whatever I can to contribute to this. I have been very bothered for the past few weeks when my 2 year old who I have tried eagerly to shield from gender stereotyping held up two toys and said "this one [pink princess thing] is for girls, this one [red and blue mickey mouse version of the same toy] is for boys." She doesn't watch tv with adverts, or have any family or friends who would express those sentiments, she's purely influenced by the subliminal messages of The world and it made me want to cry. There seemed to be a will do to something about this issue, growing out of GretaGip 's thread over the weekend. I started this new thread in the hopes that instead of it being a debate about whether the issue is important, it could be a place for those of us who do think it's important to start talking about action. I don't claim to have any brilliant ideas myself, but I would like to make whatever effort I can to have a chance at changing things by the time dd is old enough to feel self-conscious about what section she chooses things from. It would be such a small thing for retailers to do, such a simple change, I think there really is a chance that we could influence one or two of the main offenders if we convince them that there are enough of us who are being alienated by the current practice