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| This was my reaction to the painfully gendered toys. |
Does ridiculously gendered toys bring you down?
Me too!
During my visitation in Times Square's Toys R Us store, I focused on gender and how toys are treated and separated by gender. As I walked into the store, I looked up to see half of a UFO which not only reminded me of "Roswell," but had me feel as though I was being transported from Times Square into a world of "Pure Consumerism."
My immediate reaction was to stare at the brightly-lit ferris wheel with each car designed with a brand/licensed, such as Scooby-Doo, Barbie, and Toy Story. There were no "original" designs for these cars, the brands were recognizable and nostalgic, making you want to spend $5 to ride the ferris wheel.
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| Families in these cars: parents looked bored & children looked pleased. |
Walking in a group, I noticed there were more young adults and parents roaming the stores than children. Furthermore, I realized the colors consistently changed depending on the products. A prime example would be with the Barbie section where the majority of the belongings were pink and stereotypically feminine, whereas the playmobile toys were predominantly blue and stereotypically masculine. In the Barbie "dream house," it was very small and unexpectedly disappointing. On the right-hand side were expensive barbie dolls of different movie characters, such as the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz. On the left were cheaper ken dolls from romantic movie characters, such as Jasper Cullen from Twilight. Surrounding these two display sections was a continuous sea of pink boxes of dolls. The people in the Barbie house were all women (excluding the men from our class). The men avoided the Barbie house like the plague, yet in the boy-toys section, no one seemed to want to leave....
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| Girl toys are either PINK or PURPLE /// Boy toys are BLUE and RED. |
Near the Playmobile section, there was a dragon and a knight and other male figurines on display. The packaging were blue and the characters portrayed on the boxes were predominantly male. Where the toys in Barbie were collectible dolls from movies (specifically romantic), the toys in the Playmobile were of buildings, travel, and adventure. No romance? Is this just a "girl things"?
A stark contrast of both sections is seen in the picture above. This brings us to the question as to why toys are so gendered. In the LEGO section, the majority of the characters portrayed on the packaging were male. In the Mid-Town Comics & general super-hero/ninja section, the majority of the superheroes were male. Barely a female character in sight. In these sections both girls and boys were putting on masks and having fun. But in the girl sections, the majority of the people around them were girls and consisted of handbags and vanity products. This is an immense difference from the LEGO and superhero sections!!
Why do people shy away from the girl's section, filled with pinks and purples and dolls and vanity products, but everyone surrounds the boy's section, filled with blues and reds and dolls ("action figures") and heroes? As a female, I felt frustrated with the lack of accurate female representation. Not all girls like pink. Some girls like blue, yellow, red, green, etc. Some girls like adventure, action, violence, dinosaurs, and superheroes just as much as the boys. With this said, not all boys like blue and red. Some boys like pink, purple, yellow, etc. Some boys like romance, vanity products, and collectible dolls (woopse! I meant... "action figures").
Toys project the gender stereotypes we are surrounded with and it's not subtle.
Now, if you excuse me, the city is in trouble and I need to put on my blue super-suit and go on an action-packed adventure of justice.
