Thread: Why I love (and hate) dating Russian men (article)

My nephew -- now 6-and-a-half -- loves his construction vehicles, trains, and absolutely everything Lego-related. But when he was a few years younger, one of his favorite toys was a "play kitchen" that his grandmother gave him -- he would spend hours taking pretend food out of the refrigerator, stirring it in a big pot with a wooden spoon, or cooking it in the microwave. (His favorite recipe: "Суп из футбэгов", or "Hacky-sack soup" -- after his dad brought home a large bag full of corporate-branded hacky-sacks from a business convention!)

So anyway, he enjoyed playing with the "girly" kitchen for a year or two, but then he just decided that trucks, trains, and Legos were more fun.

You can see a selection of images from the Swedish toy-catalog here, and honestly they don't look that strange or radical to me -- perhaps because most of the children are quite young. (I admit that, to me, it might seem like "forced political correctness" if the catalog showed a 10-year-old boy playing with a Barbie doll. But a 3-year-old boy playing with a toy vacuum cleaner is no big deal.)

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

My nephew -- now 6-and-a-half -- loves his construction vehicles, trains, and absolutely everything Lego-related. But when he was a few years younger, one of his favorite toys was a "play kitchen" that his grandmother gave him -- he would spend hours taking pretend food out of the refrigerator, stirring it in a big pot with a wooden spoon, or cooking it in the microwave. (His favorite recipe: "Суп из футбэгов", or "Hacky-sack soup" -- after his dad brought home a large bag full of corporate-branded hacky-sacks from a business convention!)

So anyway, he enjoyed playing with the "girly" kitchen for a year or two, but then he just decided that trucks, trains, and Legos were more fun.

You can see a selection of images from the Swedish toy-catalog here, and honestly they don't look that strange or radical to me -- perhaps because most of the children are quite young. (I admit that, to me, it might seem like "forced political correctness" if the catalog showed a 10-year-old boy playing with a Barbie doll. But a 3-year-old boy playing with a toy vacuum cleaner is no big deal.)

Men use vacuum cleaners and men cook. I think it's silly to label such equipment as "feminine." Even a sexist guy who believes that cooking and cleaning is "women's work" has to learn how to do those things when he's living alone and single, no? I dunno about forced political correctness. To me, showing a boy using a vacuum cleaner or a toy kitchen doesn't scream of "political correctness" but of reality. There are lots of great male chefs and not all of them are gay

On the other hand, I did feel like I was being forced to subscribe to a certain view of what being "female" is all about when, growing up, every toy commercial I ever saw depicted girls playing with dolls, or cooking sets. So I dunno if a commercial which portrays the opposite of that is forcing "political correctness" on anyone or if it's just daring to go contrary to the worn out, tired "status quo" which has remained unchallenged most of my life.

For example, I found this non-traditional commercial very refreshing and long overdue!