"I so enjoyed your instructions on letting little boys be boys and little girls be girls. Personally, I'd always felt it was more appropriate to let them be people. I can see the depth of my mistake now, as I'd failed to notice that hegemony wasn't to blame for gender stereotyping, but as you say, it is somehow biologically innate. I do confess to being perplexed however, on how to follow through on these suggestions, without letting my children in on the secret that they can no longer choose their reading according to personality, as opposed to gender. For instance, that hugely noted and distinguished series of books with the same characters and magical creatures by J.R.R. Tolkein, a man, is on my 'male' bookshelf. Whereas my book selections on females who've won the Nobel Prize in Sciences, must, alas, be tranferred into the 'male' section as I swap J.R.R Tolkein out to the 'female' shelf.

I don't suppose you could send someone round to advise me on which books should be in the pink bedroom, and which in the blue? Somewhat akin to the pink and blue shelving units in a certain toy store? I'd hate my daughters to catch me reading the wrong book to them, after all they might get a totally inappropriate view of what roles are open to them in society? Must dash, my little princesses are on top of the garden tree, pretending to be pirates: can't have them letting the side down like that."