I think this author is a victim

[Jocassee]

...of her Northeastern cultural experience.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lori-day/if-our-sons-were-treated-like-our-daughters_b_6698346.html

Everyone's favorite item is a tiny white onesie with powder blue lettering that says Future Trophy Husband.

You do wish he'd like books about science, too, so you buy him a book called The Astronaut Prince. It has an enchanting illustration on the cover of an astronaut in a pale blue sparkly spacesuit that has a crown insignia on the chest.

Yeah...

So here's my question. In what cultures, subcultures, or demographic sets are girls and young women channeled SO forcefully into "girly" things? The reason I ask is because I come from a fairly strict religious background. This sort of thing was not unheard of, but not the norm and not so....ridiculous. Leaving aside innate gender differences that drive interests, especially after puberty, is this really a thing?

As I alluded to earlier--I suspect this author has fallen victim to one of the classic blunders--confusing one's own upbringing for a pervasive cultural trend. Or maybe I'm making that mistake myself.

[BlueStarLizzard]

meh. It's overstating a stereotype and turned on boys.

IMHO, the worst stages of gender stereotypes being pushed on kids is in the pre-teen/ early teen age bracket, and the pushers are their peers.

The author also completely skips the fact that both genders have issues with gender roles being pushed at them.

Emily hated dolls. She still doesn't much care for them. She likes pink and purple, but also blue, orange and white.
I had a sociology professor who had a 3 year old boy who's favorite color was pink. The kid loved pink. No one is worried about Emily's obsession with tractors or cranes (construction, not the birds) but my sociology teacher was concerned that her son would be teased if his favorite color stayed pink.
If anything, these days, boys have it worse in terms of gender stereotypes for likes and interests than girls. It has become acceptable for a girl to have more varied interests, even considered "cute". Boys? Not so much.

[Hawkmoon]

Delusional.

I don't think it's a factor of where she was brought up. I think it's a factor of her education:

Lori Day
Educational psychologist, consultant, and author of Her Next Chapter

No more need be said.

[RevDisk]

So here's my question. In what cultures, subcultures, or demographic sets are girls and young women channeled SO forcefully into "girly" things? The reason I ask is because I come from a fairly strict religious background. This sort of thing was not unheard of, but not the norm and not so....ridiculous. Leaving aside innate gender differences that drive interests, especially after puberty, is this really a thing?

I could have sworn I saw you at your wedding, dude. Did you NOT look across the aisle at your in-laws and not notice ALL the womenfolk were dressed like extras from Little House on the Prairie? Not gonna give anyway anything personal from your life, but you recall the issue with that one dude whose chick was a bridesmaid and he was unhappy about that thing? 

From your background, I thought ridiculous enforcement of stereotypical traditional gender roles was normal for your experiences?

But yeah. In strict religious backgrounds here in the States, ridiculous channeling of girls and young women can be forceful. It ranges the spectrum from extremely mild social indoctrination to physical abuse. More than a third of my issues with the ladyfriend is due to her growing up in a religious environment that did not encourage womenfolk from having opinions, making their own life decisions or encouraging them to be other than a domestic appliance. So this sort of thing has a special place in my heart.

*grumble*


 

[Jocassee]

I could have sworn I saw you at your wedding, dude. Did you NOT look across the aisle at your in-laws and not notice ALL the womenfolk were dressed like extras from Little House on the Prairie? Not gonna give anyway anything personal from your life, but you recall the issue with that one dude whose chick was a bridesmaid and he was unhappy about that thing? 

From your background, I thought ridiculous enforcement of stereotypical traditional gender roles was normal for your experiences?

But yeah. In strict religious backgrounds here in the States, ridiculous channeling of girls and young women can be forceful. It ranges the spectrum from extremely mild social indoctrination to physical abuse. More than a third of my issues with the ladyfriend is due to her growing up in a religious environment that did not encourage womenfolk from having opinions, making their own life decisions or encouraging them to be other than a domestic appliance. So this sort of thing has a special place in my heart.

*grumble*

Holster your verbal weaponages...

I don't think the author is talking about Fundies. As far as my wife goes, some of her Fundies had weird gender issues. Some of them also have advanced degrees or had significant corporate resumes but choose to stay home.  My fundies encouraged femininity, but not at the expense of accomplishment, strength, and intellect. I think the author is coming from a more mainstream WASP/SWPL background, and that's what I was addressing. In the culture at large, I'm just not seeing this exclusive drive to GIRLS. MUST. DO. GIRLY. THINGS.