Girls will be Girls

I am the proud mother of two girls. So naturally my days are filled with tea parties and fake jewelry and high heel shoes. But they are also filled with sword fights, pirates,monsters, worms, soccer, and a whole slew of other things that are not the least bit "girly". But how can that be?

Have no fear, I'm not about to tell you that we need to ban dresses for girls, or put bows in boys hair or get rid of the words "he" or "she" in the name of gender equality. I am just wondering where the neutral toys are! They seem to be exceptionally, and unnecessarily hard to find. I don't think all toys should be gender neutral, but I do think it is important to have a good sampling of toys that ARE neutral and here is why.

Boys and girls play together (or at least they should), so it makes sense for a girl to have plenty of things at her house that are welcoming for a boy. I don't think a boy would like to play with princesses and castles all day. And while there is nothing wrong with a little girl loving castles, it would be wise for her arsenal of toys to also include things like sports equipment, or arts and crafts and other toys that aren't colored pink so that a boy coming over isn't overwhelmed with "girl stuff".
The problem is, it is becoming increasingly difficult to FIND neutral toys. My oldest daughter just got a mickey mouse clubhouse coloring book for her birthday. When you think mickey mouse, who do you think of?
I thought of Mickey Mouse of course, maybe Donald and Goofy, Minnie and Pluto. But who was in this book? Minnie and Daisy. Only. It's not Mickey Mouse anymore. It's Mickey if you are a boy, and Minnie if you are a girl. Elmo for boys and Abby for girls and so on.

I urge anyone who knows a child to be aware of this growing phenomenon and to think more about the child's preferences than the "boy or girl" of it all. For instance, my oldest likes Minnie more than Mickey, but she also loves Elmo more than Abby. So when I get something sesame street for her, I think "what does she like best" instead of "what is the one for a girl". It's a simple thing to do, but I think it makes a big difference.

...that's great and all, but what do YOU think?
Would you buy your girl a train, or your boy a barbie?
What is good or bad about this phenomenon?