ping
I think that you make excellent points.
Real boys just had bigger toys when they grew up. They manipulated things and ideas. Only giggolos and pimps manipulated people. Girls, on the other hand, grew up to be real women who manipulated other people into cooperating.
As has been noted by many, boys now manipulate "action figures"... When those boys grow up, they manipulate people because that is what they learned to do as a kid.
What, you never had GI Joe, green army men or Roy Roger/Lone Ranger action figures?
Can you really believe that Chatty Cathy is responsible for women being manipulative?