My sister left home when I was nine and I inherited all her children’s annuals and was shown a world of fashion models, Christmas decorations and recipes. Which was rather bizarre as my boys annuals were a world of heroic cowboys, space rangers and fighter aircraft. So whilst I was trying to work out the differences I went and cooked my first food – over salted cookies (I blamed the annual).
My mother bought me guns and trains and toy cars and most of the other things boys in my generation played with but when it came time to understand what these things were in real life it was not a straight swap, but a discussion about war, industrialisation, pollution and ways in which we choose what we want to love in this world.
The fact is that gender differences begin and end with sex, everything else is a matter of mind. Manipulation of society to educate people to different expectations are all a source of control unnecessary in a wise society. It is a stronger society where a woman can be an astronaut and a man can clean the house, there is no loss of strength of character for either.
There is only a need to understand one’s own expectations and where they have come from and who gave them to you.