Plans for my house swap are going well. The only problem to emerge is over decor. I am moving my three young sons into a house previously occupied by three small girls, and so pink bedrooms covered in fairies and butterflies have to be painted blue before any furniture or male children are installed. This situation set me off on a post-feminist train of thought. Why is everything for children so gender specific these days? When I was a kid in the 1970s, girls and boys wore flared jeans and stripy tops - that was it, save for the odd zip-up, belted boiler suit with big collars. We had plain Tupperware lunch boxes and coke bottle pencil cases. All the pink and frilly stuff existed, but it represented minority taste for girls. Now it is all-inclusive. You can't get a pencil sharpener, computer game or can of spaghetti shapes that doesn't indicate gender. And what's more, there doesn't seem to be any backlash. Where have all the tomboys gone? The little lasses who cut their hair short, would rather die than be a bridesmaid, went fishing and played only with Airfix. Enid Blyton's George (Georgina in the Famous Five) is a great example. Perhaps I am wrong, but they don't seem to exist anymore. I have touted this idea around and various theories have been put forward: association with lesbianism; disillusionment with the male role in society; over-sexualisation of children; lack of outdoor play; commercial exploitation. Pretty heavy stuff I'd say. I'll explain it all to the boys and keep the pink bedrooms after all. I am sure they will understand that it is important to crack gender stereotypes.