Toy for boy or girl?
Posted on 12/09/2014 8:59:09 PM PST by dennisw
Many who embrace the new status quo in toys claim that gender-neutrality would be synonymous with taking away choice, in essence forcing children to become androgynous automatons who can only play with boring tan objects.
However, as the bright palette and diverse themes found among toys from the ‘70s demonstrates, decoupling them from gender actually widens the range of options available. It opens up the possibility that children can explore and develop their diverse interests and skills, unconstrained by the dictates of gender stereotypes. And ultimately, isn’t that what we want for them?
However, late-century marketing relied less on explicit sexism and more on implicit gender cues, such as color, and new fantasy-based gender roles like the beautiful princess or the muscle-bound action hero. These roles were still built upon regressive gender stereotypes—they portrayed a powerful, skill-oriented masculinity and a passive, relational femininity—that were obscured with bright new packaging. In essence, the "little homemaker" of the 1950s had become the "little princess" we see today.
It doesn’t have to be this way. While gender is what’s traditionally used to sort target markets, the toy industry (which is largely run by men) could categorize its customers in a number of other ways—in terms of age and interest, for example. (This could arguably broaden the consumer base.)
However, the reliance on gender categorization comes from the top: I found no evidence that the trends of the past 40 years are the result of consumer demand. That said, the late-20th-century increase in the percentage of Americans who believe in gender differences suggests that the public wasn’t exactly rejecting gendered toys, either.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
This is awful for the kiddies!!!! I am appalled!!!
gender stereotypes???
Boy Stereos and Gurl Stereos??
“Many who embrace the new status quo in toys claim ...”
The “new status quo in toys”?
These liberals live in a loony land world. They’re nuts in the way they think and communicate.
No, Rocco. You can’t play with the Miss Polly Prissypants Tea Set.
I listened to this feminist psychologist who, before she had children, swore she would give her sons “girl” toys, and her daughters “boy” toys. When she had kids, both a boy and a girl, she gave the boy a doll, the girl a truck. Her son used the doll as a gun, and her daughter pretended the truck was a baby. It was then when she realized that boys and girls have different roles that they will inevitably act out.
Where do they make toys these days?
When my daughter was 4 years old, she said “Daddy, will you play dinosaurs with me? “I was glad that she wanted to play something that I knew how to play. So I said “sure, how about the dinosaurs have a war? “
“No Daddy, the dinosaurs are going to have a wedding! “ she replied.
The only thing gender nuetral I want in my bedroom is a lightswitch...
Even as weird as things are now, I don’t think many girls are gonna want a USS Enterprise aircraft carrier model kit for christma like I did.
CC
A Dinosaur Wedding!? My goodness, they start young thinking about what matters to them.
Toy for boy or girl?
Haha, that’s so cute!
hilarious! Must have been Barney the purple dinosaur
From Leave It To Beaver:
“Ward, what would you have done if you had seen a boy Beaver’s age pushing a doll carriage when you were a boy?”
“Why, we’d have clobbered him, of course!”
More men today are into My Little Pony than there were in the 1980s.
The birth of Bridezilla.
...and then the dragon ate the prince and princess
and lived happily ever after.
THEY ARE TOYS FOR CHILDREN!!! Can’t these feculent liberals leave anything alone?
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