The Ethics of Toys and Occupations
Even before babies are born they are given, and expected to follow gender stereotypes and norms. Parents paint the walls pink in a little girl’s room, and blue in a little boys room. This concept of gendering inanimate objects is consistent throughout a person’s entire life. The toys and games commonly given to children during their lives perpetuate these stereotypes and lead them to think that they must behave and present themselves in certain ways. An obvious example of this being a dollhouse vs. a football. Young girls are often given a dollhouse full of mini kitchen supplies, mini living rooms, mini laundry rooms, and even mini pets, as gifts and presents, whereas young boys may be given a 2016 American made leather football signed by the entire San Francisco 49’ers team. …show more content…
With the way that current culture functions and shapes the idea of ‘should’ and should not’s’ in society, when playing with these dollhouses, girls will get the idea that they are the caretakers. They are the ones who take care of the children, they cook, they clean, they are the stay at home parent. The boy on the other hand will understand that they are supposed to be macho, sports lovers and athletes, and bring home the dough. We see these gender specific ideologies reinforced when a boy tries to play with a toy that is conventionally seen as feminine. So what if a boy wants to play princess dress up and use his EZ-Bake Oven all day!? Why does that make him any less of a ‘man’? Who came up with the idea to assign a gender to a nonliving
Even before babies are born they are given, and expected to follow gender stereotypes and norms. Parents paint the walls pink in a little girl’s room, and blue in a little boys room. This concept of gendering inanimate objects is consistent throughout a person’s entire life. The toys and games commonly given to children during their lives perpetuate these stereotypes and lead them to think that they must behave and present themselves in certain ways. An obvious example of this being a dollhouse vs. a football. Young girls are often given a dollhouse full of mini kitchen supplies, mini living rooms, mini laundry rooms, and even mini pets, as gifts and presents, whereas young boys may be given a 2016 American made leather football signed by the entire San Francisco 49’ers team. …show more content…
With the way that current culture functions and shapes the idea of ‘should’ and should not’s’ in society, when playing with these dollhouses, girls will get the idea that they are the caretakers. They are the ones who take care of the children, they cook, they clean, they are the stay at home parent. The boy on the other hand will understand that they are supposed to be macho, sports lovers and athletes, and bring home the dough. We see these gender specific ideologies reinforced when a boy tries to play with a toy that is conventionally seen as feminine. So what if a boy wants to play princess dress up and use his EZ-Bake Oven all day!? Why does that make him any less of a ‘man’? Who came up with the idea to assign a gender to a nonliving