An Analysis on Gendered Toys In western society we have a binary system for gender, we teach our kids about gender roles “society’s concept of how men and women are expected to look and how they should behave”, and expectations by the toys marketed toward them and parents buy them (OpenStax College 259). But how is it that the toys children play with enforce gender roles? The toys marketed to children have hidden aspects, demonstrating how we expect children to behave “based on norms, or standards, created by society” and fulfill those roles. (OpenStax College 259). Differences in the toys marketed for boys and girls especially packaging include color, appearance and playability. Walking through the aisles of Toys R Us it is apparent of
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Boys should build and fix things, they are good with their hand, a message sent out to little boys. Boys should enjoy being handy. Active toys like these emphasize motor skills. Boys also seemed to be prepare more for a work, police officers accessories, and fire trucks etc. The toys marketed to toys reflect more an emphases on gaining skills. Something that is reserved for boys and not so much focused on girls. The packaging for boy toys is distinguishable from the girls in different ways. Color wise most of the colors used include blue, green, and brown. A boy can be seen playing with the product demonstrating that it is in fact a boy toy if it is not otherwise obvious. Usually if a toy for boys can be marketed to a girl, the color is changed.
Society does not seem to mind that girls might play with boy toys, it is not frowned upon. A girl playing with an atypical toy is no unusual and is more acceptable for girls to exhibit masculine characteristics. A boy on the other hand will face disapproval from others if they engage in something feminine. Society seems to value more masculine characteristics than feminine …show more content…
And its shows. Marketing toys like dresses and shoes stresses the importance of appearance. It’s not just dresses, it includes a greatly deal of accessories: sunglasses, an assortment of jewelry, hairbrushes, flats, etc. Pink and purple dominate the color scheme, however there are greens, light blues and yellow. To continue on with the matter of appearance, dolls have this problem as well. Dolls also comes with accessories. Barbie has listened to their customers and made changes to their dolls. Making them look different to each other and for a while Barbie has had different occupations. Looking in a toy store it is easy to see the divide between girl and boy sections. Not only by color, there might also be a sign up above, but by the way the toys are color coded, the toys society deems appropriate for each gender to play with, and by what the parent might be willing to buy for their child. And the affects the toys bring onto the children are subtle, however it still reinforces gender roles and expectations. Society deems what is socially acceptable for what a boy is or a girl even though in other culture these expectations are different.
Works Cited
OpenStax College, Introduction to Sociology 2e. OpenStax College. 24 April
Boys should build and fix things, they are good with their hand, a message sent out to little boys. Boys should enjoy being handy. Active toys like these emphasize motor skills. Boys also seemed to be prepare more for a work, police officers accessories, and fire trucks etc. The toys marketed to toys reflect more an emphases on gaining skills. Something that is reserved for boys and not so much focused on girls. The packaging for boy toys is distinguishable from the girls in different ways. Color wise most of the colors used include blue, green, and brown. A boy can be seen playing with the product demonstrating that it is in fact a boy toy if it is not otherwise obvious. Usually if a toy for boys can be marketed to a girl, the color is changed.
Society does not seem to mind that girls might play with boy toys, it is not frowned upon. A girl playing with an atypical toy is no unusual and is more acceptable for girls to exhibit masculine characteristics. A boy on the other hand will face disapproval from others if they engage in something feminine. Society seems to value more masculine characteristics than feminine …show more content…
And its shows. Marketing toys like dresses and shoes stresses the importance of appearance. It’s not just dresses, it includes a greatly deal of accessories: sunglasses, an assortment of jewelry, hairbrushes, flats, etc. Pink and purple dominate the color scheme, however there are greens, light blues and yellow. To continue on with the matter of appearance, dolls have this problem as well. Dolls also comes with accessories. Barbie has listened to their customers and made changes to their dolls. Making them look different to each other and for a while Barbie has had different occupations. Looking in a toy store it is easy to see the divide between girl and boy sections. Not only by color, there might also be a sign up above, but by the way the toys are color coded, the toys society deems appropriate for each gender to play with, and by what the parent might be willing to buy for their child. And the affects the toys bring onto the children are subtle, however it still reinforces gender roles and expectations. Society deems what is socially acceptable for what a boy is or a girl even though in other culture these expectations are different.
Works Cited
OpenStax College, Introduction to Sociology 2e. OpenStax College. 24 April