In a newspaper article today I saw something about one of our cabinet ministers wanting to stop toy stores from shelving toys under "boy" toys and "girl" toys, on the argument that children should play with whichever toys they want (because toy manufacturers are sexist. Also publishers of children's books). She must not have any, because parents know that they do this, anyway.
It's just another nail in the coffin of personal liberties for residents of this otherwise mayonnaise-driven country. And proof that the bigger the salary, the bigger the fools you can hire for positions like this. Minister van Engelshoven (education), who also holds the portfolio for emancipation, wants to make it illegal to ask customers in toy stores whether a toy is for a boy or a girl. In my personal opinion the minister for education (with nationwide crises owing to shortage of teachers) needs a little educatin' about priorities.
See, if we allow for this, why stop at the categorizing of toys? All toys must then be "neutralized" in packaging, ads and publications. I can see where this would lead to idiotic situations: Customer enters store. "I would like to buy a present for my nephew." Would get a reply like: "We don't differentiate anymore. Besides, who knows how he feels about toys. We recommend "Cross Dresser Barbie", that covers all bases." Or "Post-op Ken".
All boxes would feature some wording like "non gender specific play item for humans age 8 and up". Better not to put pictures on the box. Guess what's in it by shape. Ah, the challenge. "I would like to buy a... something for my genetically connected junior human. It likes arts and crafts in a non gender specific way." This is your tax dollars - eh, euros - at work. Yup - interesting times ahead.
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