Many parents drew the line at Barbie, for instance (who was regularly requested by the little boys) or tried to diminish her quintessential femininity: ‘I would ask him, “What do you want for your birthday?” … and he always kept saying Barbie … So we compromised, we got him a NASCAR [National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing] Barbie.’ Another father said that if his son ‘really wanted to dance, I’d let him …, but at the same time, I’d be doing other things to compensate for the fact that I signed him up for dance.’19
