The Effects Of Neutral And Non Neutral Toys On Children

The types of toys children play with can affect how they develop. Toys can help or hinder a child’s development in intelligence, social skills and personality. Certain characteristics may be genetically entwined in a human being, but some characteristics and behaviors can be learned, from parents, surroundings, and the toys with which a youngster plays. Elise Moore, author of “How Do Toys Aid Development”, stated “if play is the work of the child, toys are the child’s tools” (Moore, 2).

Children learn as early as age two what it means to be a “boy” or a “girl” (Aina & Cameron). This is described as gender identity, a person’s sense of self as male or female. Gender stereotyping emerges hand in hand with the development of gender identity in Early Childhood (Halim). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes and activities of males and females. When babies are born they are either put in pink or blue, as they grow up they still maintain the same “gender” colors. As young children start to socialize, they are playing with either “girl” toys or “boy” toys. When they get older they

Social norms in the United States reflect a gender binary, hence there are cultural expectations for women and a different set for men. Nurturing, aggressive, reckless, polite, flirtatious, strong, independent could describe either a male or a female, but we subconsciously associate these traits as either feminine or masculine because our culture has reinforced that notion.

When you enter any store that has a children’s toy aisle, you automatically figure out which side is for boys and which side is for girls. On the girls’ side, you generally see lots of pink and purple, and glitter too. Blues and greens, as well as many other dark colors, fill the boy’s side of the aisle. The division of this aisle and the colors associated with male or female toys is known as the idea of gender-stereotyped toys.

This starts off at infancy through the toys we are given as we grow up. Boys are given toys such as Legos, Tonka trucks, and superhero action figures. Theses toys are centered around creativeness and safeguarding such as building a house from scratch, or saving the poor damsel in distress. The ads for these toys feature only boys recklessly running around or dabbling their curiosity, as well as valuing competition and control. Simultaneously, girls are given Barbies, makeup, kitchen sets, and baby dolls. While boy toys encourage boys to use their imaginations and to role play their dream jobs; such as doctors, police officers, CIA agents, etc. girl toys continually and increasingly enforce the housewife role for women and convey how the ideal woman must look. In the YouTube video, “Toy ads and Learning Gender”, creator and host of Feminist Frequency, BA in Communication, and MA in social and political thought,

Gender norms today have become a big part of our society as they are present in our every day life from advertisements, clothes, to the way we are supposed to act, and even in toys. In order to appeal to a certain customer, advertisements use many gender norms that apply to customers. One of the most impactful gender norms that I find to be is in the kid’s toys because I believe that it’s teaching these kids about how to act. Kids ranging from very early ages know what types of toys they should play with and what toys they aren’t supposed to play with. For example, little boys would play with cars and action figures while on the other hand girls would play with dolls and a tea party set. Many of the toys for girls have been shaped to show them that are supposed to be more friendly and kind. These toys have made it so that there are certain way’s little girls should act and also what things they should like.

Directly after a parent identifies the sex of their child, they immediately purchase infant-associated items according to their color. For example, an expecting family may buy their baby girl a pink blanket. Another expecting family may buy their baby boy a blue blanket. While this appears natural and unquestionable, predicaments like these build the basis of our sexist society. When that baby boy or girl matures, they will come to the realization that pink is a feminine color and blue is a masculine color.

Many people can agree that the toys they played with shaped their childhood. A child should be allowed to play with toys of their choosing; however this is not always the case due to traditional gender stereotypes. There is a clear separation that girls should play with dolls and other domestic-like toys while boys should play with action figures and toys that are more educational or physical. This was not always the case. Before the 1990s toys were primarily gender neutral. But in the 1990s, toys became increasingly gender divided due to marketers seeing an opportunity to sell products to two different audiences, which would increase sales. Consequently, gender toys have lead to many negative effects including girls and boys believing

In our society, there are norms of what is considered to be feminine and what is to be considered masculine, but how are these norms constructed? Through the use of toys, books, and clothing, children are socialized into their “appropriate” gender. These objects provide influence over behavior and appearance, showing boys and girls what is appropriate for each gender. After some investigation it was found that the toys, books, and clothing that children use not only foster the norms of gender behavior and appearance, but also construct gender roles in their young minds.

Unconsciously, we have all been affected or can relate to the effects of gender role stereotyping. From the day we were born, we are labeled as either boy or girl. Although, society has changed its norm in gender roles, many of our traditions have not. In the gender stereotype, we commonly relate a boy with the color blue, and a girl with the color pink. Gender roles have been instilled in us from past generations, due to the way that society was. Gender labeling is still influenced today through children’s toys, where toys are designed differently according to each gender. Through media, society persuades into the ideology of how gender role should be considered acceptable or not.

We as a people should care about gender specific toys because play is an important part of a child’s life. Toys give children a sense of belonging, and help them to decide how they will behave, how they will dress, and how they will play with other kids. Each toy has a way of helping children to learn, whether it is by growing their muscle memory, teaching them special skills, or helping them to solve difficult problems. The problem isn’t the toys themselves but it is the division of the toys, between the girls section and the boys, the colors, and the misconception that boys and girls should only play with certain types of toys, and they must be distinct for both sexes. The boys and girls sections are divided by the

I completely agree with you that young children often to not realize that toys are targeted for one gender or the other. I know that I never thought anything of playing with cars until I was older and I noticed the stark differences in marketing. I think that we all realize this at different ages. Some of us have it instilled at a very young age, while others may not realize it until they are older. While I knew that I was not a boy, and that there were differences between us, I did not think about them when I was a young child. I think it is interesting how different parents handle this. I know some parents are all about buying the biggest, pinkest, girliest items for a nursery when they find out they are having a baby girl. Whereas, others

Did you know that kids every year are sent home from school because they were wearing “the wrong type of clothing,” for example a boy wearing pink boots or a girl wearing a football jersey? You could be curious why, or just concerned about how stupid this sounds. This is an example of gender roles and how they need to be loosened to protect our freedom of expression and our choice of how we lead our lives. The gender roles that are considered normal today could be represented as two parallel pink and blue lines, not ever coming together to form a different color. The purpose of this paper is about how gender roles have been enforced throughout time, but this enforcement has begun to become unhealthy for men and women of all ages. I

Gender socialization often begins early once parents are shown the sex of their child; from then on, baby showers are planned according to gender “appropriate” colors, which are often pink for girls and blue for boys. Even differences in how children are spoke to can be picked up easily in Western cultures. Girls are called pretty and sweet, whereas boys are handsome and strong. Ultimately, the way children learn to identify with their gender culture is in part due to not only family and friends, media, schools, and religion, but also from the toys that may inexplicitly advertise gender expectations. Gender-typed toys may be bought for children as a way for parents to encourage and reinforce gender-appropriate behaviors. However, recent debates have engulfed toy manufacturers and major retailers, which has brought about changes in toy design and marketing in an effort to make reflect more realistic and gender neutral options.

Marvel has recently released a line of t-shirts based on the popular “Avengers” comic book series, that advertises two different t-shirts, one designed for males and one designed for females. These t-shirts have brought up various concerns regarding gender stereotypes/biases. This all started once the t-shirts hit the market. One of the first things people noticed was the color. The t-shirt that was created with males in mind, is sold in a shade of blue. On the other hand, the female constructed t-shirt is in between a shade of red and pink. These two colors are commonly categorized as male and female colors, blue is for boys and pink is for girls. This trend started many decades