<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/opinion/sunday/gender-based-toy-marketing-returns.html?hpw&_r=0[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/opinion/sunday/gender-based-toy-marketing-returns.html?hpw&_r=0</a></p>
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<p>But apparently (being born in 1990, I have no memory of this) NYT claims that in the 1970s, only a minority of toys – ~30% – were gender-oriented. So why have we slid back?</p>
<p>I really meant to say “[the issue of] toys and gender makes”… but apparently my grammar slipped up as I was trying to compress my title into the limited space, argh.</p>
<p>I think boys and girls are different…and that’s a good thing. :)</p>
<p>Why does the NYT let grad students write their columns now? What happened to journalism?</p>
<p>I suppose if you only shopped in mega chain toy stores you might feel this way, but who does that?</p>
<p>I was born in the late '50s, and did not start having children until the early 80’s, so I won’t speak to what toy stores were like in the '70s, but marketing and development of products aimed at children have advanced light years from my childhood.
[Hasbro</a> Reveals Plans For An Easy Bake Oven For Boys | GeekDad | Wired.com](<a href=“http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/12/hasbro-back-pedals-on-ez-bake-oven-for-boys/]Hasbro”>Hasbro Reveals Plans For An Easy Bake Oven For Boys | WIRED)
[Toys</a> R Us Toy Guide for Differently-Abled Kids offers help for parents | abc7chicago.com](<a href=“http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/disability_issues&id=8889710]Toys”>http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/disability_issues&id=8889710)
Ive been buying out of these catalogs for thirty years.
[Chinaberry.com:</a> Books, audio books, toys, games, and crafts for the whole family](<a href=“http://www.chinaberry.com/]Chinaberry.com:”>http://www.chinaberry.com/)
[Welcome</a> to HearthSong - Toys You’ll Feel Good About Giving](<a href=“http://www.hearthsong.com/]Welcome”>http://www.hearthsong.com/)</p>
<p>Perhaps her dissertation should be on why parents dont control what their kids are exposed to in their own home.
She can start by thinking about how she is raising her 9 yr old.</p>
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<p>How much of America can afford to buy from boutique toy stores or boutique toy catalogs? 1%?</p>
<p>What is a boutique? You mean a locally owned store that keeps its revenue in the community?</p>
<p>We are a blue collar family, and we learned long ago, junk is too expensive for our budget.
Junky toys dont last, quality toys can be shared and passed down.
Our kids played with blocks that we made, Little tikes toys that we found at garage sales and playmobile that was asked for at birthdays and christmas. We have passed on the Little Tikes toys to young families, we donated the blocks to a local preschool, but we still have the playmobile.</p>
<p>Many little girls like pink and dollies, and many boys like trucks and action figures. It’s not true for all boys or all girls, but obviously enough that things are marketed that way.</p>
<p>Why is this shocking. During TV commericals, we see lawn mowers and trucks marketed to men and cleaning and cooking products marketed to women. And, when you go into the cosmetic and beauty aisles, those pkgs are pretty…cuz women are attracted to that look.</p>
<p>We also had blocks. (A lot of them) when DS was young. It was a hit. However, later on, he would build a building that is tall and “strong” and pretended there was a “bomber” flying over the building and dropping “bomb” (which is just another block) on it multiple times in order to see how solid his building is. Sign…I believe it was me who originally thought of this idea. (He was not an aggressive boy though.)</p>
<p>Regarding gender issues, we purchased toy kitchen set (either Fisher price or little tykes) also. It was NOT a hit. But now he has grown up and is quite motivated in learning basic cooking from us. I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with the fact that we purchased a kitchen set for him when he was young. It is more likely because he is very concerned about how healthy the meal he eats everyday is.</p>
<p>Is playmobile another version of BRIO? The train set from BRIO was also NOT a hit and years later when he had grown out of it, we gave it to his early year English tutor (only before his elementory school) and she gave it to her grandson, she said it was like a pot of gold.</p>
<p>My oldest played with the neighbor boy who was about a year older. She had my little ponies & & he had transformers- they built a town for them in the basement.
She also played with her dads matchbox cars. She and her best friend ( who was a girl), made the cars their own little skirts & houses. ;)</p>
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<p>I actually don’t see cooking products marketed specifically to women that much…in late night informercials all the nifty kitchen gadgets have a pretty unisex portrayal. At least among college students, there is no gender divide when it comes to cooking and cleaning, and I would almost say automobiles. Guys like “all-powerful blast stains away” cleaning products much as the next girl.</p>
<p>I played with Barbies and toy kitchens as a kid, as well as K’nex/Legos and toy cars. I seem to have turned out just fine, no gender dysfunctionality here.</p>
<p>I have a S and D, when they were growing up we had very little disposable income (actually still true, given college costs!). I was so annoyed at how difficult it was to find toys (and, more so, clothes) that were gender neutral so could be passed on. Bikes, in particular, are ridiculous. Why do they have to be pink or blue? Only the most expensive ones come in neutral colors. Now even Lego comes in pink sets.</p>
<p>Here’s [another</a> commentary](<a href=“http://www.newdream.org/blog/2011-10-gendering-of-kids-toys]another”>http://www.newdream.org/blog/2011-10-gendering-of-kids-toys) by the same author, with a bit more information.</p>
<p>Looking through old Sears catalogs determining how ‘gendered’ toys are…is that typical research for a sociologist?</p>
<p>(Moderators: If this link is a violation of the TOS with respect to blog links, please delete.)</p>
<p>It makes marketing and practical sense to have the toys arranged so people can find what they’re interested in easily and have associated toys they can try to upsell. Most boys don’t want to play with dolls and most girls don’t want to play as much with all of the sports, action, ninja (??), toys boys play with. There are some exceptions of course.</p>
<p>I don’t see anything wrong with stores trying to improve their sales by being practical and catering to their customers. If people didn’t generally like it the store would change or sales would diminish. From the store’s perspective, it’s all about sales and profits.</p>
<p>I’m definitely curious how much children are being socialized into these toy preferences. Do little girls really inherently prefer to play with dolls, or do they prefer to play with dolls because they have been exposed to them and see other little girls in the media playing with them?</p>
<p>I was never a strictly boy or girl toy kid. I remember distinctly for my 7th birthday my mother telling the other parents that I liked Mighty Max when they asked what they should give me, because they were what I liked and played with. I also played a lot of G.I. Joes with my brothers.</p>
<p>I’m definitely curious how much children are being socialized into these toy preferences. Do little girls really inherently prefer to play with dolls, or do they prefer to play with dolls because they have been exposed to them and see other little girls in the media playing with them?</p>
<p>Hyper julie- did you read my post about the cars in skirts?
