through our door. One of the department stores - I think it was John Lewis? - had done a sort of advertorial where two small children (around 2 I think) were invited into the toy department to see which of the things they liked to play with most. The commentary described the two children a bit and then talked about what they liked to play with, including the fact that "&lt;girl's name&gt; usually prefers to play with boys' toys". It really raised the question, why should they be "boy's" toys, if girls love to play with them? And also, as you've said above, did imply that there was something wrong with this poor 2-year-old for going for the "wrong" toys! on a slightly different tangent but I remember going to ELC to get baby DS a set of stacking cups. The assistant explained to me that they were on the top floor, where they had the boys' set, with blue and purple and red etc, and the girls' set, in shades of pink.... There's nothing inherently wrong with pink. My DD has a nice bright pink jumper from the boy's rail in Next; her friend has a fetching pale pink - boy's M&S! There's nothing wrong with the colour per se - its the genderisation of products which is the issue. Those bikes - just read the blurbs. Its not the colour, its the messages about what boys and girls are expected to do . Do a search on Bright