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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, I don't have any insight for you, but I just wanted to comment that I understand your question and where you're coming from.[b] Raising a kid who is not gender conforming is going to have unique challenges[/b], and of course you want to be as prepared as possible to be the best parent possible. No, you can't predict the future, but that doesn't mean you want to sit around and just be a bystander to your child's childhood.

I also think it's clear that you'll love and support your daughter, whoever she is or wants to be. Even though it shouldn't be, that's not something all kids are so lucky to have and I commend you for it.

Anyway, this isn't coming out as clearly or concisely as I'd hoped, but just wanted to offer a bit of support and compassion, as you seemed to be getting unfairly attacked for what I think is an understandable and compassionate question on your part.[/quote]

This makes me so angry.  OP's daughter just likes reptiles and dinosaurs and comfortable clothes.  That doesn't mean she isn't gender conforming!!!!!

I was raised in the 1970's.  I don't think I ever owned anything pink.  I wore a lot of my older brothers' hand me downs because it was no big deal for a girl to wear Levi's and a blue t-shirt.  We played with Legos and Fisher-Price Little People (Playskool people) and Tonka trucks and Barbie and Ken and GI Joes.  Pretty much the only gendered stuff we had were the Barbies and the GI Joes, but we combined them all together, including our Evel Knievel doll.  There weren't entire aisles of gendered toys back then.  Toys were toys -- Hungry Hungry Hippos didn't come in pink for girls and blue for boys; it just was.  When I look back at school pictures, the girls were often in dresses and boys in sweaters and pants, but they typically weren't pink "girly" dresses.  We were all wearing the same colors.

The fact that manufacturers make almost everything in a girls (read: pink) version and then the "normal" (ie boys) version is setting up a false dichotomy.  This is not GENDER, it's marketing.  And a lot of smart girls are going to reject being marginalized.  They don't want to play with pink legos; they want to play with regular legos.  This doesn't make them BOYS.  It makes them normal girls.[/quote]

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