When I entered "The Toy Works," of Keene I nearly ran into the tangible proof of this
paper.
The first wall of the store is set back, at most, four feet from the front door. The wall
was split precisely in two. On the left side was a tapestry of pink dolls, on the right was nothing
but black and red wrestling toys. The entire store mirrored this theme with only a few
Girls toys were identified by pink and other light colors, glitter and sparkles, and the
more obviously, pictures of only girls playing with these toys. There were "Barbie" dolls
dressed in gendered clothing such as dresses, bikinis, and even hulas.
Since apparently, women
spend most of there time doing housework and raising children, there were little pink strollers
and miniature pink vaccuums. There was even a plastic vanity table.Boys toys were tagged by dark colors such as red and black. The male gendered toys
also had pictures of boys or full-grown muscular men on the boxes. "WWF" wrestling figurines
were highly prevalent.
One such figurine called the "Bone Crunchin' Buddy," bragged that the
"elbows and knees crunch when you bend them." The sports isle consisted of pictures of male
athletes and more red and black. The radio controlled vehicle isle featured more of the same;
male drivers and red and black. It was impossible to miss the G.I.
Joes. Camouflaged combat
vehicles and "He-Man" looking men with guns battled all over the shelves.A few exceptions of the gender role enforcment must be noted.These may not be
non-gender biased toys, but they represent a change and deviation from the traditional, pre-
conceived gender roles of toys, seemingly cast in stone. "Barbie" dolls clad in NBA jerseys and
soccer jerseys broke the housewife and beauty object theme.
I played a video game which
featured a female boxer. In a row of 11 blue and red buckets of "Leggos," one was pink with a
girl on the front. The most uni-sexed items in the store were mini-computers and other
Gender roles begin to form in the early stages of socialization. Toys either reflect or
foster these roles, I would say a little of both.
Girls toys portray an image docile, precious,
cute, conformity. Boys toys are more independent, rough, tough, and adventurous. It is fine for
a toy to cater to the want of a gendered child. It is wrong however for a toy to gender that
child. Gender identity as part of socialization, should be carried out on the micro level.
Families
and a person's milieu should be primary sources of this form of socialization. That way a
person's personal inborn characteristics will not be discouraged. An example would be a girl
born with a great mechanical mind but because there weren't any leggos she got the pink
vaccuum to play with. Instead of becoming a great engineer she becomes a housewife.
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