Should The World Of Toys Be Gender Free Analysis

Should the World of Toys Be Gender-Free? In the article “Should The World of Toys Be Gender Free?” Peggy Orenstein explores how differences in the traditional pink and blue versus gender neutral packaging affects young children. Should children be forced into stereotypical traditional choices or be uninhibited to choose at their whim? The article centers on examples of retailers and their target audiences while asking who has it right. The discussion continues with the differences and the roles those differences play between the sexes with consideration of both positive and negative influences in the child's environment. The concept of adding a gender free toy choice is seen as an augment to traditional choices and not a replacement. There …show more content…
A young lad, watching television sees a commercial where the girls are having a great time with an Easy Bake Oven is left with the impression it is only for girls. When I was a child, my dad was away often without providing, so my mom had to work. My sister stayed mostly in her room reading and I was left alone till mom came home in the evening. I would sneak my sisters easy bake oven into the bathroom and, ashamed, locked the door. I experimented with the oven using the ingredients that were available. I discovered and did my best to follow my mom’s Betty Crocker cook book and in little time, I had advanced to the full sized oven in the kitchen, making biscuits and sugar cookies or cakes. If in season, I would pick wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and even blueberries to add to the cookies or cakes. When berry picking, sometimes my sister would help and when we returned and cleaned the berries, I was so proud to tell my sister we needed to roll them in flour so they do not fall to the bottom of the pan when cooking. At that age, it was probably a miracle I did not burn the house down, but I learned on my own to cook and bake. Learning and enjoying using the oven did not make me forget I was a boy, but it did enhance some of my traditional ‘boy’ activities. I would go deep into the woods, find the trout stream, and with pole and worms in hand catch …show more content…
At a unit picnic, designated as a family event, my wife and I witnessed a Marine yelling (using vulgar and derogatory words), my son ain't going to play with some kid with a black doll and ordered his wife and child in the car and off they sped. Wow! One minute this boy is blissfully playing with another child and the next, observes his father angrily yelling at him and his mom. The child had to be completely confused, thinking he had done something wrong without understanding what it was. If that were not enough, the next public display was the boy's dad (boy with the doll), literally screaming at his wife for allowing the doll being brought to the picnic resulting in his friend leaving upset. Again, how confusing is the message here to the child? It appears the boy is allowed to play with this doll at home. What was wrong in the father’s eyes in bringing this doll to a public event? Maybe he did not want to his son to play with any doll in public, it is not uncommon for fathers to wrongly be ashamed should their son play with a doll. Was it because the doll had black skin? The first dad clearly made racist remarks. With the second dad we cannot assume racism: It could have been the doll itself, the fact the doll was black, or a combination of the two. The child must have believed his doll was the reason for two adults angrily yelling and his play friend leaving. A