Gender biases and stereotypes in
children’s toys
I have a challenge for you all: whenever you have the free time to visit a local toy store (Toys R Us, Walmart, Target, etc.), walk over to the
toy section and see if you spot any gender biases/stereotypes in their toys. Most often
than not, you will notice a major difference between “boys” and “girls” toys. An
assignment that I had to do for one of my classes was write a paper explaining
if there were any gender biases for the toys at a local toy store. I will just
briefly explain my experience during my visit:
I decided to go to the Babies R Us on Alafaya Trail. I
walked over to the “pink” section first. Everything in the “Dolls” aisle was
literally wrapped in bright pink packaging. From Barbie Dolls to Hello Kitty,
the entire section was engulfed in pink. The only section in the girls’ aisle
that was not bright pink was the Frozen section. This area was periwinkle. The selections
of toys for girls were narrowed down to vampire, fairy and Barbie dolls,
stuffed cats, ponies and unicorns, and pretend house items. The fake baby dolls
were all in one section, however. There were also strollers and baby clothes
provided for them. The box on these dolls said, “Perfect for Caring and
Nurturing”. I also noticed that the dolls were predominantly white. There was
only one baby doll that was of a darker skin tone. The last section was the
“Pretend Play”. This section had pretend kitchen sets, pretend cookware,
pretend iron with an ironing board, and pretend vacuum cleaners. Young, white
girls were depicted on most these toys and the other toys in the “pink”
section.
Next, I went to the boys’ section. This section was mostly
dark blue, however there were other areas colored yellow and red. “Trucks &
Cars” was exactly that: Hot Wheels, toy trucks, and a Star Wars spacecraft. The
“Action Figures” were extremely fit and defined. I also noted that I did not
see any action figures with a darker skin tone. There were either white or
Hispanic, young boys depicted on these on the boxes. The bikes were also
gendered. The girls’ bikes were pink and had frilly ribbons on the handlebars.
They were significantly smaller than the boys’ bike. The boys’ bikes looked
more durable and appeared more reliable.
This experience showed me how toy companies feed into the
social construct of gender and how heavily of an influence they have on young
children. I also learned that parents are more likely to give children a
requested “gender-typical” toy than a requested cross-gender toy because this
is how they want their children to be identified based on their biological sex.
They want their children to behave a certain way based on their gender. Girls
become aware that they are able to play with masculine items and not be
penalized for it. Boys were always told not to play with feminine toys, so
their preferences will most likely remain the same as they get older. By doing
this, the kind of message parents are sending to their children is that their
children should only be happy playing with toys for their gender and that if
they played with cross-gendered toys they will not be “normal” and will be
punished.
Representation is everything and heavily influences how a
child perceives themselves. If a kid sees a child on a box that looks like them
(i.e. same gender, race, age), then they are more likely to want that toy and
believe that they are only allowed to play with that toy. Toy companies are
very good at marketing to children this way. By being taught that girls and
boys can only play with their gender-specified toys at a young age, this
greatly influences how they choose to express the gender when they are older. The
images and labeling of toys has a great influence to children’s gender
identities.
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