Dangerously Gendered Toys

I've blogged before about the ridiculous gender stereotyping of toys.  Commentators at womens e-news report that the phenomenon is getting worse, not better:

As the 2005 holiday shopping season begins in earnest, what's out there for girls to find under the tree?

Across the spectrum of gifts and toys, most retailers have retreated to a pink-and-blue world, aiming products at the sexes as if they really did come from different planets. After a unisex phase, large toy stores have returned to boy and girl aisles because they are more profitable.

"The gulf between His and Hers sides looms like the parted Red Sea," writes Michael Kimmel, a sociologist at State University of New York, Stony Brook. "Woe to him who strolls inadvertently into Barbie-land from the land of the action figures. It's not simply those cute blue-and-pink blankets anymore. Everything is coded."

That's for sure.  My husband and I had to search long and hard to find a bicycle for Emma that fell somewhere between "glittery pinky purple with tassles" and "clunky military camouflage."  I'm happy with the bicycle we found, but I'm a little concerned that she'll feel out of place among her friends' princess-encrusted vehicles.

This gendered-toy trend is bad for boys as well as girls.  Kids learn through play, and boys need to learn  so-called "girl" skills (nurturing, cooperative toys) as much as girls need to learn so-called "boy" skills (active, constructive toys).  Not only that, but every child deserves the opportunity to discover the activities that he or she finds rewarding, whether or not "most" girls or boys agree.   I just don't understand why we need to put gender straitjackets on kids too little to do anything but play.

(But then, I'm the one who was pushed out of a local mom e-group after some moms debated whether  The Wiggles could damage their sons' masculinity.  One mom said that her toddler had heard so many negative comments from his male relatives that he'd started calling the group, "The-Wiggles-they-are-NOT-gay!" I wondered aloud whether cultural anxiety over sexuality had contributed to a climate in which preschool education was considered low-paid women's work, in contrast to The Wiggles' home country of Australia.  One mom angrily replied that my comment was offensive to many on the list who "didn't support that kind of lifestyle."   I'm still not sure what kind of lifestyle she meant.  Dressing in primary colors?  Driving a big red car?  Hanging out with a dinosaur? Singing songs about fruit salad?)

Comments

[Mommyprof]

It is such a fine line between wanting your daughter to not be straightjacketed and wanting her to be able to play with other girls. We have the pink seashell bike and My Little Ponies, but I draw the line at Bratz.

[Amis Maldonado]

Hello Beth, I came upon your article while doing research for a project in my Communications class. The class is Sex and Gender. I chose "Toys" as the topic for my group project. A few weeks ago I went to Toys R Us for the first time in yeeeeeears to look at toys. I was absolutely disgusted and pissed off. Disgusted by several toys, including one for little girls called "Little Mommy", a "competetive dating" game for ages 6+, a "Desperate Housewives" video game for teens, and the overly sexed "Bratz" and "Bratz Babies". Pissed off because these companies literally manipulate children to fall into these stereotypical roles. And our society allows it. The other day I told a friend that if I ever have children I will only allow sex-neutral toys- she said "what will they play with? A brick? A cardboard box?"

[Gill]

I agree! My friends' daughter won't have anything blue. At 5 she already vehemently shuns anything that's not pink and/or fluffy. Her mother says 'That's just the way she is' even though I gently explain that she has had this attitude rammed down her throat from the point of birth. What suprises me most as that this mother did Sociology at school!