Toys were designed to assist children to learn and adapt to society. Some toys have educational purposes and some toys have domestic purposes. Many companies in retail settings now categorize toys by age, type, and gender. The toy store I chose for this assignment was Toys R Us. The reason I chose this specific store was because I felt that it would give me better knowledge during my examination simply for the reason that there are only toys and no biased involved. Several things came as a shock to me since I never really payed any attention to the gender roles, stereotypes and etc. During my findings in the store, I noticed that there are many separations through age, gender, and color. When I first walked in the store the toys were presented …show more content…
I noticed that as the age group goes up the more complex the toys get. For example, toys from age 1-3 seemed to have more of a learning, and sometimes nurturing aspect about them. Which makes sense because of Piaget’s theory of the sensorimotor stage implies that they are at the beginning of thoughts. While ages four to seven became more independent toys where they want to do “grown up things” like cooking, shopping carts and more mature dolls for girls. The boy toys became a little more aggressive like wrestling dolls, monster trucks, and super heroes. As the ages increased to twelve plus the toys became more interactive, intense and surfacing separating gender identification even more. Meaning that the stereotypes of boys and girls became more coherent. The boys isle had boxing gloves, footballs, and violent video games. Which could imply to adolescent girls that basketball or football is not a sport for them. For girls all of the toys stayed cohesive to a domestic lifestyle. I could convey that by what the children gravitated to in the store. Toys have a huge impact on children when it comes to gender simply because of the way toys appeal to them. If a young boy sees a blue toy he automatically suspects that is for his gender only and so forth. Parents also take a role in toy gender identification by implying to a girl that she shouldn’t have the basketball or etc. because she is girl and parents feels as though she should have girl
I noticed the girls’ toys engaged fine motor skills more than the boys’ toys did. The girls have several different types and sizes of dolls to choose from – however, this also makes dolls or items used with dolls (Barbie clothes, doll clothes, doll houses, Barbie cars, and doll furniture). Over half of all the products in the girls’ section. This shows the stereotypical attitude that all girls like to nurture and will someday be expected to be mothers and the primary care giver for their children. Other toys I noticed that were very stereotypical were the child size vacuum, broom, and kitchen set.
Media is a powerful agent in entertaining children. It also influences and teaches the youth of society the suitable and appropriate gender roles that they inevitably try to make sense of. The power of media is very influential especially in the minds of the youth. Disney movies target the youth and plant certain ideas and concepts about social culture into the vulnerable minds of children. Media uses gender to its advantage, just like Disney productions. Humorous caricatures reveal some harsh realities about the portrayal of Disney Princesses in many movies made by the Walt Disney Company. Disney mixes innocence with the ultimate form of fantasy to capture an audience. Predominantly, Disney helps highlight the gender roles by showing the audience simply what they want to see. In the attempt to stick to the norm and portray stereotypical female characters, Disney created Princesses. Presented as damsels in distress and inferior beings to men, Disney Princesses give children an inaccurate portrayal of gender roles at a young age. Through Disney’s social success and intriguing films, such as The Little Mermaid, Snow White, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast, Disney Princess movies portray stereotypical representation of gender roles through the denigration of the female image, targeting and ruining the perception of youth today.
In David Barry's article, Guys vs. Men, he discussed the differences between "guys" and "men". This article made several valid points, including that guys will try and out perform each other where sports are concerned and that the space shuttle is the ultimate guy toy. My question is why do only guys play with all the neat toys?
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 ethnic and racial stereotypes, many individuals would be infuriated. However, we come across toy departments that are highly, as well as strictly segregated—not by race, but by gender.
That is, boys will customarily receive blue clothing or toys while pink clothing or toys will be for girls. “Children‘s toys and games are also differentiated on the basis of sex” (Diekman and Murnen 2004; Seccombe p.99). Through these toys or playing with these toys, boys and girls would eventually distinguish the differences between male and female; also, may strengthen, and perpetuate the traditional gender stereotypes. For instance, boys or men are expected to act and behave in ways that have been considered masculine or associated with masculinity (Seccombe p.104); “men are often assumed to be more aggressive, sexual, unemotional, rational, and task oriented than women” (Seccombe p.93); and thus, action figures, such as Superman, WWE wrestling toys, and Hulk are made for boys to play with. While girls or women’s roles are associated with femininity (Seccombe p.104); “women are assumed to be more nurturing, passive, and dependent” (Seccombe p.93); and so, cooking and baking set and baby dolls with bottle feeding and diapering set are made for girls, so, they could apply their nurturing and culinary skills when they get older and mainly do household chores. Personally, I believe these toys have both negative and positive influence on children’s socialization. For instance, playing with toy guns or military toy set with a knife may lead to early exposure to violence and aggression. However, some toys, such as Lego building set and blocks, arts and crafts have a powerful and influential influence on children’s thinking and
Francis’s study analyzes three to five-year-old preschool students as well as their parents about their views about toys and viewing materials based on gender. The study showed that parental beliefs shaped their child 's opinions of gender roles based on the toys they played with. The parent 's idea of what is female and what is male is transferred onto the toys their child plays with which in terms developed their child 's stereotype of what is male and female based on their toy selection and color. In the article “How do today 's children play and with which toys?”, by Klemenovic reference that a child 's view on gender stereotypes is developed by their parents who train them on how to use the toys. Klemenovic (2014) states "Adults start training in the first months of a child 's life because knowledge of objects is the outcome of other people 's behavior towards us" (Klemenovic, 2014, p. 184). Young children’s development of gender stereotypes is largely influenced by his or her parent’s actions and view on what they consider male or female. A parent’s color preference and toy selection can influence a child’s gender bias or association to a specific
