I've just been toy shopping and I'm outraged. I thought that it was the year 2012, I thought that women had got the vote and that Shiloh Pitt was leading the way in kiddy cool. However it seems that society and toy shops in particular are still firmly entrenched in perpetrating gender stereotyping.
For the shelves of The Entertainer are firmly signposted with the labels "Girls Toys" and "Boys Toys" with appropriate pink or blue colour. If you have ever wondered why there are no famous female magicians your answer lies here. Because for some reason the powers that be have deemed that magic sets are only in the Boys section, the girls never got a chance! Also only boys can be policemen, firemen, pirates or cowboys apparently. Tell that to all the ladies in our police force or fire service.
Likewise the boys must never play with dolls and babies. Apparently they don't do shopping or cooking either . No, Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsy et al should actually be getting on with more manly pursuits like playing with guns or something.
Maybe I am a bit more sensitive to this because my daughter is a bit of a tomboy. She loves dinosaurs, space and Brian Cox (or Brian Cock as she somewhat appropriately calls him). I would hate to feel that as she gets older she might feel that choosing something from the "boys"section is wrong or that she would get teased for it.
I suppose the store would say that it is just a guideline and helps people see where toys are placed but I think its more than this. At the moment my children can't read the signs but when they can I want a trip to the toyshop to be fun and not a lesson in gender stereotyping. After all I think people would be outraged if their children were presented with GCSE subject choices along with a guideline for which ones are "Girls Subjects" and which ones are "Boys Subjects" - so why are our children told what toys they should be playing with?
I don't see why they can't just have sections titled "role play", "building games" and "cooking and shopping" instead of this pink and blue division. And as a friend pointed out to me its not the The Entertainer. The Early Learning Centre also seem to have a factory that only provides them with the colours blue or pink. Whats wrong with yellow, or orange or green?
I'd love to hear your views on this...
Absolutely 100% behind you on this one! It enrages me too. I have two girls and the idea that they should just play dolls (neither of them has ever been the slightest bit interested), or whatever other gender stereotype. For girls nurses uniforms, for boys doctors coats. Seriously! I have always made sure they have a wide variety of toys, including construction - train tracks, lego, marble runs - play with these toys is really important for development of problem solving and spatial awareness. Cars, fire engines, carparks, all good fun. It really isn't just boys who enjoy things with wheels (though I will admit they do seem to have a particularly obsessive fascination). Oh dear, I could go on, and on. We haven't even started on colours...(pink, blue - screams!) Anyway I think your hilarious ecard sums it all up perfectly!
ReplyDeleteThanks yellowfieldscamping. You make a good point about the doctors and nurses dressing up too. There are always nurses dresses aren't there but I don't think I've seen any nurses uniforms for boys. It just seems so limiting for children to be told they should be only playing with certain toys! I have a boy and a girl and they both really enjoy playing with all sorts of toys. You are right that boys seem to love cars though as my son is obsessed with them!
DeleteI do agree with this. Totally sick of seeing all that pink and the assumption that only boys like construction toys etc. I feel it is important for boys to feel they can play with cooking stuff etc. too.
ReplyDeleteGlad you agree. My son loves playing with our playfood and toy cooker and I would be really sad if when he got older he decided that this was for "girls" because a toyshop told him it was!
ReplyDeleteInteresting thought. It does seem somewhat backward that this is occurring. I did red recently that girls and boys do naturally exhibit a difference in play from a very young age I.e. a couple of months old. With girls preferring imitation toys I.e kitchens and toys with faces I.e dolls and boys preferring toys with switches and levers. It's an interesting nature vs nurture debate.
ReplyDeleteYes the nature vs nurtre debate is very interesting. Its hard to know how much of what chidren do is instinct and how much is influenced by society.
DeleteInteresting reastions over on MN! Vey suprised more people didn't agree. Have you seen the 'Pink Stinks' campaign? I guess it was originally about girls but gender stereotyping obviously affect boys too.
ReplyDeleteYes I was surprised too! You never know which way things are going to swing on mumsnet though! I've had a look at the pink stinks and tweeted them my blog. I'm sure I don't remember all this pink/blue colouring when I was younger.
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