Michelle, brought up very good points on how sexism cues are so entrenched in our society, that one has to be ever vigilent, if one wants to halt the engrained sexist stereotypes. And wants to know who is to blame.

She also brought into play other factors such as, social sanctioning of children who do not fit societals 'norms', by their peers. As follows:

quote:

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But...do we blame the women who raise their children to conform to a sexist society, or do we blame the sexist society itself? I have often faced this dilemma as a parent: do I force (or in some cases, allow) my son to not conform and then have him face social sanction? Or do I give in occasionally and tell myself that I'm giving him the tools he needs to survive in this society?

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These are significant questions that Michelle puts forth, that truly require meaningful deliberation, by both women and men. They bring in question gender hard wiring, social/psycho conditioning, and current/future functioning in society and perhaps even genetical memory...

Michelle, gave the example of the coloured game"boys", and how her son's use of a pink one could perhaps lead to social sanctioning by his peers.

Now this has several implications actually because of gender affliation to the colour 'pink', but in this case I will only address the sexist one.

Within the colour pink are associated conditioned thought processes that are pretty much automatic, because they are so entrenched in society.

The thought processes are considered sexist because they label females/women with negative attributes, and conversely males/men, who utilize something in the colour pink. So, the social sanctioning, Michelle speaks of, would be because of the negative attributes conditionally imposed along female gender lines, that are associated with the colour pink.

How can this be changed?

Or should it be changed?

Is it naturally occurring?