http://www.theage.com.au/national/boys-are-born-to-prefer-dolls-over-masculine-toys-like-cars-20140104-30aq0.html
Source: The Age National Author: Lucy Marks

The preference many boys have for ''masculine'' toys such as cars only develops later in life, according to a new study that tracked the eye movements of babies.

Society may teach children what items they should prefer, depending on their gender, as they mature.

[. . .] hormonal changes could direct children's choices as they mature. ''Testosterone makes [boys] engage in more strong playing and with items that allow them to explore or exploit that way of playing, whereas oestrogen leads to interaction with the social environment,'' she said.

Yes, absolutely. I always preferred dolls, although mine were usually the stuffed anthropomorphic animal type of doll when I was young* and then action figures when I was older. I also used to draw human figures and anthro animals on cardboard, cut them out and play with them. I did have a few toy cars but I found them pretty boring to play with. I did make a toy spaceship once, but only so I could put the cut outs in it!

* I guess they're what are called plush toys these days. I actually still have two of these anthro dolls (one of them over 40 years old), both still in very good condition. I always treated my dolls, etc as if they were alive, never damaged them or treated them roughly. Even my sister was more destructive of her dolls than I was of mine!

I was more of a mixture. I played with cars, Legos and those little plastic army men. But I did have a couple stuffed animal of my own: A large brown bear that I had basically had since birth and a small dog with a green shirt that I named "Portia". I would also play with a few other stuffed animals that my cousin had: she had some of the "Shirt Tales" ones. Being the type that I was, I naturally gravitated towards the female characters so I always liked Pammy Panda. But as far as playing with stuff that was more "masculine" like the little army guys, I think that was more to do with my being a history/social studies geek than anything else since the army men were also different colors, had flags for different countries (US, USSR & Germany. This was when the Cold War was still going on in the early to mid 80s.) But I liked all kinds of things. The cars and legos were the most plentiful toys since they were so cheap, but "Portia" was virtually attached to me for a long, long time. (My mom still has that doll too, along with the large bear) When I saw it she mentioned the Portia moniker. I said "Nope. I have Portia now. That's 'faux-Portia'. )

Gaaaaaah! 

There are no natural boys toys or girls toys.  It is all about reinforcing gender stereotypes.

My kids got Legos, crayons, paints, bicycles, frisbees, soccer balls, nerf guns, etc.  If one or another wanted a  Barbie, that was fine.  Christmas 2012 I got my youngest daughter a radio controlled airplane - she's an aerospace engineering major.

Gender roles are for the birds.

Quote from: Jamie D on January 10, 2014, 10:52:47 PM
Gaaaaaah! 

There are no natural boys toys or girls toys.  It is all about reinforcing gender stereotypes.

Maybe. However, there are some fairly robust studies that show how baby boys are drawn to mechanical objects (trucks) while baby girls are drawn to faces (dolls). These studies were also conducted on apes with the same results. It's not about specific objects, but what the objects represent to the evolved minds of primates.

Researchers seem to be divided on whether colour preferences are innate, such as girls preferring pink and boys blue.

Quote from: Jamie D on January 10, 2014, 10:52:47 PM
There are no natural boys toys or girls toys.  It is all about reinforcing gender stereotypes.
...

Gender roles are for the birds.

Too true!

Pink used to be a masculine colour...

QuoteIn 19th century England, pink ribbons or decorations were often worn by small boys; boys were simply considered small men, and while men in England wore red uniforms, boys wore pink. In fact the clothing for children in the 19th century was almost always white, since, before the invention of chemical dyes, clothing of any color would quickly fade when washed in boiling water. Queen Victoria was painted in 1850 with her seventh child and third son, Prince Arthur, who wore white and pink.

My understanding is that it is NOT about dolls per se at all. But most babies will look at FACES longer than other things, such as stripes or solid colors. Paint a face on truck, and they'd probably look at it longer than a truck without a face (maybe interest in Thomas?). It makes sense that humans, being social animals, will pay more attention to faces over other stuff.

--Jay

Pink was a man's color till the 1930s.
http://qz.com/114774/pink-used-to-be-a-masculine-color/
it's a color that changed gender.