Sexist toy-labeling

[GoddessOfGuinness]

I just got the most recent Fisher-Price toy catalog in the mail. A page full of dollhouses is headlined, "It's Great to be a Girl!"
The next few pages of age 3+ appropriate toys advertise their product with little girl models having fun with these products.

While the majority of these toys may well be purchased for little girls, why do they have to advertise that these are "girls' toys"?
Are they really so stupid that they think little boys wouldn't enjoy playing with a pretend family?

Or is this is some sort of corporate plot to reestablish gender stereotypes? :grr:

[Dufaeth]

1. Reestablish??

I don't think this sort of thing went away in the first place.

[Deja Q]

2. We can't have young boys leaning how to be fathers!

I mean given the current stereotypes of males, we don't want to give that up so why change the environment our young grow up in?

[DrWeird]

3. Oh, i know, I was in a toy store the other day.

And almost all of those sex toys were marketed for women.

[Character Assassin]

4. Yeah.....that's it. A plot.....to exploit gender differences.

There are quite distinct differences in what little boys and girls like to play with and at.

They are not so stupid as to think that little boys wouldn't enjoy playing with a pretend family, but they are pretty secure in the knowledge that most wouldn't, although some might, and they market accordingly.

This isn't nefarious, just smart money.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. As I said, it may well be that most of the toys are purchased for girls...

But I've seen plenty of boys play with them as well...including my own. This isn't to say that they don't also enjoy fire trucks and construction sets and guns; but little girls often play with those toys as well.

There's NO point in marketing a toy as gender specific. If little girls like something, they'll like it regardless of whether or not boys like it too.

I see something harmful in this sort of advertising...It limits a child's perspective of what is socially acceptable for them to play with, and ultimately pursue as an adult.

[Character Assassin]

8. I think that's reading waaaaaaay too much into this.

There's NO point in marketing a toy as gender specific. If little girls like something, they'll like it regardless of whether or not boys like it too.

Perhaps you've noticed they're marketing to the people who can read the catalogs and make the purchases: the parents. The kids don't care one way or another.

I see something harmful in this sort of advertising...It limits a child's perspective of what is socially acceptable for them to play with, and ultimately pursue as an adult.

Kids play with what they want to, and won't think anything is unacceptable unless an authority figure tells them so. As far as what they pursue as an adult, I hesitate to think that the product classification in a Fisher-Price catalog for products for 3 year olds will effect the outcome of that very much.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. Make no mistake...

Kids see the catalogs and will be attracted to the toys they like. As they grow older, they'll start to notice the gender marketing strategy.

Kids play with what they want to, and won't think anything is unacceptable unless an authority figure tells them so. As far as what they pursue as an adult, I hesitate to think that the product classification in a Fisher-Price catalog for products for 3 year olds will effect the outcome of that very much.

Marketing companies act as an authority figure in the minds of kids. Think about it...When children want to know more about a toy, they'll look at the ad. They'll notice all the details of what the toy does and what kind of kid is playing with it. Boys will readily notice that there are no pictures of little boys playing with dollhouses and quickly assume that it is not acceptable for them to play with them.

Consider men's haircolor. At one time any man who colored his hair would have been laughed into eternity. Then someone came out with a product "for men" which would eliminate grey hair. It's marketed "for men", so it won't diminish anyone's masculinity by using it. There's probably no reason why women could not use this product, and probably no reason why men couldn't have used women's haircolor; but the
marketing implies that it's socially unacceptable for these products to be used by both men and women.

[FireHeart]

9. My daughter...

liked playing with all sorts of toys.."boy" toys and "girl" toys...she often combined them in various ways.

She'd put Barbie in a firetruck and Ken in a house. Or something else. She was encouraged to use her imagination, not her social programming. She had great fun :)

[Richardo]

5. Boys will be boys...

My divorced sister-in-law scrupulously kept her son (my nephew) away from all war toys, violent programs, etc for much his developmental years.

He still came in the room pointing his finger like a pistol and "shooting" at things.

Not that I support "gender stereotyping" - it's just that I don't think most boys would sit still very long to play dolls.

