SubscribeOne of the books I am most looking forward to reading soon is Natasha Walter’s forthcoming book Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism. My copy is pre-ordered! Seven days to go!
Kira Cochrane interviewed her for The Guardian a couple of days ago:
Walter and her partner have two children, Clara, nine, and Arthur, one, and it was becoming a mother that partly inspired the second half of Living Dolls. In this section, Walter looks at the way that arguments for biological determinism have suddenly multiplied in recent years. She delivers a convincing critique of the studies that have been used to imply that children are biologically programmed to fit social stereotypes – that boys have a natural love of blue and cars and guns, and that girls have a natural love of pink and prams and dolls.
When Walter first had her daughter, she says, “I was hit by this deluge of pink. Then, at friends’ houses, you’d walk into a boy’s bedroom, and it would just be blue and navy, and full of cars and Action Men. I found that when I raised this – even with really liberal parents – they would say, ‘But boys and girls are just different. She just LOVES pink.’ Or, ‘It’s such a pity that he doesn’t play with dolls, but he just doesn’t get it.’ They would be saying this, sort of bemoaning it, but endlessly reinforcing [gender] stereotypes in an almost unconscious way . . . I’d hear things like, ‘Well, he wanted to do ballet, but he’d be the only boy in the class, so obviously he couldn’t do it,’ and you’d think, ‘Why obviously?’.”
But, as ever with CiF, do yourself a favour and don’t read the comments. Urgh.
Ailsa 
kimbofo 
This book sounds quite interesting and one I wouldn’t mind reading. Thanks for the heads up on it. Cheers!