be able to 'choose' although from what I understood this choice isn't that particulary conscious.

Let me quote a friend: 'we can't let ourselves be destroyed by built-up concepts.' If society told you to jump from a 10-storey building the day you turned 30, would you do it?

And besides, thinking in gender-terms, there is no binarity such in : if you do something the other sex is associated with, it doesn't mean you would turn transgender/bi/gay/etc.

Breaking that binarity will be our challenge in the time to come.

[Hikaru.chan]

I think they should have a choice, because people should freely express themselves like that.
If the guy or girl gets denied that choice and they where meant to feel like a girl or guy they will be emotionally stressed and think there something wrong with them the rest of there lives.
Besides even if you don't give them that choice they will express themselves in secrecy, if a person feels thats way the only think you can do is hope to suppress it but that will lead eventually thats the person cannot emotionally express themselves and then they become boring normal people in suits with no hint of creativity.

[Kojack]

I don't think children actually choose their toys based on what gender it's associated with. No boy would think, "I choose the Tonka truck because I am Tonka tuff!!" I would imagine choosing to play with a Barbie would come more from the influence of their sister(s) or female friends, not the doll's social connotations. If we're talking about a situation where the parents present both the Tonka truck and the Barbie to let the child choose, that usually doesn't happen because most people just assume a girl will want the Barbie and a boy will want the truck.

PS, it's not possible for a boy to be a princess or girl to be a prince. A Prince(ss) is the ruler of a principality (or child of a monarch); the words are different depending on the gender. A boy being a princess would be the same as a boy being a daughter. (Sorry, definition Nazi, etc. :rolleyes:)

PPS, unless you call a guy "princess" ironically. Then it's fine; humorous, even.

[Eris]

Whatever rocks their boat. I really can't justify why how I think girls and boys should act should weigh more than how they want to act.

[wowzabunny]

Children should be able to do what they want to an extant.

[DOOM!]

It's the modern society that confuses them on what to be like. And you can't say one way of raising them is wronger than the other, you have to give them a standard idea of how they should act like.
Personally, i think boys should be raised by wolves untill the age of 14. "I'm just different" is a pathetic excuse for not being manly enough to compete.

[Kanjoudakai_Ira]

Well. Things are like this: If a boy does things a girl does, he's considered gay the society. But if a girl does things a boy does, it's not really a problem. Examples?
- A boy playing with a barbie: considered wrong but a girl playing with little cars is pretty much normal.
-A boy wearing make-up considered gay(of course, not by emo kids) but a girl not wearing make-up is normal.
-A boy dressing up dresses or skirts would be...abnormal but a girl wearing large baggy clothes is pretty ok.

I think tho,boys should do that boys do and girls do what girls do,up to a limit which does not reach misogyny, because society has it's rules and arrangements...and when they're broken, you get judged.

[Buruku]

Should children be allowed to choose their gender roles in society?

Ex. include
A boy playing w/ a barbie
A girl being the prince


Yes, I think they already do.

Ever think that maybe girls enjoy being princess' because, oh I don't know, they can relate to it better? Because they are in fact, little girls?


I played with both boy and girl toys, I played male and female roles as a child. I occasionally got my brothers to play with girl toys, but it genuinly did not interest them, not because they thought they shouldn't be playing with them because it's a girl toy.

I saw a little boy dressed up as cinderella for Halloween, because that is what he wanted to be.


Kids already choose, most choose to do things more typical of their own gender because that is naturally what they enjoy, not because society forced it on them.

[Shinn Kamiyra]

To a supervised and reasonable extent, I feel that children should be allowed to choose their gender roles in society. As little children are so very influential and exposed to so much in today's conflicted world, I think it all the more important that people make the effort to give their offspring the chance to open up to their own impulses and desires.

[Cancre]

ROFLMAO <--- sorry for saying that
anyway what you choose is what you choose , when your a girly boy or manly girl , you don't have to be gay because you act like the other gender. ( if that statement has anything to do with this *sigh* ) i find people who express themselves more interesting than people who don't ( although some people just don't want to express themselves ) .

[Diocletian]

Yes, I think they already do.

Ever think that maybe girls enjoy being princess' because, oh I don't know, they can relate to it better? Because they are in fact, little girls?


I played with both boy and girl toys, I played male and female roles as a child. I occasionally got my brothers to play with girl toys, but it genuinly did not interest them, not because they thought they shouldn't be playing with them because it's a girl toy.

I saw a little boy dressed up as cinderella for Halloween, because that is what he wanted to be.


Kids already choose, most choose to do things more typical of their own gender because that is naturally what they enjoy, not because society forced it on them.





Not completely true. Some kids are given only blue to a boy by parents, meaning that they are to be mainly man. I'm not saying to do the surburban parent act & give them an option of blue or pink when they're young.


Now how are you sure they didn't wanna play w/ dolls? Maybe at that time they wanted to, but they didn't. You can trust what everyone says completely. I can say I don't wanna wear a gray shirt, because my friends said it was crap, not wear it but really want to.

[DOOM!]

I think you're confusing 'what they like' with 'what they'd want to be like' too deeply. Just because Timmy likes it when Mary wears pink, doesn't mean Timmy wants to wear pink. That's when one gender meets the other; they can have a firm appreciation of eachother but (in common cases) not necessarily imitate eachother.
Me, I like pink stuff. If it's Pink, I'll eat it. Usually because I perceive "pink=delicious and moist"

[Baka]

I am a guy that is obsessed with Hello Kitty so I say let the kids play with what they want.

[Miss Moonlight]

well, gender roles in society are already biologically predefined for the most part. Socially, they are defined as well from early life on.

It's possible that children can choose their own roles, but less likely since most parents get a little worried when they see their son wanting to play with a barbie doll or other girl's toy. Parents usually try to set roles for their children regardless, of course.

[Meyrin]

I don`t really care how a person should act. As long it dosen`t hurt anyone, there is nothing wrong with it.

[Saint Seiya]

I used to play with my moms old doll

and now im a flaming homosexual :] lol no jk but srsly i think children can play with whatever they want

[LexxieLuu]

Since i could walk and talk I love being a boy (well sortof). I loved boy toys liked blue and red. I hated barbies and all that jazz. Until grade 9 I like girl things but I still like guys things more. But I totally think boys can do girl like things and girls do boy like things!