Toys that Gender Stereotypes
Toys describe how children should act. Adults expect girls to play with dolls like Barbie and Cabbage Patch dolls. They expect boys to play with action toys such as X-men, GI JOE dolls, and Hot Wheels. This sexually stereotypes a kid, because this is suggesting that they girls to chase after so called cute looking guys at the mall and always be interested in fashion and money. For boys they are expected to be tuff and buff and shed no tears they are the ones with the racecars, and the toys also makes them violent. Toy is a major contributor to sexually stereotype girls and boys.
Barbie dolls help stereotype girls by making them the airheads type. Mattel Toy makes the doll with big breast and always a blonde hair doll that always has a boyfriend to the side of her. The always have things that includes with her like with its line of dolls outfits and accessories. For example Mattel toys recently introduced Cool Shoopin' Barbie with an unlimited credit limit MasterCard that sings credit approved when run through a tiny toy scanner (Hua 1998) ...
Although Barbie was created as a toy for girls, the sexual nature of the doll suggests it was created for the pleasure of men and envy of women. Prager compares the figure of Barbie to the kind of women who would be seen in the Playboy mansion or be a frequent guest on explicit television shows. This is the image of a mans...
Part of the answer to this question might be that men are encouraged to play with hi-tech toys while girls are given a Barbi doll or a toy oven. The best time to see how these differences are encouraged by our society is during the Holiday season. The toys I have seen for boys are mainly Star Wars action figures or Nintendo 64 games. The toys advertised for girls were mostly easy bake ovens (that now makes M&M cakes) or Barbi dolls with various accessories.
In order to fully comprehend the how gender stereotypes perpetuate children’s toys, one must understand gender socialization. According to Santrock, the term gender refers to the, “characteristics of people as males and females” (p.163). An individual is certainly not brought into the world with pre-existing knowledge of the world. However, what is certain is the belief that the individual has regarding him- or herself and life stems from socialization—the development of gender through social mechanisms. For instance, when a baby is brought into this world, his or her first encounter to gender socialization arises when the nurse places a blue or pink cap on the baby’s head. This act symbolizes the gender of the baby, whether it is a boy (blue cap) or a girl (pink cap). At the age of four, the child becomes acquai...
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. Even at this young age we teach girls it is part of their role to cook and clean.
The fine line between boys and girls when it comes to toys is established very early in life. This segregation is created by the parents showing children what is socially acceptable for each gender to play with. This segregation is also played out in movies and television shows alike. Ideally it would be great to see a boy not get teased if he wanted to play with a doll or a girl with a ninja warrior. It may be more socially acceptable for a girl to cross over the norm than it would be for a boy. In my opinion the worst toy that I found was the Uggly’s pet, this pet was encouraging bad manners and virtually no imagination. The toys that I found were the best was the movie character additions. These toys were gender neutral and would be socially acceptable for both genders.
When girls are young they are given toys that are influenced by domestic activities that introduce them to traditional gender roles. This limitation of available toys has the possibility to impact children, especially young girls, in a negative way. With some girls only having gender-specific toys like dolls and kitchen sets, it has the possibility to enforce long-established ideas based on the role of women in society. These traditional gender roles placed upon girls by “gender appropriate” toys could give way to limiting the role of women in modern society.
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
Lastly, what are some toys we played with when we were younger and how did it affect us? We all had very different experiences and toys growing up. One reason why we had diverse experiences growing up is because we are all from different places throughout the world. Where we either played with the stereotypical toys, such as sport or action figure toy that were directed for boys, or we had little experiences growing up with toys. People that play with the stereotypical toys it enforced that stereotype on them, where
The stereotypes stated above created by society and parents are most often useless in truly predicting a child’s choice of play and toys. Kids are going to gravitate toward what they enjoy. Even the author Deborah Blum states “I don’t think in pastels, myself. I think jungle-green, blood-red. (Blum, 236)” Stereotypes give us something to group people by, but we cannot always judge a person by them.
Many of the toys I had consisted of pink frilly things that were given to me by my parents or other adults. My dolls were Bratz dolls that were full of different outfits and makeup, teaching me to worry about the way I looked. My animal related toys consisted of little plastic horses and farm animals that were always in “gender neutral colors”, they always came in a red pack and any accessories were always bright and yellow or green. While when I had a gender-neutral toy, a leapfrog leader, that had a distinction of being a girls because of the case being pink and purple, not in in of the “gender neutral” color categories. My sports toys were the same, my soccer balls and basket balls were not neural colors, but pink or purple,. I also played with “boy toys” like cars, footballs, baseballs, however none of these things were ever bought for me. If I asked for these “boy toys” I was told that they were for boys not for girls, experiencing cultural competence, because no adult in my life thought buying a girl those types of toys were
This research is something that can create change in the toys and advertisement market and help inform parents of the need for raising their children with gender-neutral and opposite-gender toys available for playtime. All of the available research agrees that playtime is essential for learning, cognitively and socially. Miller emphasizes that offering different toy options for children will provide boys and girls with different play experiences, which will offer up a chance to grow cognitively, such as increasing spacial reasoning, and socially, by allowing a different type of play in social groups (Miller, 1987). Schwartz and Markham concludes their research by pointing out that, while their data does not show whether children are influenced by sex-stereotyped advertising, it is clear that this type of advertisements, as well as sex-stereotypes anywhere in the media, reinforces "conventional sex-role definitions” (Schwartz & Markham,
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.
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
It may seem trivial and go unnoticed to most, but by assigning Barbie a real career, people are able to identify with and recognize her. The marketers also provide Barbie with a life other than modeling, such as friends and a home. The Ken doll, which is commonly known as Barbie’s boyfriend, makes her appear more real to the audience. Girls are able to identify with the idea of a boyfriend, which makes the notion of Barbie seem more realistic and desirable. The same idea is applied to the many friends Barbie has been accompanied by over the years. Lastly, and perhaps most famously, Barbie, like almost all of the girls who play with her, have a home. The Barbie Dream House is just another clever way her marketing team has presented her to society as a real person. Humanizing Barbie, and portraying her in such a manner makes her more attractive to potential buyers. The girls who engage in play with dolls do not want merely a doll; they desire something they can relate to and envision in the real world. Imaginative play is a large portion of childhood, and the ability for children to posses a doll like Barbie , who represents a real person in society, is extremely valuable. The use of social constructionism in the marketing of products such as Barbie is both brilliant and effective.
Those perfect days as a child when your countless days were filled with playtime. The time to set up those houses and dress the dolls up, and act out the future. “Through their play Barbara imagined their lives as adults. They used the dolls to reflect the adult world around them. They would sit and carry on conversations, making the dolls real people” (Ruth Handler). As a young child, it is all you look forward to in your future: being successful and confident, loved and cherished. Many dolls were used to project this. Specifically, the Barbie. Barbie is a positive role model girl should look up to for confidence and inspiration. She is a talented and educated career woman, self-sufficient in every aspect of her life, and a stunning example to young girls the body that is healthy and fit.