Awesome graphic on boy vs. girl toys

[2xx1xy1JD]

Hat tip to love, joy, feminism:

wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/files/2014/12/o-BOYS-GIRLS-TOYS-900.jpg

[16strong]

That...that's amazing. :clap:

[sparkles]

Brilliant!

Some variant of that belongs on every toy package.

[BlackSheep]

Love it. Sums it up quite nicely.

[Mama Mia]

That was awesome.

The marketing of toys to only boys or girls has become ridiculous. It seems like virtually every single possible toy now screams boy or girl on the packaging. I know it's always been this way to some extent--- but not nearly like it is now. Things like Legos for example, were something I always assumed were for all kids, but now they market one kind to boys and then special pink ones to girls. I know it's just to increase sales, so you " have" to buy two sets of everything, but it's really annoying.

[doggie]

I fixed it for you

[thoughtful]

Perfect!

I can only think of one exception to the "if you use your genitalia, it's not for children" part:

http://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com/CT ... rgets.html

Not that these can't be used for girls, but it's got to be more fun if one can see the target.

:D

[browncoatslytherin]

i saw this on facebook and i loved it! when i was a kid, i loved my barbies, but i also loved my hot wheels, too. ;)

[Four is Enough]

Way back in the day, my brother got an Erector set. It was metal, with nuts and bolts, contained a motor, so you could run some of your creations, wheels, and all manner of wonderful ideas in a little booklet. I played with that set more than he did. It was wonderful. It was also packaged in a metal box painted red.. no "your boy will love it!" or "your girl needs this!" anywhere. Just hours of fun... eventually it was given away to a cousin. I still love that toy..

[Feberin]

That was awesome.

The marketing of toys to only boys or girls has become ridiculous. It seems like virtually every single possible toy now screams boy or girl on the packaging. I know it's always been this way to some extent--- but not nearly like it is now. Things like Legos for example, were something I always assumed were for all kids, but now they market one kind to boys and then special pink ones to girls. I know it's just to increase sales, so you " have" to buy two sets of everything, but it's really annoying.

I hate toys that have a boys set and a girl set. One nice thing about having a boy and a girl is that we get both sets so I just combine them all in a tub and primary colored Legos are mixed in with the purple pink ones.

[DGayle]

This image has been around for a while, and it's still perfect.

[Pretzel]

I hate gender specific toys! Girls can play with diggers, boys can play with Barbies. So what? Just let 'em play.

Yeah, somebody please tell the Duggars.

[Anny Nym]

If we used childhood gender roles on adults... :D

[ExCatholic]

Love it. We've been collecting baby items from thrift stores and classifieds,so our son has some wonderful pink/purple items (like the awesomely cheap flowery swing). Drives my mother-in-law NUTS. Don't get me wrong, she's wonderful and I love her, but...absolutely makes her crazy. Our son has a habit of throwing his hands up in his sleep that we refer to as jazz hands. Whenever she sees it she "jokingly" says to my husband, UH OH, jazz hands, look out dad! Implying, we assume, that he's acting femininely, and thats cause for concern.

Here's an issue I didn't know existed until I had the boy - dogs are for boys, and cats are for girls. :( we have two cats so I keep my eye open for cat clothes and toys, and they're all super pink and sparkly. Why can't cats be masculine and puppies feminine sometimes?

[RosyDaisy]

Spot on!

[Mama Mia]

I hate toys that have a boys set and a girl set. One nice thing about having a boy and a girl is that we get both sets so I just combine them all in a tub and primary colored Legos are mixed in with the purple pink ones.

That's a really good idea! When my kids were little every single toy wasn't packaged as specifically "boy" or "girl" , so it didn't come up as much. But now I have several sibling sets of grandchildren. One is a set of boy girl siblings. Soooo many of the building and art sets now specify gender on the package. But if I use your idea they'll love the gift and won't think Grandma messed up because the stupid box is telling them they got the " wrong" toy! Thank you!

I've also noticed that some of the worst offenders are all these really cool mechanical and engineering sets aimed at girls. I understand the idea is to increase interest in STEM fields for girls. But I think they could market that without being so exclusionary in their ads and packaging.

[DGayle]

GoldieBlox irks the hell out of me. That's a toy claiming to be about telling girls they can be anything and break out of the pink mold, but they use a thin, cute, blonde girl wearing purple whose "jobs" are to help a beauty pageant or beauty parade using overpriced kits that don't really teach anything mechanical at all and can't be used together. Putting a couple wheels on a peg board, putting a rubber band around them, and spinning the thing, doesn't teach much, yet this is what's passing for teaching girls mechanics and that they can break out of the thing, cute, pink mold, and it's very exclusionary.

