How do you feel about the marketing, though? I don't object to my daughter reveling in dolls, fancy clothes, and Playmobil, but I do object to specific character brands being pushed at her. I feel they collapse the imagination space too much.
I have, somewhat shockingly to my sneering internal 13 year old boy, allowed My Little Pony branding through my relatively strict anti-brand filter, because the female characters are surprisingly reasonable.
But on the whole, it's a struggle. Every other product my daughter sees at Target is a branded Disney product, and even though she's never even seen most of the characters animated, she's drawn like a moth to a flame.
I think the author meant something different with "gender free toys" than you are implying here, as she's merely talking about the marketing. You didn't really explain why you departed halfway through the article.
Try flicking through a toys store booklet, and you will see the stereotypes and strict categorization in words, color and example come flying at you.
But I departed about halfway through the article, at "gender free toys."
It's no secret that on average, women tend to be more empathetic than men, and men tend to be more assertive/combative than women. There are of course exceptions to this rule, and of course, reasons why each sex should develop both skills.
However, after reading "Now, Discover Your Strengths" it's also _vitally_ important that you play to your natural strengths more than anything. For a large percentage of women, this may mean developing the very valuable skill of empathy, and for men, this may mean learning to control and focus their natural aggression. Gender oriented toys can help children develop these skills at a young age.
There's a wide spectrum of overlap between men and women but denying the very obvious truth that they are inherently different is not only ridiculous but can disable people from using their natural abilities to suceed.