Teddy Bears and Gender Stereotypes

This week my friends and I went to Build a Bear- to build a teddy bear obviously!
The whole shop is quite a performance. You pick a 'skin' of sorts of the bear colour and shape you like. Then an employee holds him onto a long metal pole that shoots fluff into him. It can be soft, medium or hard to the touch. Then you put a "heart" into the bear. Most are red satin ones, however, for $10 you can make yours have a heart that beats when you squeeze it (probably the creepiest thing I've ever heard/felt).
Then it's time to close your eyes, make a wish and give the heart a kiss (humiliating for over 20 year old girls), but we went along with it.
Now it's time to shop for your bear- and here is where my problem began. Is my bear a boy or a girl?

They had sports outfits, princess dresses, male and female versions of everything- I had never seen so much pink and baby blue in my life. The girls I was with b-lined for the pink fluffy sparkles, but I was torn. Why can't my teddy bear just be a bear? I chose an Australian themed t-shirt- something cute and basic that reminded me of my time here. It also says "hug freely" which I love. I picked a black bear cuz I dont have one that colour.

I neglected to chose pants, glasses, shoes, cell phones, leashes, an ipad or sports equipment for my bear- it's a bear of simple needs. And my favourite bear has only worn a bow tie his whole 14 year old life.

And now came the problem: Is your bear a boy or a girl? What are you going to name it?

I don't know... I wanted to name it Tim Tam after the tasty cookies here in Australia (and I have a reputation for naming all my stuffed animals after flavours- i.e. chocolate, vanilla, walnut, strawberry, cherrycheesecake and now Tim Tam).  

I feel like I'm too old and too educated now to want to define things by gender. I've always been an advocate of gay rights and all the issues involved with that community- now this bear was giving me a crisis! People have been guessing that he's a boy because his name is Tim Tam, he's wearing  t-shirt so he's a boy, but she's fluffy so she's a girl. It's a freakin teddy bear!

*Lightbulb* a teddy bear I will use to educate my friends- meet my GENDERLESS BEAR- shocking, I know. I refer to this bear as an it- or by it's name Tim Tam (TT for short). Point- pink does not mean girls, pants and t-shirts don't mean boys. If more people think they way I think maybe I wont have to have a mini meltdown in Build A Bear ever again.

I want to teach my kids this too one day. You can like WHATEVER you want to like, REGARDLESS of your gender. That's important! Be comfortable, not conforming.

I learned a lot that day at build a bear hahaha. But seriously, these are the things I think of. 

Tim Tam- Halle Beary- Kiki