I have the opposite experience. I am a raving liberal, my family is as well, and we live in liberal Liberland. I thought raising a kid in a way not overly focused on gender would be easy. It’s not like I’ve banned pink or princesses or anything, but my plan was to keep a balance, and to have the “pink” be one option out of many.
I have been consistently bowled over by how strong and pervasive adults need to project gender on a baby. Strangers will scold me for not putting one of those stupid headbands on her so they can tell she’s a girl. Every retail establishment catering to kids looks like segregated facilities. 100% of the hand me downs I receive are pink. The random things people say to her about being a girl are almost unbelievable. It’s almost like a parody how much people are trying to shove this little baby into an identity she doesn’t even have a concept of yet.
Unless I made it my life’s work, I would not be able to counter this. Mothers are strong, but you can’t keep out the whole darn world.