Pollitt's Essay 'Why Boys Don' T Play With Dolls

AUSD District Argumentative Writing Assessment: Dolls and Trucks When a boy asks his mother to buy him a doll, she would refuse him by saying that “dolls are for girl.” In the article “Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls” by Katha Pollitt, Pollitt states that boys’ and girls’ personalities are shaped by the adults, not by biological reasons. Most parents want their children to fit in with society’s standards of how a boy or a girl should be. As a consequence, they mold the young generation’s thinking styles to what society believes is comforting. Parents follow the general principle of society and encourage their sons and daughters to behave a certain way, even though they themselves are not big supporters of such principles. Pollitt provides her own experience of this situation where she overhears a feminist woman apologizing to a mother for giving her daughter a doll (2). Although the giver is part of the feminist movement, she still gives a girl a doll for her birthday, because it is the right thing to do. In addition,

Society also takes part in defining man and woman. In his speech called “A Call to Men”, Tony Porter argues for the existence of a “man box”, which he claims is what society outlines a man to be—“no pain, no emotions, with the exception of anger” (Porter). However, Porter states that men have right to reconsider for themselves and shall not be limited to what society’s definition of them. Likewise, for women, they should not be confined under the “glass ceiling”, the barrier that prevent their advancement in their profession. In addition, society believes that women are not fit for certain professions and disregards what potential benefits women can bring. Hence, what a man or woman does is strictly based on what the general public accepts. Despite Pollitt’s claim of the adult world being responsible for children’s “fixed” gender role, people are still trying to steer the reason toward brain