Separate Toys By Gender Analysis

In the article “Gender-Neutral Toy Sections Are Good For Boys, Too” written by Megan Condis, Condis goes over the recent incident with Target removing gender specific toy aisles. People claim that it will help girls more considering that most of the girls toys are labeled with gender while the boys toys stand as a “default”. In her argument she states that although it will benefit girls from making them have to think they have to stick to only “girl” toys, it will benefit boys because they can now break that idea that they have to play with “boy” toys. I completely agree with Condis in her argument and fully believe that the gender specific toys affect boys just as much, if not more.

The store in which I completed my observation was Target. Target’s general layout made it easy to decipher the section designated for boys and the section designated for girls. While Target did not specifically label the aisles by gender, it was not difficult to decipher where the toys for each gender were located. The section designated for boys encompassed about three aisles consisting of various toys that would interest boys, while the section designated for girls encompassed three aisles as well. Target also consisted of about two aisles of gender-neutral toys. The kinds of toys offered for boys included guns, action figures, building sets, and cars. Types of toys offered for girls included dolls, stuffed animals, play kitchen sets, and

Envision yourself entering a toy department and noticing numerous diverse aisles. In one aisle, you encounter toys packaged in complementary and color triads colors that include building sets (such as “LEGO”, “LEGO Super Heroes”, and “Angry Birds”) and a wide selection of action figures—Spider Man, Transformers, The Dark Knight, Power Rangers, etc. In the next aisle, adjacent to the aisle with complementary and color triads colors, you find toys packaged in shades of pink and purple. These toys range from “Hello Kitty” dolls to “Barbie Dream” house play sets. Inside a toy department, such as Toys R Us, it is extremely difficult to retrieve a toy that is not marketed explicitly or subtly by gender. If toys were marketed only according to

The article by Robb is written effectively making it easy to read and understand. However, She did not sum up the article with an effective conclusion however leaving the article seemingly unfinished. Equal rights between genders are becoming evermore prevalent in recent times, therefore writing about the negative impact of gender-specific toys is appropriate

In the blog post Gender Bias in the Toy Aisles, the author discusses the issue of big-box stores’ gender gap in the toys they market to children, and the difficulty she encounters when trying to find toys for her sons that do not enforce gender bias. Her main point emphasizes the gender gap by pointing to the stylistic choices made by toy companies – girls’ toys are laden with pink and incite feelings of innocence, while boys’ toys are highly ruggedized, typically bearing camouflage or other male stereotypes such as flames. Finally, the author expresses her wish for the toy companies to stop enforcing gender biases to better equip children for their future. The author’s statement on the bias of toys is clearly well-supported.

I did not take an initial stand for this argument at the time mainly because I do not frequent box stores. The idea that toys are separated by brand I can understand. Adding colored backgrounds or signs over top specifying gender is a little over the top, but classifying a productive skill sets as a gendered toy is outrageous. Little boys and little girls should be encouraged by manufacturers to develop any skill that will enhance their ability to live. If a little boy wants to play with an easy bake oven one should be provided without a stigmatism attached. I am not a very good cook though I am a girl yet I enjoy building, two traditional gendered hobbies broken. With that said why would my son not want to learn more about cooking? I do not necessarily take a stand on one side of gender nor the other both genders are a necessity in society, I just want others to feel positive about their own likes and

     Few toys were aimed equally at both genders. Even board games, while intended for both sexes, usually seemed aimed more towards one gender or another. Both sections had a lot of gender- stereotypical toys. General ideas on girls’ and boys’ behaviors and interests were very prevalent in the toys intended for each gender. After really looking at the toys in both sections it is easy to understand why stereotypical ideas about both genders are so strong since these ideas are introduced at such a young

For the past decades, toys have been classified by gender. Boy’s toys in particular are classified boy’s toys because the toys are related to fighting or violence. For example, Star Wars toys are classified as a boy’s toy and because it is classified as a boy’s toy, toymakers don’t add Rey, the new female protagonist, probably because toymakers believe that she won’t be a big hit among the boys who buy Star War figures. Well, toymakers need to face the fact that first of all, a lot of girls love Star Wars too, as well as, a lot of boys would like

After examining how the toy section at Wal Mart was arranged I realized the toys were gender specific. Although sections weren’t labeled boys or girls, it was pretty obvious. Wal Marts toy sections use stereotypical gender oriented toys as well. The girls toy section focused mainly on feminism and caretaking.