Id didnt believe it was innate either until I had kids.</p>
<p>Pnwedwonk
Bikes last a long time- its pretty easy to repaint one you found at a yard sale if you don’t like the color.
I think the bike my kids learned to ride on was pink,( although since they are 8 yrs apart, the pink bike was looking a little beat up by the time youngest got it, so we painted on baby blue spots) - it still basically worked the same as the red & yellow Huffy bike that my youngest picked out when she was ten.
I think they run about $100, but she got a lot of use out of it, and I’m thinking of giving it to the twin boys across the street, we already gifted them Ds old skateboard. ( they already had one bike & one skateboard)</p>
<p>I do admit that my girls used to dramatically hold their breath while going down the Pink aisle@ Toads R Us when they were little so they wouldnt catch the Barbie disease. And my inlaws gave them Barbies every chance they got, ( but Ive never seen them with their heads).
I dont think it damages kids to play with toys that dont necessarily have a child that is identical to them on the package & it doesnt seem to have harmed mine.</p>
<p>Most boys don’t want to play with dolls because dolls are so frilly and extremely catered to the other sex, duh. The same goes with girls and boys’ toys. Why not go for a realist aesthetic. A toy that portrays society as it is – buildings (that can be made to look strong or have intricate architecture), networks, markets, social interactions and forces, subway stations, restaurants and shopping…portray people that are realist models, not caricatures.*</p>
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<li>Note by “realist” I refer to a distinct aesthetic, as found in literature or art, "realist =/= “realistic”.</li>
</ul>
<p>Plenty of girls become architects and engineers – in fact they have to struggle against the neglect of their building and engineering instincts they had as a child. In fact, all the people I know at the architecture school at UVA are girls (and my mom is an architect and is currently a naval designer).</p>
<p>Would you consider Simcity (or some other citybuilding games) a girl’s game or a guy’s game? I think most people would consider it “neither” – both guys and girls love it, because it portrays society as a whole and doesn’t overly emphasise or concentrate on feminine or masculine aspects.</p>
<p>Take a look at some of the recent buildings designed by architects today-- do you see a masculine aesthetic, a feminine aesthetic or do you think the whole question of whether a building’s aesthetic is masculine/feminine is irrelevant? The reason why building and architecture toys don’t generally appeal to girls is because they are so overly masculinised. </p>
<p>If you give building and engineering a realist aesthetic – like Simcity does – where you aren’t forced to design buildings in clashing ugly colors but instead work with simulated brick, wood, glass and steel then you will see cross-gender appeal.</p>
<p>Boys don’t go for the toy baking sets because they are so heavily tailored for the other gender, and they have been shamed to not like pink. Why not go for the faux stainless steel kitchen (without the sharp corners, of course)?</p>
<p>Well, there is always this option for parents who do not want their kids to play and dress “stereotypically”:</p>
<p>[Couple</a> raise child as ‘gender neutral’ to avoid stereotyping - Telegraph](<a href=“Couple raise child as 'gender neutral' to avoid stereotyping”>Couple raise child as 'gender neutral' to avoid stereotyping)</p>
<p>For a mature voice, see the first letter NYT published as a reply to this article. The author reflects back results from test groups of parents. Apparently, offering Lego blocks in lavender colors brings girls into the world of construction toys more readily than primary colors. It is beneficial to diversify their play choices. If the only way to get there is to make pink/lavendar building blocks, so be it.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/opinion/the-marketing-of-toys-based-on-gender.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/28/opinion/the-marketing-of-toys-based-on-gender.html</a></p>
<p>Talking about Lego, we still do not know why DS was so crazy about playing with Lego when he was at a certain age. (I would think it 's about his kindergarten or even slightly younger.)</p>
<p>He would keep playing it till his fingers hurt and still did not want to stop. He would ask for bandaides to be on his fingers and kept playing unless we forbade him to play. It was often that all or most of his fingers were covered with bandaides when we sent him to preschool or kindergarten. We were afraid the teacher might think we were bad parents because we let this happen to such a young child day after day. We were actually concerned that he might have some stress and whether we needed to take him to a doctor.</p>
<p>It is still a mystery to us why he behaved like that during that period. (I think it lasted almost 7 or 8 months and finally his focus turned into other area - still played with Lego but not in an obsessive way.)</p>