I’ve always watched with a subtle sense of cynicism as toy stores, gender advocates and parents, battle against the toy choices of children. I see trucks and blocks pried from boys’ hands, and dolls and kitchen sets taken from girls. Pink and blue are a thing of the past, replaced with a new cohort of grey androgynistic plastic blobs, that are suitable for all children of every gender. I understand cultural and social conditioning must surely shape these toy preferences, but is there any truth to the idea that they are also, at least in part, innate to who boys and girls are? Do boys naturally prefer one type of toy over another? What about girls? And if so, why? Well perhaps insights into endocrinology, using rhesus monkeys and a rare condition called Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia can tell us more… ~ Source [1]  [2] [3]  Images by Hannah Rodrigo, Milad Fakurian, Gimmel Magaway, Meghan Thompson from Unsplash.

2022-10-22