Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Gender stereotypes and the image of women and girls in the toy industry
Gendered media: the influence of media on views of gender, department of communication
Toys gender stereotypes in toys
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
While our current society has become more accepting of other genders that do not conform to the typical male and female genders it holds, it is still quite persistent in that act of gendering certain items, behaviours and attributes as feminine or masculine. This gendering occurs even before birth with events such as the baby shower where the baby 's sex is revealed, but it is mostly recognizable in the toys advertised and sold to children. Burack states that, “ gender socialization is the process of interaction through which we learn the gender norms of our culture and acquire a sense of ourselves and feminine, masculine or even androgynous”, children therefore experience the effects of gender socialization from their toys and the society they grow up in and often keep the mindset that they have learned throughout their lives (Gender Socialization). The toys children play with still rely heavily on the traditional gender roles implemented by society and is reflected to the groups aimed at with each type of toy. For example, toys that are aimed towards the female/feminine audience still embody the nurturing homemaker tone from them with the use of baby dolls or miniature versions of kitchenware along with the idea of girls being …show more content…
For instance, board games, bouncy balls, scooters, and stuffed animals, an example being Disney’s Tsum Tsums. It is very shocking and a bit depressing to see the small amount of change in the masculine and feminine attributes that are still associated with the male and female gender in our current day due to these being created throughout the course of human history. While as of now, there is very little change showing, I believe with the increase in open-mindedness in our society, these attributes and expectations of masculinity and femininity will
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...
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
Gender Stereotypes Among Children's Toys When you walk into the toy section of any store, you do not need a sign to indicate which section is on the girls’ side and which section is on the boys’ side. Aside from all the pink, purple, and other pastel colors that fill the shelves on the girls’ side, the glitter sticks out a lot as well. The boys’ toys, however, are mostly dark colors – blue, black, red, gray, or dark green. The colors typically used on either side are very stereotypical in themselves.
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.
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.
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
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
Society cements certain roles for children based on gender, and these roles, recognized during infancy with the assistance of consumerism, rarely allow for openness of definition. A study conducted by Witt (1997) observed that parents often expect certain behaviors based on gender as soon as twenty-four hours after the birth of a child. The gender socialization of infants appears most noticeably by the age of eighteen months, when children display sex-stereotyped toy preferences (Caldera, Huston, & O’Brian 1989). This socialization proves extremely influential on later notions and conceptions of gender. Children understand gender in very simple ways, one way being the notion of gender permanence—if one is born a girl or a boy, they will stay that way for life (Kohlberg 1966). “According to theories of gender constancy, until they’re about 6 or 7, children don’t realize that the sex they were born with is immutable” (Orenstein 2006). The Walt Disney Corporation creates childhood for children worldwide. “Because Disney are such a large media corporation and their products are so ubiquitous and wide spread globally, Disney’s stories, the stories that Disney tell, will be the stories that will form and help form a child’s imaginary world, all over the world, and that’s an incredible amount of power, enormous amount of power” (Sun). Because of the portrayal of women in Disney films, specifically the Disney Princess films, associations of homemaker, innocence, and dependence are emphasized as feminine qualities for young children. Thus, children begin to consider such qualities normal and proceed to form conceptions of gender identity based off of the movies that portray the very specific and limiting views of women (...
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.
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...
Girls are supposed to play with dolls, wear pink, and grow up to become princesses. Boys are suppose to play with cars, wear blue, and become firefighters and policemen. These are just some of the common gender stereotypes that children grow up to hear. Interactions with toys are one of the entryway to different aspects of cognitive development and socialism in early childhood. As children move through development they begin to develop different gender roles and gender stereotypes that are influenced by their peers and caregivers.
When I went into Toys“R”Us, there was an array of toys. Some were geared for infants while others were geared toward older kids. They were separated into different isles such as “Action Figures,” “Arts and Crafts,” “Games and Puzzles,” “Electronics,” “Outdoor Play” and many more. There was a clear distinction in what was for girls and what was for boys. Either different isles would separate girls and boys toys or one side of an isle would target boys and the other side would target girls. Sometimes I saw one item in blue, and adjacent to it, the same toy in pink. I did come across a “gender neutral” section, which had games, puzzles and play sets such as Monopoly and Clue. The gender-neutral section seemed to use a lot of red, green and black with no distinct male or female characteristics.
Gender Socialization Part II: Annotated Bibliography on Annotated Bibliography on Masculinity, LBGT as other, and Rape Culture
Gender Socialization is the process of people learning behavior according to their sex by social structures in their society. Social structures like families and school create gender behavior which is a social construct. My gender socialization for the most part was taught to me in an indirect way. I learned by the example social structures set for me. My gender socialization came from family, my peers, and music I listen to.
For boys, stereotypically, there’s the color blue, trucks and cars for toys, and pants or shirts with a shirt while for girls, their associated color is pink, barbies and other dolls are the toys they should play with and when it comes to clothes, they can wear skirts or pants or shorts with a shirt. At least that’s what both boys and girls have grown up with following and believing. There’s always a division made of some kind wedged in between the two genders. It’s very similar to the traditions of some cultures in which men stay on one side of the table or room and associate themselves with the other men and likewise for the women. Gender role socialization is the process of learning socially acceptable expectations and attitudes that are