ipl-logo

Gender Stereotypes In Toys Essay

1066 Words5 Pages

The development of kids is directly impacted by gender stereotypes in toys. Toys can help children develop certain skills and functions. Play helps kids learn how to solve problems, get along with others, and develop motor skills (“Children”). Toys can help kids develop physical skills, cognitive concepts, language skills, and social skills (“Children”). Gender stereotypes negatively impact a child’s development. By closing the door on kids playing with a variety of toys, we deny them the opportunity to develop a wide variety of skills (“Toys”). During the Imprint Period (0-7 years), gender stereotypes in toys affects kids development. From ages zero to seven, kids soak up everything around them “like a sponge” (“Teenager”). During the Imprint period, the "neural network for how to do things in life is being laid down," and kids develop life skills. During this time everything we see we accept as true, and …show more content…

As gender stereotypes in toys impact a child’s interest, this also influences their career choices. Through playing with toys, kids develop interests (Steinmatz). When kids are only offered half of the toys available, they don’t get the chance to gain interest in the toys declared for the opposite sex. Gender stereotypes limit the variety of toys that kids will form interests and skills upon (Clayton). The skills and interests kids develop during childhood shape what academic and career choices they make as adults (“Toys”). Toys effect on career is proven as stated, “research by retail group Argos found that over sixty percent of adults working in design-led jobs, such as architects and designers, enjoyed playing with building blocks as children. Even more - sixty-six percent - working in maths related roles, such as accountants and bankers, preferred puzzles” (Barford). This is because adults reflect on their skills and interests that they have had since childhood before deciding their career(Clayton). Toys with gender stereotypes limit kids’

Show More
Related
551 Words | 3 Pages

In the essay “Even Nine-Month-Olds Choose Gender-Specific Toys,” Jennifer Goodwin acknowledges the possibility of gender being innate, as a research showed that “even 1-day-old boys spent longer looking at moving, mechanical options than 1-day-girls, who spent more time looking at faces” (89). However, she claims that even actions this early in life may already be influenced by the parents’ different treatments, which start almost instantly after their child is born. Goodwin states that, even when their children are still infants, parents tend to show more affection towards girl than boys, who are dealt with in a more active and playful manner, which could explain the findings of the research mentioned. This difference in treatments is later

Read More
532 Words | 3 Pages

Until age five, children do not form object permanence and therefore assume that identity is something that changes with certain aspects of appearance, such as clothing or hairstyle. Thus, a set of rigid rules about physical appearance are put in place by the child to determine whether a person is male or female. Orenstein discovers that toy choice is also something that is innately different between the sexes. For instance, in an experiment conducted on primates, the male and female monkeys play with the toys that are the most traditional and specific to their gender.

Read More
898 Words | 4 Pages

She backs this up with a study by Vanessa Lobue and Judy DeLoache in which children age seven months to five years were asked to choose between a pink or blue object and it wasn’t until around two and a half that girls preference for pink became obvious. Robb then includes many quotes from Megan Fulcher, associate professor of psychology at Washington and Lee University. She uses Fulcher’s idea that gender-specific toys marketing leads to hindered learn, such as in motor skills. This article fits into my research paper because it shows that stores should rid of gender-specific marketing because it harms children and it shows that business were able to do it in the

Read More
163 Words | 1 Pages

There has been a lot of quarrels over the years about how children’s picture books are embracing traditions and presenting gender stereotypes. In an article I found, author Narahara May of “Gender Stereotypes in Children’s Picture Books,” discusses two major problems. One being that gender stereotypes and sexism has an emotional impact on the development of children’s identity and development. Secondly, she explains about how books in the last decade have portrayed gender negatively. Furthermore, I will be discussing May’s ideas further in depth by examining the portrayals of gender stereotypes found in the popular “Berenstain Bears” picture books.

