Gender, as summarized by a three and a half year old:

Peo: "When I'm a lady, then I'll get my hair cut and I'll be a boy."

Me: "But if you're a boy, you wouldn't also be a lady. Ladies are kinds of girls, boys turn into men."

Peo: "So when I turn into a lady, I'll cut my hair and pretend to be a boy."

Me: "Do you wish you were a boy?"

Peo: "Yeah."

Me: "Why?"

Peo: "Because then I could have short hair."



To be clear, we've told her she can get her hair cut, that both girls and boys have both long and short hair, and Corran has long hair, and we've never told her that being a boy or girl is better than the other, and we've even avoided language pertaining to permanency of gender. We're about as hippie-liberal-liberated-inclusive as the English language allows, but society has still gotten the message through to her that girls have long hair and boys have short hair.

Really, there's no way for a parent to shield a child from negative societal norms. And if we, as such gender-liberals, can't combat it on that front, I can't imagine how we could have any hope against racial issues, where we try not to be racist but in all honesty are as bound by our white privilege as anyone else. There's no way any individual family can eliminate bigotry on their own. Nor will muppets all colours of the rainbow help. The best we can hope for is for enough of us to give it our best that maybe, over a few more generations, it might fade to a less permeating level.