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Read quickly discovered Blatchford—the youngest of four sisters—was the more confident character of the two, and although she occasionally experimented with make-up and had recently begun flirting with boys her age, was very much a tomboy and enjoyed playing football, climbing trees and playing with boys' toys such as Hornby train sets. Furthermore, at the time of her disappearance, Blatchford was markedly excited about the upcoming wedding of her sister Linda, in which she was to be a bridesmaid. By contrast, Hanlon, although described by his family as a "plucky boy", was shy by comparison. Hanlon was the youngest of three siblings. He enjoyed exercise, and his one great love was football.
The detail seems irrelevant to the article now, though I can see it adds to the characterisation of the victims so maybe it's important for that reason. The other problem is that it reads as outrageously sexist from a 2022 perspective. It illustrates attitudes at the time, but would be better presented as a quotation from the source, if anyone has access to it. --Northernhenge (talk) 10:01, 30 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
The choice of victim and how they can initiate contact (with victims not related to them or generally within their care) to gain trust/acquaintance is a factor in these offenders. There is nothing sexist about a girl playing with toy Hornby trains, or a boy being shy (then or now). At the time, Read was looking into their background and general lifestyles to determine if they had run away... I'll add a source.--Kieronoldham (talk) 04:09, 1 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. (“playing with boys' toys” is the most obvious one!)—Northernhenge (talk) 07:46, 1 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Target markets are just that. I always thought Rainbow Brite was intended for female audiences (my two sisters loved that cartoon in the late 1980s); me and my brother liked Wheeled Warriors. None of us were panicking thinking we'd hurt or marginalize the feelings of maybe 2% of the population. I thought we'd all come beyond that--Kieronoldham (talk) 19:36, 3 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
