Would you want your son wearing pink toenail polish? I would.

So lately, I've been doing some thinking about gender roles.  You know, when you find out you're having a girl and all of a sudden your house is oozing pink out of every crevice?  Or if you're having a boy, only to find that your choices for clothing include: balls (like they don't have a lifetime to obsess about balls!), dinosaurs, and puppies.

I read an article today talking about the uproar caused by J. Crew when they mailed a flyer with a picture of a little boy getting his toenails painted pink (at his request) by his mother.  Oh no!  Gasp!  Doesn't that mother know she's turning her son into a homo by doing that?  Please.  (I'm not going to get started on the issue of homosexuality because I know and love many people who are gay and didn't make that "choice"...)  

Who cares if that little boy wants to wear toenail polish?  Will my daughter become a lesbian or become "gender confused" (as some suggest of the J. Crew ad) due to this?  No.  I find the whole thing absurd, backwards, and just...stupid.

One of my favorite bloggers, The Feminist Breeder, raises her two little boys (and soon to be daughter) in a gender neutral home (which as she says means "free from gender stereotypes).  She was featured on a TLC show called "Radical Parenting" because of this.  Also featured were extended breastfeeding, babywearing, and attachment parenting families.  Heck, why wasn't I called about my "crazy" extended rear-facing?  Since I'm one of only a few "freakish" parents that are actually doing it (I know 4 other moms who are currently ERFing).


Ayla loves princess stuff, even though I tried to avoid it.  I blame Brandon's sisters who sent these adorably wonderful pajamas with princesses, Dora, etc. on them.  She loves them, and we love that she loves them.  She also is obsessed with Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story and has a non-stop fascination with dinosaurs.  She likes to get dressed up all pretty and look in the mirror, and she loves chapstick.  She loves books, any kind of sweet snack, and she loves her blankie (and mine even more).  


In our home, there is no defined "woman's role" and "man's role."  I love that.  We believe that we all take a part in our household duties.  We both change diapers and do dishes and laundry.  There is no breadwinner; we share that duty.  I believe that if my daughter wants to grow up and be an engineer, she can.  I equally believe that if she wants to get an education and decide to be a stay-at-home mom, she should do that too.


It troubles me that we put our children in little boxes of who and what they should be for reasons as trivial as gender.  That would be like me basing my goals for her on the fact that she is biracial or because she has brown eyes and curly hair.


And someday, if I am blessed to have the son I hope to have, I will let him play with dolls, dress up clothes, paint his toenails, and give him dolls if he wants those things. I know for a fact this doesn't change who he will become.  Perfect example?  I dressed my little brother Denny up like a girl as a requirement for him wanting to play with me and a friend.  Lipstick and all.  Guess what?  He is engaged to be married in the spring. 


So there!