Boys and their Toys (1970-2030)

In the distant past, when the male was still the dominant gender, the toys given to boys in childhood reflected traditional notions that young males were to be brought up to be dominant and to work in the wider world.

Hence, boys were given toy soldiers to play with to foster their aggression and warlike tendencies, toy trucks and construction sets to emphasise that boys were good at building things and using their hands, toy cars and other vehicles and bikes and sports gear to make them more athletic.

Girls, on the other hand, invariably had to play with toys to prepare them for their future roles as housewives and mothers and their world was filled with the colour pink and with frills and lace. Dressing up dolls and having tea parties with them, baking cookies in toy ovens and dressing themselves up in pretty frocks and using make up was the lot of girls for many decades, as well as doing feminine activities such as sewing, ballet and baton twirling.

Boys were thus playing with toys to make them masculine and girls were engaged in activities to make them ultra-feminine, with the emphasis on being pretty, rather than practical and clever, as boys were encouraged to be.

This strict segregation between boys and girls began to change with the advent of feminism and the computer and information technology age.

By 2010, after decades of stunning success academically and the relentless advance of women in the workplace, girls were by now long used to believing that they were far superior in every way to a mere boy. Once upon a time, a boy could arrogantly boast that he was better than a girl both in terms of sheer physical power and also in terms of brainpower and academic success. The male of the species was better suited to lead, make the important scientific discoveries and protect and provide for his family held good for a long time.

By the early 2000's, the claim of boys to be superior academically to girls had become more a source of amusement to females than offensive or sexist. Boys, acknowledging their defeat at the hands of girls in the classroom, retreated and took comfort in new forms of games, provided for them on their computers and on their games consoles.

But this was a mistake. While boys remained competitive, such sedentary activity made boys lazy. They lost interest in sports and athletics, where they had still held the advantage over girls and, more importantly, began to lose masculine traits, such as motivation, determination. resourcefulness, aggression and risk-taking.

Girls increasingly took up sports and athletics and began to gain the masculine qualities that the boys were fast losing. They were not only becoming more assertive, more aggressive, more competitive and more inclined to take risks than boys, they were actually getting fitter and stronger than boys. At school and university, girls were not only outstripping boys academically but also on the sports fields where boys had once been dominant.

Meanwhile, in the wider world, the statistics showed the pitiful academic performance of males generally, of an economy that literally did not need any male input, except at the lowest and most menial levels, since its needs demanded qualities such as focus, patience, communication skills, networking, multi-tasking, as well as academic and professional qualifications, which women could generally deliver a whole lot better than men could.

By the 2020's, women had literally replaced men as the dominant sex. Men found themselves largely excluded from the workforce and had to take on the traditionally feminine roles in the home. Many men by this time had adopted, or had been forced to wear by their dominant mate, feminine clothing and accessories in tribute to the new dominant gender.

By the mid 2020's, it was no longer appropriate for a girl to have to wear a dress or skirt or to play with dolls. She was more likely to become a Doctor, Lawyer or Scientist than a housewife. Girls were already starting to play with "boys toys" earlier in the century, but by this point they had been discouraged from girly things and played exclusively with toy trains, cars and soldiers. The colour pink was a definite no-no for a girl, who wore jeans and T-shirts, wthout any accessories and without the long hair that traditionally characterised her gender.

At the same time, concerns were raised about the upbringing of boys. They had become lazy, unfit, unwilling to study and slovenly. They were addicted to violent computer games that encouraged aggressive and competitive instincts but which were unproductive. Many mothers, by now the complete mistress of her home, took their boys in hand. For punishment or merely for the amusement of the mother and the boy's sisters, boys were subjected to petticoat punishment and put into pretty frocks and frilly knickers. Some mothers even went as far as to put their son's hair into ringlets and tie bows in it.

For boys, who were more used to be a fictional soldier on their games consoles, engaged in a traditonally masculine role, their sudden feminisation was a deeply traumatic and humiliating experience. His world changed from a fake battlefield to a world filled with pink, frilly, pretty things that he had to live in and be shown off to the world in.

Finally, to complete the metamorphosis, boys were no longer allowed access to the violent games that had been their downfall. The computers and games consoles were replaced with toys more fitting for a boy whose destiny was more likely to be that of a father and househusband. The doll, the pram, baby stroller, dolls house and tea party set now became the staple items in a boy's toy cupboard and, having no access to any other toys, he had no choice but to play with them. In fact, he was forced to play with them by mothers anxious to ensure a positive change in his appearance and personality.

By 2030, it was common to see a boy, dressed in a pink frock, white frilly knickers that the short skirt of his dress did little to hide, and with bows tied in his long hair, brushing the hair of his dolls, or taking them out for walks in their pram. The new toys would, over time, make the boys more sensitive, more inclined to show emotion, to be meek, docile and submissive.

Girls would smile at their brothers as they played with the toys which had once been for boys only, but which she had now appropriated and at him becoming more and more feminised by his new toys, once meant for girls, that had been forced upon him.

The world is a woman's world, and also, a girl's world!