California, that nanniest of nanny states, seems to be on a quest to ensure it keeps that dubious crown.
Make that unisex tiara.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill last week that would require large retailers to maintain a "gender neutral" aisle for children's toys and personal care items, such as toothbrushes and other hygiene products.
"A retail department store that offers childcare items or toys for sale shall maintain a gender neutral section or area, to be labeled at the discretion of the retailer, in which a reasonable selection of the items and toys for children that it sells shall be displayed, regardless of whether they have been traditionally marketed for either girls or for boys," the legislation states.
Failure to do so means a fine of $250 for the first offense and $500 for subsequent violations.
"In retail this has led to the proliferation of [science, technology, engineering and mathematics]-geared toys in a 'boys' section and toys that direct girls to pursuits such as caring for a baby, fashion, and domestic life. The segregation of toys by a social construct of what is appropriate for which gender is the antithesis of modern thinking," the bill's sponsor, Assemblyman Evan Low, wrote in a statement.
Proponents see this as empowering young girls to reject limiting gender roles. Opponents see it as another example of the left's war on traditional values.
But it's really a whole lot of nothing.
Most big retailers have already stopped marketing toys by gender. They don't care if little girls play with GI Joes or little boys play with Barbies. They only care that parents whip out the credit card.
And the law won't stop manufacturers from packaging their products by gender if marketing suggests they sell more that way, or from churning out things like toothbrushes in pink and blue.
It's just California being California. Keep moving. Nothing to see here.