The Role Of Gender Specific Toys In Children

Introduction Barbie is one of the best-selling dolls in the world. This doll often resembles role models to young girls. What girl hasn’t had a Barbie doll in their lifetime? It is not unusual that at least 99% of girls in the population have or has had a Barbie. The main concern is with young girls up to the age of 10, with the idea image that Barbie provokes to these young minds.

Toys play an important role in childhood development as children learn roles and skills from playing. As a result, the toys children are subjected to have an affect on which roles, interests, and skills are learned and practiced. Through Lego’s product Duplo, I will demonstrate the influence particular gendered toys have on children and their performance of traditional gender roles. Gender, which is a learned performance, is something society has been taught from a very early age and toy advertising has played a significant role in reinforcing the performance. One tradition that is reinforced and naturalized by society is the ideology of a male dominated society, representing strong characteristics of heterosexuality and masculinity; also known as hegemonic masculinity. Therefore, using Ideological Criticism, I will analyze how through the branding and design of Lego’s Duplo toys, children have been constructed to do gender differently, ultimately perpetuating and reinforcing hegemonic masculinity.

Toys and sports also promote gender appearances. Male appearances are characterized by being physically fit, strong and aggressive whereas females are to be beautiful, feminine and nurturing. Jane Smiley describes Barbie as being slender, stylish and most of all popular. Barbie is often dressed in pink and wears make up. Models in today’s society fit this description which makes other females want to achieve the same look. The appearances for females set by society‘s norms are presented in toys that gives off the message that ‘if you do not look like this’, it is considered unattractive. “Frilly, sexy, pink, purple, bedizened, and bejewelled were the preferred Barbies,” (Smiley 238) shows that females should have these characteristics in order to be seen as

When you walk into the toy section of any store, you do not need a sign to indicate which section is the girls’ side and which section is 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.

Girls and boys both grow up being socialized on what is normal and unusual for their gender. Toys are a prominent factor in this socialization, because they are typically presented for one gender and are unacceptable for the other. To assess how toys play a role in gender socialization, I made a trip to Toys “R” Us in College Station and was surprised by how the store was organized.

In today’s society, there is a belief that only girls can play with Barbie Dolls while boys can only play with Action Figures. Parents believe if they allowed their sons or daughters to play with feminine or boyish toys that are not meant for them their child would grow up either gay or lesbian. It’s not fair for parents to restrike their children from playing with toys because one toy is meant for girls while the other is meant for boys. Children have the right to play with whatever toy they want. Society and Parents should stop reflexing their opinions and beliefs on children toys. There is nothing wrong with girls playing with Action Figures and there is nothing wrong with boys playing with Barbie Dolls.

Everyday we see young girls look to idols such as people and even play toys. Such thoughts make young girls feel they are not good enough and to strive to look like a doll a very important topic is slightly broken down in an article written by Cynthia Tucker called Barbie Madness. While she touches on the topic of how kids love their toys such as Barbie dolls, she discusses how obsessed they become in looking like them. However, even though she points out that children look up to Barbies, she turns it back around on the parents, stating that they play a much bigger role in their lives than any toy would. Breaking down the article the writer really shows how children are influenced by their environment, their parents, and how its important to encourage them to be themselves.

In David Barry's article, Guys vs. Men, he discussed the differences between "guys" and "men". This article made several valid points, including that guys will try and out perform each other where sports are concerned and that the space shuttle is the ultimate guy toy. My question is why do only guys play with all the neat toys?

Gender is the personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being female of male. “Are Gendered Toys Bad for Boys and Girls?” is the question asked with in the podcast. So in this essay it will discuss the opinion in the podcast vs. the fact of the sociological perspective in the book.

Making toys that are for all genders is something that many stores and toy companies are still trying to adapt to. Many toy manufacturers are promoting gender-biased toys.Merchandisers still do not understand that it’s not just girls who want a female character as a toy. There should be more toy companies that should try to make toys that are not specific to one gender because not every girl wants a barbie for a toy and not every boy wants a car as a toy to play with. More toy manufacturers should not promote gender-biased toys and make toys for every gender because many kids have different interests. In the article “Asleep at the switch? “Force Awakens” heroine missing from toy line” explores the idea that the new movie of “Star

For over a century toy makers have targeted children of different races, and backgrounds to supposedly bring joy, and happiness to all children. These toys are used by so many children around the world, and mostly every child in America. Toys like Barbie, G.I. Joe, and various others are used in many common ways such as promoting growth, companionship, and innocent playtime. Most children have beloved toys that bring them so much happiness, joy, and fun, but could these same toys also be supporting various forms of oppression for women, and people in general? This is a question that goes much deeper than the toys themselves, and is rooted in society as a whole going back thousands of years, and has its start in the division of classes.

When it comes to toys kids think that they have to play with their own genders toy.In the artical ¨What the research says:gender-typed toy¨ toys girls play with dolls,custom,jewelry,etc but most boys play with fighting toys,soldiers,action figures etc.The best thing for kids to play with is non gender toys like art,music,sports etc.If all kids played with these things then they would learn to be more active and physical with boys and girls.As your child grows they will learn that gender type toys were not necessary,instead kids can actually play sports or draw with different genders.The reason why kids love gender toys is because they are based upon movies and tv shows.When the kids see a new movie they will go to the store and buy the toy

There have been several articles calling attention to the images children are exposed in cartoons, or Disney productions, but what about the toys they play with? In the death grip of my two year old sister, like many other young girls, lies a fairy princess Barbie doll. Barbie has been the toy of choice for girls everywhere since her debut fifty years ago, representing the ideal girl with a perfect life to match that can not be achieved. Barbie and other dolls alike negatively affect young girls causing body image issues and low self-esteem.

The purpose of the project is to explore how gender differentiation is all around us even in minor things that involuntarily participate in our lives such as toys in a store which makes us start thinking about how humans psychologically react against gender differentiation in a way that makes them apply it to minor things such as toys arrangement for specific genders. This project is aimed to make us know how psychology is studied by giving us an example of the human complex thinking such as arranging toys according to gender.

Children’s playdolls play a significant role in shaping the worldview and values of girls. The doll industry designs playdolls primarily for girls with features of various colorful wigs, costumes and accessories, reflective of social fashion. Oftentimes, playdolls are placed in various situations, such as dollhouse, baby room and kitchen. All of these doll features may teach children how to look beauty and care for babies and do housework (Wagner-Ott, A., 2002). Likewise, Kuther and McDonald (2004, P.44) recognized that “play with Barbie dolls influences gender role development, as most of the girls reported play scripts entailing decidedly feminine and sexualized roles. Perhaps girls explored feminine gender role through play.”