In the article “The War on Pink: GoldieBlox Toys Ignite Debate Over What’s Good For Girls”, written by Eliana Dockterman, Dockterman talks in depth about gender specific toys. Toys like baby dolls, Barbies, Bratz, etc, are all examples of toys that are made specifically for the female gender. Dockterman examines whether these toys have helped drive girls away from STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subjects, while boys are still dominant in the STEM field. She also talks about whether gender neutral toys would help this large gap between boys and girls in STEM subjects. I believe toys are just toys, and I don’t think they determine what kind of career we become interested in as we grow older. With this being said, I believe that toys shouldn’t be segregated because not all girls are interested in “girl toys” and not all boys are interested in “boy toys”.

Thinking back to the days of my youth, many of us are brought back to the nostalgic commercials of girls playing with Barbies, and boys playing with G.I. Joes. These are just two basic examples. Since before 1997, commercials have been molding our youth to try to portray the idea of having the “perfect image” for boys and girls.“Kline’s research in Canada showed that the themes of television advertisements for toys supported traditional gender expectations in terms of types of toys with a focus on battles, action, and domination for boys, and nurturing, glamour, and domesticity for girls,” (Auster, Carol). I feel like producers of such products should broaden their gendered horizons and produce toys and entertainment that will not offend individuals. The article goes on to state how there is no location on the site that is sectioned

Since the new Star Wars movie “The Force Awakens” came out on December,18 2015 numerous shoppers have been complaining on the account of the lack of Rey toys, one of the main characters. Store owners are selling Star Wars toys and products as if Star Wars is a boy movie and a product only they would like. Customers have been accusing store owners that they are promoting gender based toys. Some stores even distribute their toys into a boy’s section and a girl’s section and people have been criticizing them for this.

The toy aisle is always the place where a little boy and girl would want to go while in a store. The toy aisle has dolls, cars, playhouses, dinosaurs, and anything a kid could even imagine. Did you just place each toy to either suiting a boy or girl more? Sexism shockingly first comes to play among kids and what colors and toys belongs to one another. I’m definitely guilty for analyzing different items for either a boy or girl, but we shouldn’t be doing this. Having the kids grow up with sexism, even if it is little things, is instructing the kids that stereotyping is okay. Personally, this topic is important to me because stereotyping is a big issue throughout the world and we could slowly stop the stereotyping by limiting it from the infant's

The same with dolls, kitchen sets, and dress up clothes. We have very successful men who are fashion designers, chefs, and fathers. Gender culture sets limits on what industries think girls or boy will be interested in or want to play with. Thinking of children in only a gender manner and not an individual manner is simple minded. Industries need to gear their toys towards both genders so that children can make the decision on their own if it is something that interests them. I think that having non-stereotyped gender schemes would greatly affect our future by allowing children to just be children and explore and play as they please and believe in themselves to be able to be anything they want to be when they grow up regardless of their gender. I think if will affect the way they see the world and themselves and build up their self-esteem. I would tell someone is buying a toy for a young child to look at the age group and think about the kinds of thing that the child is interested in exploring and go by that instead of trying to fit into the social norms of boy and girl

Going into different stores, one can easily pick up on the major gender roles each store supports. Even the morals of an innocent toy store, such as KB Toys, is tainted by the gender-differentiating dolls for girls, and trucks for boys. Upon entering the store you can tell right away which aisles attract which kids. To the left there is pink fluffy bears, pink Barbie and friends toys, white teddy bears etc. To the right there is a less vibrant color setting, coordinating army green, black, and gray color schemes. I think it is apparent to anyone who enters these stores that the pink pretty isles are meant to attract little girls, and the dark green and gray isles are meant to attract boys. Upon the packages of toy trucks and guns, there are pictures of young boys playing with them and/or cartoon male figures controlling them. On the packaging of Barbie and her friends there are also other girls on the packaging. I was unable to pick up on a single female on the package of any toy truck or gun throughout the entire store. The