Introduction
When a preschool aged boy directed his female peer back to what he considered to be the female side of toys I was furious. How dare this kid? But then I realized, how could he not? The toys were conveniently segregated in the classroom, full of pink and blue on opposing sides and they were all pre-gendered with a lack of toys that would appeal to all. How could he not look at this classroom and assume she was in the wrong place? A huge part of his everyday world, his classroom, was suggesting that boys and girls have different toys to play with which may have contributed to this male believing his female peer was in the wrong place. This experience lead me to ask, how do gendered toys in the classroom affect students? I believe …show more content…
I am going to focus on how they can set limits on experiences and encourage negative attributes.
Martin, Eisenbud & Rose (1995) suggest that children unknowingly limit their own experiences by using gender-based reasoning. This study found children choose their own gendered toys at higher rates than any other toys. In fact, children rated unattractive toys of their gender at almost identical rates of attractive toys for another gender. Children would disregard their original thought of attraction to fit within their gender role. Hilliard and Liben (2010) say that toys, books, and decorations in a classroom all pool together to encompass the gender salience in a classroom. If the salience of gender in a classroom is high it tells the children the differences between genders are important and should be taken into account in their life. Children choose to play with playmates of another sex less when exposed to a room with high gender salience. By choosing to not play with children of another sex children are not learning how to interact with half of the population. Toys can be a pivotal part of salience of gender in a classroom and lead to students having limitations if teachers do not consider what subtle messages are being
When a preschool aged boy directed his female peer back to what he considered to be the female side of toys I was furious. How dare this kid? But then I realized, how could he not? The toys were conveniently segregated in the classroom, full of pink and blue on opposing sides and they were all pre-gendered with a lack of toys that would appeal to all. How could he not look at this classroom and assume she was in the wrong place? A huge part of his everyday world, his classroom, was suggesting that boys and girls have different toys to play with which may have contributed to this male believing his female peer was in the wrong place. This experience lead me to ask, how do gendered toys in the classroom affect students? I believe …show more content…
I am going to focus on how they can set limits on experiences and encourage negative attributes.
Martin, Eisenbud & Rose (1995) suggest that children unknowingly limit their own experiences by using gender-based reasoning. This study found children choose their own gendered toys at higher rates than any other toys. In fact, children rated unattractive toys of their gender at almost identical rates of attractive toys for another gender. Children would disregard their original thought of attraction to fit within their gender role. Hilliard and Liben (2010) say that toys, books, and decorations in a classroom all pool together to encompass the gender salience in a classroom. If the salience of gender in a classroom is high it tells the children the differences between genders are important and should be taken into account in their life. Children choose to play with playmates of another sex less when exposed to a room with high gender salience. By choosing to not play with children of another sex children are not learning how to interact with half of the population. Toys can be a pivotal part of salience of gender in a classroom and lead to students having limitations if teachers do not consider what subtle messages are being