Let's take a trip to Target, Toys "R" Us, or even a general store and look along the plentiful aisles that stores all the toys a kid could dream for. If you look closely, you will see the difference in the types of toys and which are specifically for boys and specifically for girls. In our society today, gender roles have become hand in hand with one's identity and their self-worth. As consumers, especially for toys for our kids, we intentionally out of habit buy items that are gender specific to guys and gender specific to girls. When we do this we cause our children to associate the toys they have in comparison to the toys another gender has and because of this, boys think their toys are only boy toys and vice versa. A perfect explanation of this is in Toys by Roland Barthes when he says, "toys literally prefigure the world" and "prepares the child to accept them" (27). Meaning, toys are constructed in a way that resembles jobs or characteristics that have similar attributes associated with specific genders.
When Barthes said that it made me think of how we are making our children make connections with things as simple as their toys and even colors and the way people talk to their gender and the roles they come with. For boys, there are soldiers, construction workers, and policemen toys that are associated to the roles of what it is to be a man which is manly and strong. For girls, there are dolls that come with houses getting them ready for housekeeping, or a baking set to bake sweet snacks, or even baby dolls that are associated with being a mother which is the key aspect of what society defines what a woman should be.
Even aside from toys, when I go to the mall and see baby clothes and accessories that are specifically blues and greens for the guys and pinks and purples for the girls. It makes me think that even before the child is born or is still too young to make decisions for themselves, there is already a limit to what they can and cannot wear. We as a society are making separate items for boys and girls just because of how our society has been thinking it should be from the very start. If a guy acted a bit feminine, he was to automatically assume to be gay and if a girl was acting tough and manly, she would be seen as a tomboy. Both of which show how in our society there isn't a middle ground where you can be both.
Hello Lisa!
ReplyDeleteI would like to begin by saying that I enjoyed your article and your overall writing style. I think that your ideas flowed together well and the logical progression of your argument was clear and easy to understand. I believe that some of your diction could be altered. Specifically, I would look at your usage of "intentionally" and "out of habit" in sentence four. The word "intentionally" refers to an action that is consciously premeditated while the phrase "out of habit" refers to an action that is done without much forethought. I would also recommend that you add ellipses to your direct quotations.
I agree with your article in many different ways. I remember that as a child, one of my best guy friends enjoyed acting and playing "dress up" more than even most girls his age. Even at such a young age, many of our classmates did not want to be associated with the guy who played with "girls' toys". There are no such thing as "girl toys" or "boy toys" until we put that label on them. I think one of the satirically funniest toys on the market today is a tiny Dyson vacuum cleaner for girls. Here, the preparation for gender roles, which you discussed above, is incredibly evident.
I would like you to consider these questions:
Is it possible that young boys and girls will naturally trend towards toys that have been designed for their gender? Why?
Is the gender separation between young boys and girls actually a bad thing in the sense that it trains them for a more judgmental "real world"?
Wow, well I agree that it’s totally true how there are gender specific toys on the market. The other being that it helps prepare them for the future that shows what the world will be like growing up. I find it strange how we have to “prepare” these children through toys though. Toys being used as a reference for children are like the subliminal messages that are secretly hidden in commercials. But then again, who are we to say that these messages couldn’t also be hidden in the TOY commercials? How do we know that the gender roles being assigned could also be referenced into the commercials for toys? We see these “construction” toys like Legos which is sort of a clear reference for usually boys to create buildings, so it’s possible the commercials hide these facts within their message of “creativity”.
ReplyDeleteHey Lisa! I feel like I really can relate to your view on this piece because growing up gender roles were not just influenced by the toys that were bought for me, but also by my parents. If I wanted to buy army men, lincoln logs, or video games my parents were right there behind me to tell me that those toys were boy toys. It wasn't just the toy industry that was pushing gender roles in my life, but my parents for telling me what toys to play with. Parents that do this encourage the division between girl toys and boy toys. Why does it matter what toy a kid plays with? After all it's just a toy. Why do we even associate the color pink with girls and the color blue with boys. I think the next generation of parenting will diffuse this division among genders. At least I hope they do.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete