It is an interesting article, but hard to take to the level of the author of the second link who states:
"Since young, most of us are already only attracted to girl toys, such as dolls, paper dolls. We get no interest in footballs, cars, etc. Which means, we were really suppose to be a female right from the start! But we are born into the wrong body.....
Hearing this results sort of reassure us slightly that we being transgenders is really 'pre-programmed' before birth, and not cause by social factors as some of us doubts."
There are a few reasons. First the original research focuses on "visual elements". A great follow up would be to have a pink truck and a non-pink truck and then check looking times (since the original research seems to implicate color as a factor). Second, not many of children (previous to age 3) are fortunate enough to have access to both sets of toys. As such by that point the social factors cannot be ignored. However, this study makes a stronger case for an individual who gravitated toward the opposite sexed toys from an age before social constructs about gender are formed. Still, it is surprising that only the test results regarding the boys looking time were significant (in other words, with a < 1% chance of error) while the girl's results were not (> 1% chance of error).
So to be clear, the results of the experiment appear to say no more than this (using only the significant results). It seems to indicate that boys normally (not always) appear to prefer toys that have the shape and color of Bob the Builder over toys that have the color and shape of Barbie, before the age of gender social construction. The results indicate that girls appear to (but not always) favor the color and shape of Barbie, but more testing will be needed to provide significant results in the case of girls.
It is still a fascinating study, I just hope they continue with it to the next logical step.
