Genderizing has gotten way worse since I was growing up in the '70's. Before I had Hanni I thought I could fight it on my own. Wow was I naive. I've mentioned that her preschool has a demographic of highly educated parents. I also live in Progressiville, Blue State. I'm not knocking anyone here with different values from mine, but my point is, if you were going to find a group of parents downplaying gender roles, it would be here. But somehow the girls all know about Disney princesses, and the boys all know about Star Wars laser guns and martial arts fighting moves.
I'm not convinced it's just society, here. Little ones are seeking out their identities, and gender is a big part of that. There are some gender stereotypes, and our little ones pick up on those pretty quick... at which point they begin to question themselves. "Should I be into this? It's for boys/girls."
I've caught my DD verbalizing this thought process several times, so who knows how many times she's gone down this road but never expressed it? In these instances, I tell her she can like whatever she wants to like. One year she proposed to be Spiderman for Halloween, and I was fully supportive of the idea... but she changed her mind and went as something girly anyway (not sure if that was the year she was a cheerleader or Hermione).
My point is that it isn't just society that's pandering to the stereotype... so are the children. Consciously.
The girls all dress in pepto-bismol pink, and the boys all dress in orange-and-grey and other unlovely color combinations.
LOL. Last week I put on a new shirt and shorts, and my wife congratulated me on successfully coordinating the two, because the same shade of blue was on both. I had to take a second glance at the shirt and confess I had no idea they were the same. They were simply the first shirt and shorts I pulled out of the drawer.