A desired return to rigid gender roles undergirds 'pronatalist' ideas, UNC researcher says

[The Blue Flower]

2. Don't know how to start this but will try

My 3 yo granddaughter loves her Barbies. While watching Barbie videos on YouTube last summer, we came across some that show Barbies being pregnant and having babies. My girl was already amazed whenever she saw a real pregnant person out shopping or on the street. She was amazed at the idea of a mama having 'a baby in her belly.' She can't get over the idea. And of course kept asking how the baby got there. "How did she eat the baby?"

So now we have to watch all the videos about "Barbie having a baby". She's been obsessed with it for months. Now she's stuffing little toys under her Barbies' dresses to play that they're having babies. Last week, she added a new element to the game: she puts a small stuffed animal under her own shirt and walks around pretending she's in labor, moaning and breathing hard. It's bizarre. And she does it constantly.

Her dad and I have talked about how this all started. She was still 2 yo last summer when these videos started showing up. We're wondering if this is some propaganda ploy to condition little girls to see pregnancy as cool and stylish. After all, Barbie is doing it and looking glamorous. I keep thinking she'll get bored with the 'game' and move on to something else. But she gets deeper into it. She looks positively beatific when she's got a stuffy under her shirt and her arms are wrapped around it. Her older sister (8) and brother (12) keep laughing at her and telling her she looks ridiculous. And she understands that, so she doesn't play it at home, only at my house. The other grandma hates it.

But my concern is that she's being propagandized. She gets very upset when I try to change the game. Anyone have thoughts?