I realise how deeply heteronormative it is to have the “girls” be saved by the “boys”

As an uncle to several exclusively female children, I have been struck by how hard the little girls push traditional gender roles during play time. I’ve never seen any of their parents support such a thing, but the second the dolls come out it’s “I’m a princess and you have to save me” or “Oh, what if you just saw that she’s a pretty girl and you want to marry her!” If I put short hair on a girl doll they become incensed. Playing the Life video game I had my girl character marry a girl and that did not go over well. Her mom told me “I explained same sex relationships to her so I don’t know where this is coming from.”

Of course this is overshadowed by the unhinged narratives they construct. After saving the princess from the tower, there is usually an episode of unspeakable horror I was unprepared for. One of them has this character she calls “Knife Baby”. It’s a life sized baby doll she has taped a knife to, and we have to take care of the baby because it’s a baby and too young to be tried for its crimes, but it constantly hungers for violence. We’ll walk it around in a stroller and slowly the other dolls will disappear until I notice and ask, then I learn “Oh Knife Baby has been killing the others and burying the bodies.” I thought we were just out for a nice walk.