It's more "marketing" than "stereotyping".

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. My father-in-law thought it was stupid of me

to buy a dollhouse for my son. It's one of his favorite toys. He also likes guns, but fortunately his pretend family doesn't shoot at each other. :D

My son, at age 5, is starting to notice gender marketing, and is starting to shy away from things he'd ordinarily be attracted to. For example, he was concerned about whether the television show "Dora the Explorer" was for girls or boys. I find this show educationally beneficial for him, as it exposes him to Spanish and encourages an interest in geography. I don't want him to feel inhibited about watching something which offers these things.

[Nikia]

7. I have seen little boys enjoy playing domestically

I have seen many little boys younger than school age play with stuffed animals or dolls (usually male dolls for parents who are willing to defy the doll stereotype) and give them family type rolls. I have also seen girls play with cars and warlike toys. I have two young female cousins whose parents bought them matching babydolls and toy rifles for Christmas. They enjoyed playing with both of them but unfortunately pretended to shoot each other's dolls. I think most children enjoy pretending a wide variety of activities that they see adults (or super heros) participating in both in real life and on televsion. They are often discouraged from playing with the other stereotyped gender's toys, especially in school or earlier if they are in day care. Personally, I built things with a wide variety of blocks and pretended a wide variety of things with my Barbies, action figures, other dolls, and stuffed animals. My toys represented characters in impromtu stories that my sister and I would create. Creativity is good and should not be stifled by stereotypes.

[davidinalameda]

10. I thought this said sex-toy labeling

:wtf:

[HEyHEY]

12. I used to be a little boy....

And I didn't want anything to do with such things...all I did with "toy families" was torture and maim them. Boys and girls are different, they are marketing to Girls, that's who they see as their money maker.

Also, I don't see how a plastic family is supposed to teach a kid how to be a father...does a plastic horse teach them how to be cowboys?

It's all about whatever kids respond to, if little Jimmy wants a dollhouse, he'll tell his mom. When I was young , I never cared for the actual house, I just liked building it with my dad..then he gave it to my sister...that was the last I saw of it.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. But why not market toward girls and boys?

You'll find as many differences between girls as a group as you will between boys and girls. I'm sure there are little girls who would torture and maim their toys as well.

But why risk making a perfectly normal boy who enjoys playing "nurturing" games thinking that something is wrong with him?...or a perfectly normal girl who enjoys "combat" games?

I can't believe these companies make more money by marketing their toys for a specific gender only. If anything, I'd think they would lose money by doing so.

[geebensis]

15. I have never once attempted to steer my kids

...towards (or away from) toys based on what anyone might consider "appropriate".

Nevertheless, the boys gravitate towards cars and transformer type stuff, and the girl likes puzzles, card games, and hair and make up stuff.

One exceptional request I got was for a pretend stove from one son when he was 4. I guess since I do all the cooking in the house he thinks cooking is a guy thing. His only condition was that the toy stove not be pink.

Try finding a toy stove for a 4 year old that isn't pink...

[ForrestGump]

16. I don't know nothin' about no sex toys

Ahh....the rarely-glimpsed triple negative.

"What's wrong with being sexy?"

[George_Bonanza]

17. Differences are inherent, not socially conditioned

Yes, it'd be nice if there were no marketing angles on every toy to a gender, the fact is that these people have to make money. Girls, for the most part, will play with dolls. Boys, for the most part, will play with more aggressive toys like guns and swords. There will always be a minority that goes against that grain, but it doesn't make sense for a business to cater to some minority. I played with stuffed animals more than action figures when I was used to be interested in those. I was also heavily involved with Lego.

There was an article in MacLean's where an "enlightened" couple tried to raise their kids completely free from the evils of social conditioning of "gender stereotypes" (boys liking guns is not a stereotype but a scientific fact). They tried giving their sons a kitchen set, but without any interference from outside media or influence, since they're little kids, guess what they did. The boys took off the legs of the tables and used them as machine guns. Of course, this wasn't a scientific, quantitative lab experiment, it was more of a light anecdote. But still, it shows that there are differences between boys and girls, and trying to ignore that in a PC way is not accurate.