Gender Stereotypes In Toys

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Throughout the course of history, toys have played a fundamental role in entertaining and stimulating the minds of children. From inflated pig’s bladders and knucklebones in the ancient times to ‘Nerf guns’ and ‘Barbie’ dolls in the present day, their purpose is to encourage imagination and impart values through play. However, since the 1970’s, the seeds of gender discrimination were planted when toy companies started segregating their products based on social stereotypes. Upon walking into a local Toys ‘R’ Us store, one can distinguish the division of toys meant for boys and toys meant for girls based on the colours blue and pink and their contents. But on September 4 2013, Toys ‘R’ Us stores in the U.K. had announced that they would be neutralizing their gender based marketing. If a major toy retailer such as Toys ‘R’ Us, had publicly announced their effort to gender neutralize their stores, it further supports that this is a real issue as even a multi-billion dollar company supports the notion. However, this issue is still rampant in the world as most toy manufacturing companies are unwilling to produce gender neutral products due to the fear of losing revenue. Chris Bryne, content director for timetoplaymag.com said that the toy industry will perpetually mirror the culture (of society), and reflect it back in their products. (INSERT MLA http://bigstory.ap.org/article/some-parents-struggle-find-gender-neutral-toys) Therefore, the cycle of manufacturing toys that impart stereotypical gender roles will not end, until the general public demands for them. By encouraging the cycle to continue, it’s far reaching effects are allowed to persist – reinforcing stereotypical gender roles through toys fuels the problem of gender opressio...

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... These toys reinforce the stereotype on young boys that they are expected to keep up being masculine, active, that violence is acceptable and, that blue is a “boy’s colour”. Teaching children to conform to their gendered expectations is oppressive. According to authors_____, girls are taught to be “hyper-aware of their bodies and attractiveness because this is what they see is valued in society”. (orangebook) Females are also taught to attend to domestic work and discouraged to be too smart as it is intimidating to the other gender. This ultimately damages their feelings of self-worth which, can discourage them in aspiring to achieve as much as males and submitting to a subservient role instead. This idealized image is driven by the patriarchal society that we live in. However, a patriarchal society does not mean that men benefit from this. It also oppresses them.

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