>, but is she _actually_ free to choose because she got influenced by her grandma first? Who‘s to say? To add to your rhetorical question of the inability to t

>, but is she _actually_ free to choose because she got influenced by her grandma first? Who‘s to say? To add to your rhetorical question of the inability to trace the source of gender preferences, some research on non-human primates was done.[1] In 2002, a study of vervet monkeys in the UK found male/female preferences for boy/girl toys.[2] That behavior was independently replicated in 2008 with rhesus monkeys in the USA displaying the same gender preferences.[3] There were also other studies of human infants[4] displaying gender preferences, and studies showing similar preferences across different cultures and countries.[5] Those results will probably not change minds on either side because -- the belief that it's mostly nature or belief that it's mostly nurture -- is too ingrained for any evidence to modify. If one leans towards innate differences, the studies confirm the beliefs. If one leans toward cultural influences, then the studies are rejected with "monkeys are not humans!" or "who's to say the lab monkeys didn't learn boy/girl toy preferences from the researchers?" The meta question then becomes: is it even possible to construct a nature/nurture science experiment that can actually convince one side or the other? (The answer seems to be "no" based on several hundred years of debate on "nature vs nurture" with no final resolution.) [1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/200804/why-do-boys-and-girls-prefer-different-toys https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-scientific-funda... [2] 2002 paper: https://www.ehbonline.org/article/S1090-5138(02)00107-1/abstract https://www.ehbonline.org/article/S1090-5138(02)00107-1/abst... [3] 2008 paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2583786/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2583786/ [4] https://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/06/03/infants-show-a-preference-for-toys-that-match-their-gender-before-they-know-what-gender-is/ https://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/06/03/infants-show-a-preferen... [5] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/icd.2064 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/icd.2064