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Comment by dsiegel2275 | Hacker News Reader

I think "pushing heteronormativity" doesn't need to be a conscious, deliberate act and it doesn't need to be anything related to sex. It can be as simple as a parent buying their son a toy truck for their birthday while buying a barbie doll for their daughter: a reinforcement of socially acceptable gender roles

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Your use of "heteronormative" doesn't make a lot of sense.

Heteronormativity is "heterosexual is the normal state of being".

Playing with trucks if you're a girl has nothing to do with whether you're hetero or homosexual.

It ties into a larger concept of gender roles (which is probably more applicable to discussion of trans folks than sexuality, "heteronormativity" was probably not the best word choice)

I've never known a kid to not ask for toys they prefer.. you make the simple act of giving a child a gift sound sinister.. what a world we live in.

It's not sinister in the slightest, but people should understand the larger picture.

Where do those preferences come from? I've seen first hand the impact that media, advertising, and social pressures at school have had on my children's preferences.

> Where do those preferences come from? I've seen first hand the impact that media, advertising, and social pressures at school have had on my children's preferences.

Sure, but why is that a problem? Our preferences are of course sculpted by our environment, and that's not a problem as long the people who fall outside of those norms aren't punished for it. Assuming those norms aren't harmful of course, eg. not good to normalize psychopathy.

It's basically inevitable that children are going to exposed to some normative behaviour, particularly around gender. I think the important part is that we're not so quick to denounce and suppress any messaging that exposes children to the existence of behaviour outside of those gender norms, that's when it goes from just existing in a society where gender norms exist to maintaining and enforcing those gender norms.

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