First off, I will describe the role the toys are playing when it comes to the socialization process for boys and girls. The masculine wrestling action figures and construction vehicles are showing boy 's their gender roles. In the book, “You May Ask Yourself”, defines social roles as “the concept of gender roles, set of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one’s status as male or female” (Conley, pg 130). In the store it is fairly easy for parents to find which part of the store will fit their kids gender roles. For parents with young boys, all they have to do is look for the blue in the store. When looking for the girl toys, parents just need to find the pink. Parents are actively doing gender in their child
The clothing for both boys and girls sections are close together. I noticed that there are articles of clothing that are similar for boys and girls, but they are called different names to make them more masculine or feminine. For example, shirts for girls are called fashion tops and just shirts for boys. Some patterns that I saw in the clothing/toys is that for almost each advertisement or label had a picture of a boy or a girl to indicate which toy or clothing is meant for which gender. I did find some things that I thought were unusual. One thing that I noticed for boys is that the majority of the boys toys were more expensive compared to the girls toys. For example, I did not realize how expensive Legos and other building toys were compared to some dolls for girls. A set of Legos could be up to sixty dollars just for one set! Another thing that I noticed about the boys toys was that there were a lot more choices in ratio to girl’s toys. For girls, one could either choose from dolls (Barbie’s), dress up clothes, or play make-up. As for boys, there is so much more to choose from, they have cars/trucks, sports equipment, Legos, guns, different trading cards (Pokémon, Yugioh, sports trading cards, etc.)
In the article The gender Marketing of toys: An Analysis of Color and Type of Toy on the Disney Store Website, Auster and Mansbach conducted research to examine the gender marketing of toys on the internet. They looked at what characteristics of “boys and girls” toys share, such as color of toy, type of toy, and witch toys were labeled for girls and boys. The pre - research of this study suggested that children are making gender distinctions of themselves and their group based on the types of toys that are bought for them. Bright and darker colors are meant as a distinction for “boy” toys, while pastel colors are meant for “girl” toys. The previous research also suggested that toys for boys and girls express traditional gender roles and that gender neutral toys are more likely to
Gender Socialization plays a big part in a child’s life in shaping their femininty and masculinity. Every child is brought with to have played with at least one toy to have called their own. Now, the purpose of the research that has been conducted is to take a further look into how toys that is sold through stores and played by children. This will then give hindsight as to how what is considered the gender norm has a part in gender role stereotyping and the affect these toys have on children view of gender characteristics.
I will not impose “gender specific” toys on them or tell them that it is not acceptable for a boy to play with a baby doll or tell my future daughter that it is not allowed for her to pretend sword fight. My children will be able to decide what they like and what they do not like and I will not allow anyone to decide that for them. This assignment has definitely opened my eyes to the market that is out there stereotyping children without much notice. Taking time to actually look into what is being done with toys and society with children has broadened my understanding and awareness of the impending problem that children are being faced with. I hope that one day we will see an end to gender stereotyping so that my future children will not be forced to feel out of place if they do not identify with a specific feeling or emotion that a boy should have or a girl should have. It sickens me and breaks my heart that things so minuscule such as toys can have such a negative effect on lives, especially on such a young children. This ideology of gender segregation should not be supported or further produced because it is harmful to the children that are directly or indirectly being affected by
Children start to define their gender identity in early preschool (Zhumkhawala 47). This means that the toys children are given go a long way to further (or help change) gender stereotypes and inequality. In general, boys are given trucks, blocks and doctor’s kits, encouraging them to build, explore how things work and be a...
Children Should Play With Toys They Like Have you ever wanted to buy a toy, but were pressured not to do so? Many girls and boys are discouraged from playing with gender-biased toys specifically because of their sex. “Why do Boys and Girls Prefer Different Toys,” by Satoshi Kanazawa, states that boys and girls are told to play with different types of toys by their parents, peers, and society in general. This fact is troubling - children should be encouraged to buy toys that they like, and not be told which kinds of toys they should play with because of their gender. One way that toy manufacturers have encouraged the purchase of toys by one gender is by limiting the number of toys produced, such as the Star Wars character Rey-themed toys.
Toy stores are perfect places for a sociologist to use their sociological imagination. Gendering and racism is thought to be something that is socially constructed as opposed to biologically constructed. Gendering starts during infancy, and around 2 years old children start to internalize these gender differences. I argue that children’s toys help socialize children into gender specific roles. Toy stores, like Target and Toys R Us help us understand what types of toys help to gender children. I will explain how the toys in the toy aisles differ and compare. Not all toys are either male or female, some toys are gender neutral.
The socialization of children is greatly affected by the toys they are exposed to while growing up. Looking through magazines and walking down the aisles of toy stores it is clear that toy companies are supportive of cultural gender roles biases. Toys designed for girls are commonly found in pink boxes; typically these toys involve housework or taking care of children, for example, dolls and easy bake ovens. On the other hand, “boy” toys are found in blue and black boxes, and a lot of them involve construction and cars.