Have Yourself A Very Sexist Holiday
As we enter the holiday season, the inevitable toy catalogs begin arriving on our doormats. Most of the celebrations this time of year involve some form of gift giving, and if you have kiddos, that means t-o-y-s. Toys, toys, and more toys! I have a 2.5 year old boy and 4.5 year old girl and I needed Christmas present ideas, so against my better judgment I picked up three of the catalogs from major retailers in my town to look through the offerings. We don’t watch tv channels that have commercials with the kids, so I wasn’t up-to-date on the latest and greatest from the toy manufacturers. I flipped page after page, bracing myself for what I knew would be pink and blue and pink and blue. Taken one toy at a time, things wouldn’t seem so bad….but when I had four catalogs side by side, and when I had all the pieces of the proverbial puzzle together….
I want you to see what I saw. So here’s what I did - I tallied the number of kids in each catalog (Target, Walmart, and Toys R Us), then the number of boys and number of girls, I counted how many were doing gender-specific things, and how many were doing unisex or non-traditional gender things. I looked at main color themes and main activity themes. Main themes and gender-normal toys be marketed to boys were: vehicles, fighting/sports/weapons, and construction. Main themes and gender-normal toys being sold to girls were: fashion/beauty, pet/baby care, and cooking. The proof of the pudding is in the eating….
(Note: When I refer to “gender-biased” and “non-tradional” toys - I am referring to norms given by the toy industry.)
Source (with charts comparing the Toys-R-Us, Walmart, and Target holiday ads
The woman who wrote this has a company called "Pigtail Pals" that she refers to as "feminism for 4 year olds." She was upset because when her daughter was an infant everything was very stereotypical and she wasn't into that. She created a line of shirts (and now bags, notebooks, hats, etc) with empowering messages for girls. When I read this blog of hers it seemed like something worth posting.
Nothing surprising but still worth a look!