One of my coworkers deserves credit for taking what one might consider "gender role risks" in the eyes of today's society. She has a one-year-old son, and in addition to his "normal" boy toys, clothes, etc., she has bought him girls' clothes, a pink pacifier, she keeps his curls long, and she lets him play with dolls. Her family is (not surprisingly) more traditional in terms of their idea of what a male child should wear and play with, but that hasn't phased my friend so far, something for which I admire her.
After discussing her decisions and gender role formation, we agreed on a few points: number one, babies aren't attuned to fashion and don't know what they're wearing or drinking out of, nor do they particularly care what color it happens to be. Number two, female children seem to have a bit more leeway when it comes to what toys they can play with. No one would necessarily think twice about a little girl playing with some cars, although it could potentially turn some heads, but see a boy playing with a Barbie and all hell breaks loose. Number three, it appears that at least some and perhaps the majority of fears related to babies or children breaking with gender role norms stems from a fear of homosexuality. Until more research is produced that confirms that playing with dolls and the color pink don't correlate with femininity or homosexuality, we'll most likely still see discomfort with children straying from society's deeply ingrained gender roles, even at a very young age.
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