Boys and girls ‘are biologically programmed to play with toys aimed at their own gender’
BOYS and girls are biologically programmed to play with toys aimed at their own sex, researchers say.
A study found children instinctively prefer playthings targeted at traditional gender roles - such as lorries and toy soldiers for boys and dolls and kitchen sets for girls.
Girls are more likely than boys to be influenced as they grow up by parents and the other adults and children around them, as well as what they see on television.
But boys stick to boys’ toys, especially as they get older. And if given traditionally female toys, they will use them for "aggressive" play - for instance turning them into guns.
A team led by psychologists from City University London compiled evidence collected by researchers across the Western world over the last eight decades, .
The study found clear differences between what toy girls and boys choose, which "indicates an innate influence on this behaviour" in spite of a trend towards gender-neutral teaching and parenting.
It said: "Despite methodological variation in the choice and number of toys offered, context of testing, and age of child, the consistency in finding sex differences in children’s preferences for toys typed to their own gender indicates the strength of this phenomenon and the likelihood that it has a biological origin."
Some attempts to study children found boys tended to play aggressively even if they were given traditional girls’ toys, the researchers said.
In 1980, one group of psychologists "noted in their observation that boys played with a toy food mixer as if it were a machine gun".
Recently girls have been less likely to play with dolls and other toys once considered female such as makeup and kitchens.
The study said: "One interpretation is that, over the years, girls have been exposed to increasing pressure to play with neutral-typed toys as the volume of advertising to children and expansion on the number and type of children’s media outlets have increased enormously."
Psychologist Dr Brenda Todd of City University said: "What we found is that as boys get older we see increased play with toys typed to their gender.
"In addition, we saw that girls have started to play increasingly less with female-typed toys over more recent decades, which may possibly indicate moves towards greater gender equality in Western societies where most of the studies were conducted.
"However despite difference among individual boys’ and girls’ behaviour, children do overwhelmingly choose toys typed to their gender."
Last week the Church of England that boys should be allowed to dress up in tutus and tiaras.
It said in guidance to primary schools children should “explore the possibilities of who they might be” without being labelled or bullied.
The Sun also revealed how drag queens were sent to London nurseries to teach kids as young as two about "gender fluidity" with a specially adapted version of The Wheels On The Bus.
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