Could an innocent Child’s toy effect their future career and how they see themselves? How exciting! Your best friend is having a little girl, it’s time for some shopping. So you grab your wallet and head to “Buy Buy Baby” to buy some cute pink clothes and Barbie’s and maybe even a cute little kitchen set for when she is just a little bit older. Admixed all of the excitement of a new babies coming into the world, have we as a society, ever stopped and looked at the different stereotypes and gender roles that we are instilling in our children at such a young and vulnerable age through their toys. This is a topic that not many in the past have thought about but with the growth in equality for women in and out of the workforce, there has been
…show more content…
They are reminded by the toys they are playing with, the clothes that they wearing and even the princess and Tonka Truck plates they use for dinner time, that boys and girls are different. The differences between the two are shoved on them in both direct and indirect ways. For this project I visited Toys R Us to look at the direct influences on kids when it comes to their toys and what is advertised to both boys and girls. First off, there are different categories. A couple categories that stood out to me as vastly different are, “action figures Vs. Dolls,” “Building sets Vs. Bath, Beauty, and accessories” and “musical instruments Vs. Cooking for girls.” These categories show how boys are pushed to be the engineers, the musicians and the superhero’s of the world and girls are pushed to be the homemakers and caregivers. In an article written by Rebecca Hains called “The problem with separate toys for girls and boys,” she talks about the strong influences of gender roles being set on innocent in animate objects like toys. In her article she shares a quote from Susan Linn, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School, she says that, “children use toys to try on new roles, experiment and explore interests...rigidly gendered toy marketing tells kids who they should be, how they should behave, and what they should be interested in;” she calls this “an unhealthily prescriptive situation.” …show more content…
Something as innocent and as simple as a children’s toy can be such a strong influencer as to what a child will become and what they will think of themselves as the get older. Although no one is forcing these children, both boys and girls, to become a nurse over a doctor, or a pilot over a teacher they are indirectly and directly influenced into believing and thinking the way society thinks boys and girls should be. There is no research the proves 100% that children’s toys effect their career goals in a negative way but there are a lot of theories and researchers looking into whether this is true or not, like the studies done by Becky Francis. This is still a new topic that is being researched and revised over and over but there is a trend starting that shows just how gender stereotypes placed on children’s toys affect their view of themselves and their views on the careers that they should and or want to pursue. With this said I theorize that if we start to instill in our children, especially girls, that they can become anything they desire, even if society says otherwise, then we will have created young girls (and boys) that are strong individuals that are not afraid to fight against the gendered stereotypes that they have grown up
They are reminded by the toys they are playing with, the clothes that they wearing and even the princess and Tonka Truck plates they use for dinner time, that boys and girls are different. The differences between the two are shoved on them in both direct and indirect ways. For this project I visited Toys R Us to look at the direct influences on kids when it comes to their toys and what is advertised to both boys and girls. First off, there are different categories. A couple categories that stood out to me as vastly different are, “action figures Vs. Dolls,” “Building sets Vs. Bath, Beauty, and accessories” and “musical instruments Vs. Cooking for girls.” These categories show how boys are pushed to be the engineers, the musicians and the superhero’s of the world and girls are pushed to be the homemakers and caregivers. In an article written by Rebecca Hains called “The problem with separate toys for girls and boys,” she talks about the strong influences of gender roles being set on innocent in animate objects like toys. In her article she shares a quote from Susan Linn, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School, she says that, “children use toys to try on new roles, experiment and explore interests...rigidly gendered toy marketing tells kids who they should be, how they should behave, and what they should be interested in;” she calls this “an unhealthily prescriptive situation.” …show more content…
Something as innocent and as simple as a children’s toy can be such a strong influencer as to what a child will become and what they will think of themselves as the get older. Although no one is forcing these children, both boys and girls, to become a nurse over a doctor, or a pilot over a teacher they are indirectly and directly influenced into believing and thinking the way society thinks boys and girls should be. There is no research the proves 100% that children’s toys effect their career goals in a negative way but there are a lot of theories and researchers looking into whether this is true or not, like the studies done by Becky Francis. This is still a new topic that is being researched and revised over and over but there is a trend starting that shows just how gender stereotypes placed on children’s toys affect their view of themselves and their views on the careers that they should and or want to pursue. With this said I theorize that if we start to instill in our children, especially girls, that they can become anything they desire, even if society says otherwise, then we will have created young girls (and boys) that are strong individuals that are not afraid to fight against the gendered stereotypes that they have grown up