My parents have always told me that I can do anything I put my mind to. I’ve felt that I can pursue any major I want and work any job I desire. I had never realized how toys can cement the way people feel about the accessibility of a career path. Sherman analyzes how early gender stereotypes are installed within children’s dolls and trains children to think a certain way about their future. When girls play with Barbies and all they’re doing is playing dress up and caring about materialistic options, it trains them to think that’s all they’re good for. On the other hand, boys get to build things and engage in more hands-on toys, which leads them to dominate the manual labor industry. Her study explores how the girls who played with Mr. Potato Head instead of Barbie had been reported that they felt there were more career options for them. By playing with a more gender-neutral toy, they felt there was more things they could accomplish in life. It demonstrates the monumental impact that toys can have in shaping future careers for children. Furthermore, toys can also shape the way children perceive their own body image and the gender stereotypes in society. Through Murren’s study we are able to analyze how certain aspects of toys can shape the future the way a child perceives themself in the future. For example, a Barbie is a tall, skinny, beautiful blond hair and blue-eyed girl. She is seen as an ideal standard of beauty and many young girls want to look like her. However, this creates unrealistic standards and can cause many girls to feel pressured to look a certain way, creating body issues. 

Toy Store

Looking back on my childhood, I didn’t comprehend the significant importance that toys played in shaping who I was today. I was lucky enough to grow up in an environment with the brothers where I was exposed to a variety of toys and never felt such a great divide between the gender stereotypes. However, I know that most people, such as people who are only children, played with toys that were strictly for their gender and this led to many problems for them down the line. I think the toy industry can do a better job of creating more gender-neutral toys so that both genders can have a shared experience of playing with a toy. I hope that one day we can eliminate the stigma around cross over playing between genders where a boy can play with a pink girly toy and not feel that his masculinity is in question. 

Children can perceive what toys they are “supposed” to play with and what toys are designated for the other gender. I was able to play with all types of toys as a child, but this is because of my brothers, and we would share toys all the time. I never thought it was weird that my brother would play with a Barbie, and I would play with an action figure. Skočajić discusses a study where children were shown pictures of masculine/feminine toys and asked to stereotype them into two categories. It was discovered that boys were more likely to stereotype masculine toys more often than girls did. They are less likely to play with a pink toy because pink is perceived as a feminine color. This can be seen as them claiming their masculinity. Toxic masculinity can be seen in this issue because boys are expected to only play with a select set of toys. They are looked at differently if they were seen playing with a more feminine toy and overall judged by other boys. Overall, girls showed more interest in counter-stereotyping toys/activities. The way children understand gender stereotypes can be changed and influenced by the way adults and the toy industry present this information to them. 

King’s experiment investigates how children think about gendered toys and how it can limit their growth and development. She presents, through her research, how message phrasing through words such as “boys like dolls” can change their perception about gender-stereotypical toys. By using more gender-neutral language such as “this kid likes dolls”, it doesn’t solidify gender stereotypes compared to when gendered pronouns are used. By using such language, it can open minds to playing with toys that are not necessarily labeled for their gender and promote more inclusivity for all toys. Mr. Potato Head is more of a gender-neutral toy because the task is to simply take him apart. Additionally, there is also Mrs. Potato Head which demonstrates more gender inclusivity for both girls and boys. It is easy to spot how girls and boys are specifically targeted based on their stereotypes for colors and language. Williams chose 5 different girls and boy’s toys where she compares the images and language used to market to children. The word “princess “was used to target girls whereas the word “kid” was used to target boys. Furthermore, the color scheme for girls was mainly pink and for boys it was more greens/blues. Girls’ toys are more materialistic, where they are seen playing dress up with clothes and jewelry. Boy’s toys are more of an activity where they are seen playing sports or building something. Skočajić’s response also supports the idea that boy’s toys are more inclusive of girls in terms of activities and color scheme whereas boys do not want to play with girls’ toys since it is not very acceptable for boys to play with “feminine” toys.

