Someone in one of my classes brought up how she hates Tonka, because their website is very gender role focused (If you go to their website you'll understand what I mean). I'm wondering what everyone's view on gender roles is.

Do you believe that there are specific occupations/expectations etc that apply to a specific gender?
aka do you believe in gender roles such as men should not be nurses or women should wear skirts

Do you believe that children should be raised by societal rules that apply to their gender?
Ex: only boys can play with trucks and girls can't play with a football.

Do you believe that it is possible to raise a completely gender neutral child?

Slightly off topic, but also how do you feel that transgendered individuals would fit into the idea of gender roles? or is that something society has not taken into account?

"gender" is a societally fabricated construct largely based on roles that serve social functions perpetuating particular values or the service thereof.

that said, sexes [in the biological sense] are physically distinct, and relevant differences can be found.

rules apply to all labels, like "human" or "male" or "carpenter", and we are encouraged to conform to labels because they make categorization and manipulation easy. labels are inherently simplifying of the world around us and seek efficient means of passing information at the expense of detail or ultimate "truth".

men and women are fundamentally different, especially in brain physiology, and this results in different functioning. whether or not some things or activities are more "fit" for one gender or another doesnt really address whether or not equal opportunity should exist.

i believe gender, like sexuality, is a spectrum and there are no purely male or purely female bodies biologically speaking because gender is an abstract ideal, not a biological imperative. sex also has some wiggle room as a perfect divisor, with some people falling in neither category or in both. in indigenous cultures [rather than contemporary western culture], such 'aberrations' are usually celebrated rather than being portrayed as unnatural or grotesque.

i dont think its possible for a person to be gender neutral insofar as so many traits inherent to personal action are seen as masculine or feminine, [so, when evaluated by cultural norms, a person cannot come out as agendered]. beyond that, whether or not a child is introduced to the social construct of gender, females and males remain biologically different, though the separation between "gender" and "sex" is often tenuous.