Now, I used to be enlightened - I gave my daughter trucks & dolls, and my son the same (& NO one got weapons!).  Then I watched as my son loved on & kissed the doll & promptly threw it down the stairs to see how hard it'd bounce.  I stared, dumbfounded, as he turned a chess trophy into a gun (I still don't know where he ever saw one).  I saw my son race trains around the track and my daughter turn them into Mommy Train, Daddy Train, & Baby Train who has to go to the bathroom.  She'd play lovingly with the dollhouse family & he'd turn the event into a blazing housefire w/ the family in desperate need of rescue by a fire hero.  Yes, I was one of those educated sorts who thoughts gender roles were conditioned, not innate, until my children taught me otherwise. 

Who's the conditioned one?

I was a femininity-hating, brass-playing, calculus/physics-loving, softball-playing engineer until motherhood turned my world upside-down.  I had soaked in the cultural indoctrination to disdain the non-intellectual arts loud & clear, but when I set out a neutral slate for my children, the boys did boy things & the girls did girl things.  Amazing. 

(No, it wasn't TV or movies (we don't watch them), or peers (they're homeschooled).)  And yes, I do believe some girls naturally exhibit more typically "male" traits than others (I'm one) and some boys naturally have more of the typically "female" traits than others do.  I'm talking the *norm* here, what's true for the majority, w/o in the slightest belittling the minority (remember, I'm in it!) or intending to subjugate or eliminate it.  Just b/c I don't naturally love to knit or bake doesn't mean most women don't, or that I couldn't enjoy it if I gave it a fair shot, which I haven't.)  (And yes, my daughter is fantastic at math & I have no intent of discouraging her, nor my son's love of real live babies.)

Somehow I wasn't surprised when the kids' 2yo cousin started a swordfight w/ their corncobs the other day, while the girls just looked on and laughed.  They're just amazing!