Trolls post abuse on photos of 3-year-old boy over Barbie Easter egg
Trolls have targeted photos of a 3-year-old on social media after his uncle bought him a My Little Pony Easter egg.
Martin Van Evelingen hosted a barbeque on Easter Sunday, and gifted some Easter eggs to his 3-year-old nephew Braydon.
But after he posted photos of his nephew at the gathering in Redruth, Cornwall, trolls attacked him and the child for the choice of chocolate eggs.
He bought a large My Little Pony egg and three mini Barbie eggs.
The choice was based on Braydon’s three favourite programmes, Thomas the Tank Engine, My Little Pony and Paw Patrol.
Despite nobody at the barbeque caring about the treats, some took to social media to comment on photos posted by Van Evelingen.
One wrote: “Why buys a boy a ‘girl’ Easter egg? How nasty and disrespectful”
While another added: “How disgusting you forcing a boy to like My Little Pony and Barbie when the audience is aimed at girls.”
Despite claiming to be “all for equality”, a third added: “Buying a girly egg for a boy is another level of equality.”
Others claimed: “Barbie is for girls, not boys unless they are gay!” and “Boys should play with cars not ponies!”
The proud uncle, who happens to be gay, says he thinks toys and gifts for children should be gender-neutral.
He says he has now removed comments posted to his Instagram account after his sister Zyrana became upset that those commenting would target her son.
Posting a photo of his nephew on Facebook, Van Evelingen said he would “stand by” the kid, and added: “He loved them all, and that’s all that matters! The smiles were enough!!”
Speaking to PinkNews, the proud uncle said: “Packaging should not be the reason for buying something, when Zyrana and I were in school we had a box full of boy toys and a box full of girl toys.
“With us being in 2017, I would like to think that the generations and school have come a long way since then, but from the comments I was receiving it shows to me that a lot of schools still have the typical ‘boy toys/zone’ & ‘girl toys/zone’.”
Adding: “Not buying a toy a child wants because it is aimed at the opposite sex is vile, all children have the right to play with and believe what they want to. So let all children play with what they want.”
Meanwhile, a BBC News presenter has posted a series of tweets about gender neutral toilets introduced at a popular London performance venue.
Samira Ahmed, presenter of BBC shows Front Row and Newswatch, launched into a Twitter tirade after the Barbican changed its toilet signs.
Last month Twitter unveiled a “gender-neutral” default profile picture in order to be inclusive and reduce trolling.
Back in 2016, this boy went shopping with his mother to pick out a new toy when a judgemental shop customer interrupted about his choice of a doll, he put her right in her place.
