Scientists expose MAJOR differences between boys and girls in shock study
Study suggests genders naturally fit into 'stereotypes' campaigners previously described as OFFENSIVE
Feminists have spent years campaigning against "sexist" children's toys which allegedly promote gender stereotypes.
Now researchers have shown that baby boys and girls naturally choose to play with the sort of gender-specific toys which many campaigners find offensive.
A team from City University, London, found that baby girls tended to enjoy interacting with faces and practising "fine motor skills", whilst boys used their increased "interest and ability in spatial processing" whist playing.
During the study, groups of babies were given the choice of playing with a variety of different toys, exhibiting "significant differences" in their choices.
Boys tended to pick out a car, blue teddy, digger or ball, whilst girls chose a doll, pink teddy bear or cooking pot.
The research flies in the face of feminists who believe kids' playthings , because it suggests kids have a natural tendency to play in different ways.
Dr Brenda Todd, a senior lecturer in psychology at City University said: "Biological differences give boys an aptitude for mental rotation and more interest and ability in spatial processing, while girls are more interested in looking at faces and better at fine motor skills and manipulating objects.
"When we studied toy preference in a familiar nursery setting with parents absent, the differences we saw were consistent with these aptitudes.
"Although there was variability between individual children, we found that, in general, boys played with male-typed toys more than female-typed toys and girls played with female-typed toys more than male-typed toys."
A number of campaign groups think boys and girls should be given exactly the same toys, regardless of what kids might actually want to play with.