Toys Girls And Boys Play - 1560 Words

Today, a quick glance down a toy aisle or at a string of Saturday morning television commercials can show us how toys reinforce gender distinctions. The ‘girls’ toy aisle contains dolls, makeup kits, and kitchen sets, while the ‘boys’ aisle features athletic gear, trucks, plastic guns, and action figures. Certain toys encourage specific skills for boys and girls and give value to a particular group. Toys also suggest values about masculine and feminine gender roles. While gender often seems to emerge ‘naturally’ from sex assignment, children’s toys and then gender-based activities they teach show us that masculinity and femininity are learned sets of behaviors. Many toys present certain skills and activities for boys and girls. It is not challenging to identify the traits and skills that the toys foster in males and females. In 1975, Rheingold and Cook researched whether there is a significant difference in the toys girls and boys play with. They conducted their research in middle-class households and examined the contents of children’s rooms to answer the overarching question. Rheingold and Cook found that in girls’ bedrooms it contained toys that reflected the notion of homemakers. There were baby dolls, toy stoves and doll houses, which are all examples of domesticity and motherhood. On the other hand, in the boy’s rooms, there were military toys, athletic gear, building blocks and trucks. All illustra tions of aggression and action (Renzetti and Curran 80). TraditionalShow MoreRelatedToys And Its Effect On Children s Toys1033 Words   |  5 PagesToy Store In today’s society, toys that children play with have an affect on their future roles. Toys teach children what they are expected to do in society as they grow older. Gender roles are one of the biggest factors in children’s toys. Within minutes of a baby being born, they are wrapped in either a pink or blue blanket depending on their sex. Blue and pink are the two colors that are used to define a child’s gender. Toys play an important role on children’s lives and it teaches them whatRead MoreHow Toys Play A Role On Gender Socialization1229 Words   |  5 PagesGirls and boys both grow up being socialized on what is normal and unusual for their gender. Toys are a prominent factor in this socialization, because they are typically presented for one gender and are unacceptable for the other. To assess how toys play a role in gender socialization, I made a trip to Toys â€Å"R† Us in College Station and was surprised by how the store was organized. The first thing that went through my mind when walking into the store was to look for the Girls and Boys signs thatRead MoreToy Evaluation1446 Words   |  6 Pagesresearch on toys at Target. What I discovered was that mostly all gender-neutral toys have to do with educational toys and toys for children whose mindset does not see that’s a girl or boy toy. All the gender-neutral toys were colorful, but mostly used green, blue, yellow, and red colors, thus making targeting boys and girls. What I found in the masculine toy section was that mostly all the toys were blue, black, or dark colors. Lots of toys promoted violence like the Nerf guns and Power Ranger toys withRead MoreToy Manufactures Has Enforced The Belief Of Children Essay1557 Words   |  7 PagesToy manufactures has enforced the belief that children should play with toys that correspond with their genders, while never feeling guilty because they value business greater than children. At early ages children begin to develop a sense of their gender, preferences, and play style. Gender socialization appears to begin at infancy, where a newborn baby girls receive their pink outfits and little boys receive their blue outfits. By about 24 months they begin to define themselves as â€Å"girls† or â€Å"boys†Read MoreGirls And Girls : Toys Are Best For Them By Color And Theme, Social And Parental Expectations1473 Words   |  6 Pagesare exposed to toys from as soon as a couple months of age. Parents and family usually decides which toys are appropriate for each child, usually based on gender. Children are able to distinguish which toys are appropriate for them even when they aren’t exposed to them. I am going to review three ways in which children decide which toys are best for them by color and theme, social and parental expectations, and what they see on television as gender appropriate guidance. Girls and boys differ in theirRead MoreToys that Gender Stereotypes Essays510 Words   |  3 PagesToys that Gender Stereotypes Toys describe how children should act. Adults expect girls to play with dolls like Barbie and Cabbage Patch dolls. They expect boys to play with action toys such as X-men, GI JOE dolls, and Hot Wheels. This sexually stereotypes a kid, because this is suggesting that they girls to chase after so called cute looking guys at the mall and always be interested in fashion and money. For boys they are expected to be tuff and buff and shed no tears they are the ones withRead MoreToys Should Not Be Gender Biased Essay1321 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Raise boys and girls the same way,† a phrase originally said by neo-conceptual artist Jenny Holzer, that urges parents as well as people to raise children without a heavy influence of gender stereotypes and let the child discover how they want to represent themselves. A large divide between little boys and girls is shown in the toy industry. The retail chain Target recognized the influence of the gender bias toys and the impact they have o n children and parents and began neutralizing labels withinRead MoreTeenage Girls And Girls With Pink And Little Boys844 Words   |  4 PagesAs we can see in the first set of advertisements above, there are toys that are specifically intended to capture the interest in boys and girls separately. Here we can see how certain features in the advertisements help aid in the socialization of children in regards to gender. Over the last couple decades, it’s been custom to shower little girls with pink and little boys with blue while they are young, before they learn to choose their own favorite colors. These colors of pink and blue then becomeRead MoreToy Store And Gender Project1350 Words   |  6 Pages Toy Store and Gender Project On Saturday, the tenth of September 2016 I went to Target at 5pm with my roommates. As I walk to the toy aisle I saw parent with their young children. The store was busy but not crowded their where about five to ten families at the toy section. The adults in the toy section with children or without where mostly female. Target had multiple aisles for children’s toys it was divided pretty evenly between girls and boy’s toys with one or two aisles for newborns. Read MoreThe Problem Among Kids Toys827 Words   |  4 Pages The Problem Among Kids Toys Having grown up with two brothers I was always around toys such as action figures and toy guns. I did not have a sister to play with, so I usually played with my brothers. When I played with them, I started to question why all of their toys were just for boys. Why was there not any women action figures or ones with feminine colors? Gender-stereotyped toys are prohibiting children from a range of skills. Kids preferences are cultured. This means they learn which colors