as an American baby-boomer, there was a definite gender toy pattern

[Jonathan Bailey]

Gi Joe's
Smash up derby
SSPs

Tin can Alley

Red Ryder BB gun. (Okay I got a crossman)

God those were the days.

Johnny Lightning race cars and customs.
Johnny West, Best of the West
Hairy Canary airplane
VertiBird helicopter
Lionel trains
Tonka all-steel trucks

yep

 

[Rival]

 

[Twilight Hue]

Johnny Lightning race cars and customs.
Johnny West, Best of the West
Hairy Canary airplane
VertiBird helicopter
Lionel trains
Tonka all-steel trucks

yep

Damn your list is better than mine.

I remember my father had Lionel trains. Actually I still have a box of the trains in my garage.

 

[Skwim]

Boys have evolved instinctively knowing what a truck is, since these have been a feature of the male's natural environment for millennia.

Ah, trucks have only been around for a little over a hundred years. Hardly millennia.

First pickup truck 1908​

And

Some studies show that infants may naturally focus more on a toy that is stereotyped for their own gender.

Kind of an important qualifier.
Some studies show that infants may naturally focus more on a toy that is stereotyped for their own gender.
.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

Ah, trucks have only been around for a little over a hundred years. Hardly millennia.

View attachment 36431
​

Exactly my point. ;-)

 

[columbus]

It depends on what one considers a "doll." I remember some boys had GI Joes back then, as well as other kinds of "action figures."

I got one once.

My father was horrified. "Tom is playing with a doll!" The fact that G I Joe was a fictional WWII hero, with weapons and fatigues and a tank(if you could afford it), didn't matter. It disappeared.

Maybe it's because my dad was a navy guy, and spent years aboard a destroyer in the Pacific.
Tom

 

[Jonathan Bailey]

Ah, trucks have only been around for a little over a hundred years. Hardly millennia.

View attachment 36431

First pickup truck 1908​

And


Kind of an important qualifier.
Some studies show that infants may naturally focus more on a toy that is stereotyped for their own gender.
.

There have been TRUCKS without motors around much longer, probably predating the bible and written human history.

Definition of truck | Dictionary.com

2. any of various wheeled frames used for transporting heavy objects.

 

[SkepticThinker]

Meh I played with trucks and cars as a kid. My father was a rough and tumble mechanic. So I assume that’s where I got it from.
I also played with girly things from time to time. But the boys toys was always more appealing to me. Never hurt me any. Though judgey people tried to get me to change. Screw those haters! Tomboy for life!

I used to play with He-Man and Transformers action figures. When I got bored of those I went across the street to play with my friend's brother's G.I. Joes.

Tomboy for life!

 

[SkepticThinker]

Gi Joe's
Smash up derby
SSPs

Tin can Alley

Red Ryder BB gun. (Okay I got a crossman)

God those were the days.

That was a real thing? I always thought it was made up for A Christmas Story.

 

[columbus]

I used to play with He-Man and Transformers action figures. When I got bored of those I went across the street to play with my friend's brother's G.I. Joes.

Tomboy for life!

Typical girl.

When one doll bored me I played with a different doll.
Tom

 

[columbus]

That was a real thing? I always thought it was made up for A Christmas Story.

Oh no!
You must live in some peaceful, civilized, place.

Around here, I got a BB gun when I was about 10.
Tom

 

[SkepticThinker]

Oh no!
You must live in some peaceful, civilized, place.

Around here, I got a BB gun when I was about 10.
Tom

Yes, I do. It's called Canada.

We did shoot air rifles at Bible Camp though.

 

[columbus]

Yes, I do. It's called Canada.

We did shoot air rifles at Bible Camp though.

You're so lucky.
I got a mechanical powered gun.

And the first time I shot my little brother Mom took it away! What's the point to having a gun if you can't make yourself clear with it?
Tom

 

[SkepticThinker]

You're so lucky.
I got a mechanical powered gun.

And the first time I shot my little brother Mom took it away! What's the point to having a gun if you can't make yourself clear with it?
Tom

Am I? I never realized!

Did she really think you weren't going to shoot your brother? Where's the fun in that?

 

[columbus]

Am I? I never realized!

Yes.

Did she really think you weren't going to shoot your brother? Where's the fun in that?

I'm pretty sure she thought I'd shoot one of my sisters.

But I'm also pretty sure she was standing at the kitchen window, watching, fully expecting me to do something to justify dispensing with the gun.
I didn't disappoint.
Tom

 

[Shadow Wolf]

As far as I'm aware, yes.

But I hold things very tentatively (in case the science changes etc), so tend towards using 'likely' anyway.

Is not likely. Brain imaging has confirmed its a factual thing,sort of like the skeletons of men and women being different.

 

[SkepticThinker]

Yes.

Well look at me!
I was a pretty decent shot too, I think. I could have made it to the final "master" level but I couldn't memorize the massively long Bible verse I was also required to learn in order to pass.

I'm pretty sure she thought I'd shoot one of my sisters.
But I'm also pretty sure she was standing at the kitchen window, watching, fully expecting me to do something to justify dispensing with the gun.
I didn't disappoint.
Tom

I once just pretended like I was going to hit my sister with a baseball bat and I got grounded for a week.

LOL Mothers will be mothers. And kids will be dumb asses.

Mine would have never, ever let me anywhere near any type of gun of any kind. I guess nobody told her we were shooting them off at overnight camp. I certainly didn't tell her.

 

[Galateasdream]

Is not likely. Brain imaging has confirmed its a factual thing,sort of like the skeletons of men and women being different.

I agree. I really do.

But I still have a habit of using 'likely' to express my extreme doubt and a hold-at-fingertips approach. I am prone to both radical and Pyrrhonian scepticism.

But point taken.

 

[columbus]

I once just pretended like I was going to hit my sister with a baseball bat and I got grounded for a week.

My mom wasn't interested in grounding us kids.

It was like punishing her more than us.

For us, grounded meant we stayed in the house and did whatever we wanted, pushing the envelope of what we could pull off. For mom, it meant being stuck with us all day. We're trying to get away with stuff, she was trying to stop us.

Mom was too sensible to ground us.

Tom

ETA.
My parents were quite practical. They punished me by taking away my books.

No sci-fi novels!
No encyclopedias!
I couldn't even read my textbooks from school!


That hurt.
Tom

 

[Guitar's Cry]

Before trucks were motorized, they were drawn by animals. Any vehicle on wheels can be naturally connected with the male psyche. Boys and men are naturally drawn psychologically by mechanical motion, the faster the movement, the more intensely attentive is the male psyche. It's like natural predators that have prey-drive instinct. In primitive hunter-gatherer societies, men hunted: men pursued game for meat. Fellows like SPEED and power.

I am not sure if instincts concerning speed and power can be transferred to an innate response for trucks, though.

If there is, the shape of the truck could be an attraction for resembling an animal, but that should be a response for females as well.

Without evidence at an early age before adults begin surrounding their senses with specific images, it is impossible to dicern from an innate response and something that has been imprinted due to familial exposure.

I am willing to accept the possibility that there could be gender differences in some innate responses (innate responses in humans is a convoluted subject among ethologists), but would add the caveat that humans are generalists and very adaptable, hence the great spectrum of behavioral differences we are capable of.