Gender issues OR tomboys are still girls

I realized today that in spite of our LGBT(Q)-affirmative society, we still are categorizing interests and activities and "what defines our gender" almost completely by gender stereotypes. This isn't tongue-in-cheek, so bear with me while i try to explain my ever-jumbled thoughts. :) 

This came to me because of Penny, my two-year-old. Penny is going to be an amazing person someday/IS an amazing person today. She loves to dress up as Elsa, and frilly pink skirts and bling-covered shoes delight her heart. But she also is rough and tumble and interested in mechanical things and, although i know forget the perfect example i saw of this this morning, she likes a lot of what are generally stereotypes as "boy" pursuits. (And to really get into things, Kaylen wears boys' boxer briefs because she H.A.T.E.S the way panties feel.) But do i feel any concern that they're going to grow up hating their gender? No! I am ready to affirm them both in their female-ness and in the things they love to do, and I will tell them not to give up if they choose work that not many women do. Women didn't used to be doctors, either. That doesn't mean Elizabeth Blackwell had the slightest bit of confusion about or distaste for her gender. 

The world isn't somehow braver and better now, though. We still have gender role stereotypes, but we try to twist our sexuality to match them. That little girl loves to climb everything and wants to be a train engineer? Time to start calling her Robert...or maybe just a lesbian. That little boy is interested in babies? Time to rename him Marsha and get him gender reassignment surgery. This seems like the ultimate in gender sterotypes to me. 

So Penny, Kaylen, and Link -- please, do those things that God has given you a deep, good love for. Feel free to smash through people's stereotypes while you're at it. God made you for HIS delight, not theirs.