From the moment a little girl is born she is inundated with images of marriage. She is basically designed to fall in love, get married, have children, and live happily ever after. Look in any toy aisle and you'll see toys marketed for girls are dolls, doll houses, dress up clothes, and cooking gear. Then stroll your little girl on over to the books and movies aisle. There you'll find covers with fairies wearing tiaras and way too much frilly tulle. Whether it's the classic Cinderella or the newest Princess and the Frog, our girls learn that a beautiful girl is going to be whisked off her feet by a handsome prince and live happily ever after. Boys, on the other hand get to be superheroes and drive fast cars. Where are their children? Why don't they have houses to put their families in? Does Matchbox make Mini Vans?
Society screams the message to girls that they should be married while boys are shunned for wanting to be anything other than fast and furious. It's no wonder men grow up and want to cling to the single life as long as possible while women want to get a proposal from any man she's known longer than 5 minutes. She's chasing the ring & he's running from it.
I'm not suggesting that we start buying Barbie and Ken dolls and houses for our sons or Bob the Builder for our daughters. I'm suggesting we mutually understand why we seem to be on different pages when it comes to the "M" word. And maybe it's because of advertising dollars spent by two M companies.
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