Give my girls Tinker Toys! They can play with those with their little boy-friends without it being about how you are doing wrong if you like pink sparkles, or like playing with primary colors.

[Feberin]

That's a really good idea! When my kids were little every single toy wasn't packaged as specifically "boy" or "girl" , so it didn't come up as much. But now I have several sibling sets of grandchildren. One is a set of boy girl siblings. Soooo many of the building and art sets now specify gender on the package. But if I use your idea they'll love the gift and won't think Grandma messed up because the stupid box is telling them they got the " wrong" toy! Thank you!

I've also noticed that some of the worst offenders are all these really cool mechanical and engineering sets aimed at girls. I understand the idea is to increase interest in STEM fields for girls. But I think they could market that without being so exclusionary in their ads and packaging.

Thanks! I wish my kids had relatives who were all right with breaking out of the gender mold with gifts. I'm sure this Christmas will be another one filled with baby dolls for my daughter and cars/trucks for my son. Not that they don't like those toys but they already have so many of them and there are other things they like too. My daughter is only two years old and literally has like ten dolls, which she only plays with one at a time. When I suggested trains for my daughter my husband's grandmother asked why my daughter liked trains in a way that suggested there was something wrong with her. :angry-banghead:

I hate those Goldie Blox toys. They got so much attention because people thought they were empowering girls but I felt like they were doing the opposite. They were saying the only way girls would play with STEM toys is if they were made pink and purple and marketed just for them. Why can't there just be toys? One thing I was happy about this year is I felt like the Toys R Us catalog didn't as much have a "girls" section and a "boys" section they mixed the toys around pretty well. Looking through the catalog was fun with my kids. My son at four only stuck to traditional "boys" toys. But my daughter picked out Thomas trains and a lawn mower along with an Elsa dress, stuffed Olaf and stuffed Minnie.

[Mama Mia]

I think I read somewhere that Toys R Us officially got rid of identifying product placement in their stores and marketing by labeling it " boys" or " girls". Or I could be thinking of somewhere else.

One of my sets of granddaughters are really into the Goldie Blox ( or at least their parents are) . So I looked at them as a possible Christmas gift. But they are soooooo expensive for what you get!!! :shock: Ridiculous. And like people have said, not much there. And I hate that they are overcharging based on the " novel" idea that girls like to build things! :roll:

[Firiel]

THANK YOU ALL for affirming my thoughts on the GoldieBlox toys! I've always been annoyed by them, but I feel like a harpy for being judgmental because everyone had a love affair with those things for a while. When I was a kid, I always got K'Nex. The regular, ol' yellow, red, black and grey ones because I thought they were really fun and enjoyed them. I didn't need special "girl" toys to trick me into being interested in that kind of thing.

Although, wouldn't you know, I ended up as an English major instead of an engineer or a doctor.

[Coco]

Glad to hear Goldieblox isn't worth the money before i bought any :lol: i loved the lego sets that made working things like a catapult or a rubber band car as a kid. Technic is kind of like that now but i don't think it was called that in the '90's. The only good thing i can say about Goldieblox is at least they're making a lot of noise and drawing attention to the gender divide in toys. Trying to make being smart and techy a cool thing for girls, well that's something at least. Too bad the actual products are crap.

[PennySycamore]

Way back in the day, my brother got an Erector set. It was metal, with nuts and bolts, contained a motor, so you could run some of your creations, wheels, and all manner of wonderful ideas in a little booklet. I played with that set more than he did. It was wonderful. It was also packaged in a metal box painted red.. no "your boy will love it!" or "your girl needs this!" anywhere. Just hours of fun... eventually it was given away to a cousin. I still love that toy..

When I was a kid, I really wanted a Panel and Girder set (or a Girder and Panel set) so I could make skyscrapers and bridges and things like that. I didn't get one, but probably more because they were expensive than because of my sex. My husband also wanted one and didn't get it either. I think we ought to get a set for ourselves even if our childhood years were about 50 years ago.

[Johanna25]

That's why toys from our childhood are so expensive to buy today. We all would like to have the things we wanted but never got as kids. Now that we have the money to indulge ourselves, they are "collectors' items." I haven't bought any vintage toys, but I have a collection of contemporary toys and games that I love. My excuse for buying them was that they were for families that rented my vacation home (which is now my retirement home) and for when relatives with children visit.