Mr. Potato Head

Two toys that clearly demonstrate the gender difference are Barbies, targeted to girls, and a GI Joe, targeted towards boys. Growing up, I only owned a few Barbie dolls, and it was not one of my favorite toys. I found it boring since all I could do was dress her up and play pretend. I realized that I did not look like Barbie with her blond hair and blue eyes. My brown hair and brown eyes were in stark contrast to everything Barbie represented. Another blog discusses how Barbies represented the ideal appearance and that girls should want to look like her. Similarly, action figures are symbolic of men who are strong and independent. One interesting point I encountered from my research was how dolls do not have detail on their body, such as genitalia. Bignell describes how Action Man has an absence of a genitalia but has “musculature and chin stubble”.   Although these figures lack these parts, they are still represented as different genders from each other. It demonstrates that their gender identity does not rest on the defining features under their clothes. As a child, I was able to clearly grasp which dolls were girls and boys. They were clearly shown through the types/colors of clothes worn and the activities they performed. 

                   Barbie       

Furthermore, one example that struck me was how Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken, doesn’t fit this “ideal” man since he is not as buff and dressed in clothes that are different from those of action figures. He is seen as less masculine because he does not fit the stereotypical man. The interactions observed through both dolls demonstrate how gender expectations are imprinted into children at a young age. The way toys are marketed are very calculating because they are specifically designed to target boys and girls for different toys. When I was little, I remember walking through Toys R Us and being mesmerized by the aisles. The sparky pink dolls and dresses always caught my attention. For my brother, the blue monster trucks and action figures stopped him dead in his tracks. However, these were never in the same aisle: there was an aisle for girls’ toys and a different one for boys. Wagner-Ott explores how there is a gender split between toys and the massive role that manufacturers have in creating gender. They can decide the way a doll looks, dresses, and her hobbies. Barbie’s hobbies included playing dress up and house with a closet full of dresses and accessories. Action figures, such as GI Joe, are seen to save the world and do something important. These stark differences communicate to young children how girls and boys are not allowed to do the same things. For every 50-60 male action figures made, there is only about 1 female action figure. I never owned a female action figure. I had never grasped the fact that females could be seen as saving the world when I was a child.

                                                                         GI Joe                                                                  

When we are kids, we don’t get much choice about what toys get to play with.  Our parents are the ones who influence us, install their own ideas, and raise us to be the people we are today. They choose toys for use based on what they think we would like and what society suggests for them. However, once we reach a certain age, for myself this is probably around seven or eight years old, I was able to understand the things that I wanted to play with and one of my first toy memories of toys is a bug net. I didn’t realize how strange my favorite toy was until I saw other girls playing with Barbies or American Girl Dolls. From my childhood, I remember being outside immersing myself in nature, playing with bugs, and getting dirty. I have two brothers so that was something that definitely influenced me and shaped my childhood activities. Playing with dolls was something that never really interested me, and I just didn’t find it appealing. I didn’t want to play dress up with them and I would rather get dirty in the mud. I didn’t realize it at the time but these interactions I had at a young age shaped me into the person I am today. I was able to create fun through my own imagination and the things around me. This allowed me to grow up as a very independent person and I was able to rely on myself for creating my own entertainment.

My favorite toy as a child

In one of the first articles, I read titled, “Social Interactions and Play Patterns of Parents and Toddlers with Feminine, Masculine, and Neutral Toys”, Calders describes how children as young as 18-24 develop gender toy preference. Unknowingly, we are able to form gender-based opinions and choose toys based on what deem as fitting for our gender.  Masculine toys, such as trucks, are associated with aggression whereas feminine toys, such as dolls, are associated with peace and love. Even from this age, we are conditioned to associate gender with different activities and words. Parents choose the toys they want their child to play with and they have a big role in determining the way their children perceive their own gender and others. Martin and Rose have a similar opinion where they explore how children’s gender-based opinions are formed based solely on the appearance of toys. They concluded that children liked toys less if they believed that they belonged to other gender categories. When a girl sees another girl playing with a doll, she reasons that since she is the same gender, she should also want to play with a doll. My parents or myself didn’t realize the effect toys would have on me and the way it would drastically affect the way I perceive my own gender.

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