Pink & Blue: Are We Bored Yet?

Time: 7:45am

I don't know where this came from, but it was in my kitchen this morning.

Girl figure: pink shirt with a heart. Boy figure: blue with a worm hanging out of his pocket.

In the interests of fairness, I thought I should open it because the inside might more balanced.

In the interests of thinking, I should feed my brain breakfast before making it work...

The inside of the folder: where there was only a single Lego figure next to an item, it was male. I think the only exception was the house which had a female figure. On the odd occasion where there were two or more figures, the female was passive half the time while the male was generally doing something active.

I'm sure I remember when Lego used to be cool for everyone. :(

Babies

Okay, okay, slow swears not good enough for you picky people, here's a bonus spit-it-out-fast swear. Calling a baby boy a studmuffin and the two girls next to him in the photo his harem? Just fucking don't.

Time: 11pm

Bed!

Sock On

Time: 21:00

A slow-burning swear, this one. I was shopping for some household items and came across some packs of socks. One lot were advertised as kids' warm cotton/wool mix socks, in the colours, white, light blue and dark blue. The lot next to it was advertised as girls' socks, pure cotton, in the colours, white, pink and dove grey. Why?!

This time, I'm not whinging about sorting genders by colour so they can be conveniently put in the washing machine. What jumped out at me is that the girls socks are thinner and less practical, which is often the case with girls' clothing. Although it's generally advertised as boys vs girls.

(With thanks to Ailbhe and other parents of girls for making me aware of this issue.)

The Games Children Play

Time: 18:40

Man speaks thusly on the radio: Boys are for getting us through the higher levels on games. Etc.

Presumably that's straight from The Book of Girls Don't Play Computer Games, Chapter 3, Verse 1,000,001.

(Actually, it's from Heresy, a BBC Radio 4 discussion programme which "challenges established ideas and questions received wisdom.")

Boys Are Better

Time: 12:30

If today's conversation in the library is to be believed, boys are intrinsically straightforward and adventurous, and girls are catty. This being near the children's section, they were also in earshot, though I'm not sure they were old enough to understand what was being said.

Oh, shhhhh--

Who Knows Breast?

Time: 12:30

A conversation about breastfeeding. Older Woman advises Younger Woman that she'll have to stop feeding her baby soon because her husband would want his breasts back and would get jealous otherwise.

That breasts can multi-task didn't enter into it. But in any case, it was clear that the breasts under discussion belonged either to the baby or the father and not to the woman they were actually attached to.

The Clothes Maketh The Baby

Time: 11:45am

Someone behind me is holding a baby wearing a red hoody and green trousers. The receptionist persistently refers to the baby as "he" even though the mum has told him its a "she".

The hoody comes off to reveal a pink and purple striped top. A woman keeps calling the baby "that boy".

Yes, it's an oldie but a goodie, colour-coding infants by gender. Here in England, babies wearing bright colours and/or stripes are presumed to be boys. Heaven knows Ailbhe has had to remind me about this more than once. And she says it's gotten worse in recent years. But seriously, red, it's practically pink, right? I give up.