Sir, – Your correspondent Mary Cannon (December 4th) bemoans what she perceives as gender stereotyping on the Late Late Toy Show, citing the fact that little girls were dressed like little girls while the little boys liked toys for boys. If that was not a tongue-in-cheek letter, I have officially lost the will to live. – Yours, etc,
FRANK BYRNE,
Terenure,
Dublin 6W.
A chara, – Mary Cannon’s letter is based on the ideas that gender is predominantly a social construct and that gender-based behaviour in children is something in need of a cure.
However, the fact is that males and females are different and do behave differently from an early age, and it cannot be a good idea to use social conditioning to frustrate strong biological impulses.
The pursuit of gender neutrality is very much to the detriment of diversity. The latter is generally seen as an asset in biological terms and an important requirement for normal human interaction.
While it is clear that little can be done at this stage to call off the watchdogs of political correctness in the adult world, I would ask them, at least during Christmas, to have the decency to leave our children out of it. – Is mise,
Dr GARETH P KEELEY,
Grenoble, France.