Target Toys
Girl:
Wonder Woman Shield: "A natural leader and born athlete... now girls can explore her power too"
Cabbage Patch toddler toy: "Pretty includes a new hairstyle and hair bow"
Minnie Phone: "She's always happy with Minnie's happy helpers phone"
Boy:
Take Along Tool Kit: "Your strong little carpenter will learn the tools of the trade"
Buzz light year Hood: "Lets him suit up like a space ranger and blast off"
Lego Town Police Patrol: "Stop the crook and lock him in the police van"
Right away I could see that they associated certain colors with the different gendered toys. For example, a lot of the boy toys were colors like blue and green, while many of the girl toys were colors like pink and purple. Looking at the messages that the different toys and clothing portrayed wasn't necessarily something that was downgrading towards the other gender, aside from the Lego Town Police Patrol toy in the boy section. This toy in specific showed a male cop and a male criminal. There are also female criminals out there, and I feel there should have been a little bit more diversity with this toy in specific, showing that early on anyone can be a criminal or suspect. These gender based toys were framed as girls being more lady like by playing with dolls, doing their hair, and even being a happy helper on the Minnie phone with many women being secretaries. Also the girl toys were ones that kids needed to be gentle with in order to keep playing with them. As for the boy section, they were framed as being brave and being able to become strong and being able to fix things like the tool kit toy for example. In conclusion, even toys and clothing for toddlers teach some gender norms really early that I see even as an adult now.
I agree that there is a color biased in the toys, and I laugh at the same time because I never played with the "right toys" I guess. I owned a lot of cars and tool sets in my younger days, but I played with dolls as well. So, I can see how you could mix and match to make a well rounded play life for kids!
ReplyDeleteYou raise an important point about how the toys themselves lack diversity, and may not always seem to degrade the other gender. But then we have to look at the messages they send about the kind of things each gender does and how they should act.
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