Read More
1183 Words | 5 Pages

It is well-known in modern culture that children begin developing gender identities from a very young age. As soon as children are able to comprehend media and the actions of those around them, they are bombarded with examples of gender roles. In fact, they are presented with these examples even before they can comprehend them. Parents may begin reading children books right from birth. The gender roles that are often present in these picture books aimed at young children become ingrained in the minds of the children, kickstarting the development of gender identity.

Read More
1090 Words | 5 Pages

Their boy toys required a lot more outdoor space. This reinforces Thorne’s (1986) findings that show that boys use ten times the space that girls do at recess. The array of Puzzles, LEGO buildings, and even advent Calendars, encourage creativity, and structure to build their toys, they even have to put the advent calendars together before they can use it. This is reinforcing the act like a man box, because it stresses that boys should show their masculinity by being be able to work with their hands and physically build things themselves as a part of the fun (Kivel, 1984). The toys even encouraged future professions one LEGO Mindcraft game inspires jobs such as, architecture, landscape design, and even farming.

Read More
124 Words | 1 Pages

Some folks assume that girls and boys behave and like different things based on their distinctive innate nature and physical differences. While it might be true that they identify themselves based on biological traits like their gender/sex, Penelope Eckert, the author of Learning to be Gendered, argued that receiving different treatments and nurture can have influence on how girls and boys learn to identify themselves. Penelope suggest that there’s a social matter where an individual’s gender can be a heavy label on how he or she would be like, but part of the gender label is developed by parenting while growing up. Even at birth, gender roles are conditioned by their milieu. Baby girls are given flowery or pink gifts while boys are

Read More
1129 Words | 5 Pages

Girls and boys toys have created a huge impact in america with the colors, and types of things they use to aim a specific item towards a single gender. In stores such as target the aisles are separated by so called boy colors and girl colors. Also toys are named different things just for an appeal to genders such as dolls and action figures, when they are really all the same thing. This affects our world because it shows that boys and girls have to get or buy certain things aimed

Read More
1491 Words | 6 Pages

F. Scott Fitzgerald, a well known classic novelist, once wrote, “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone… just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve has.”. These powerful words can teach one to care for those around them through differences and similarities. Being empathetic will get a person much farther than being judgemental in this world. Likewise, empathy is also a main lesson in the classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Set in a small town called Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s, when stereotypes and judgmental stigmas were at their peaks in the United States, the reader witnesses a heartbreaking trial and death of Tom Robinson.

Read More
408 Words | 2 Pages

The essay “Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls” by Katha Pollitt, is an essay angled at young people who are, or potentially will be parents. The piece begins with an analysis of the indoctrination of gender roles upon children, with the focus beyond societal influences. Pollitt says other people claim that the reasoning behind children’s affinity for specific toys can be traced to things innate in humans, listing “...prenatal hormonal influences, brain chemistry, genes…” (Pollitt 1) as the top offenders. She also includes “...that feminism has reached its natural limits.”

Read More
1083 Words | 5 Pages

The documentary “The Pinks and the Blues” and the podcast “Can a Child be Raised Free of Gender Stereotypes” discuss the unconscious gender stereotypes and assumptions that our culture places upon children. Children are enculturated with ideas about who they should be, how they should think and behave, and this enculturation has distinct effects upon the child psychology and way of living in the world. The viewer is left with the question: Is it possible to raise a child without gender stereotypes? “The Pinks and the Blues” states that gendered treatment of children begins within 24 hours of the child’s birth. Descriptors for male infants and female infants were different, with boys being labeled as big, strong, and alert while girls were labeled as being delicate, petite, and inattentive.

Read More
1690 Words | 7 Pages

These studies suggest that children observe gender stereotypes at an early age unintentionally. Since children’s brains are constantly soaking in new information about the world around them, they have to do so in a way that they are seemingly most comfortable. Studies show that children are most comfortable learning from people who are actively in their lives and attractive movie and TV

Read More
997 Words | 4 Pages

Gender roles have been noticeable in Disney films especially the Disney Princess series. Women are typically portrayed as a princess, homemaker, or queen while men are portrayed as strong, dominant and authority characters. The portrayal of the prince or knights in the movies usually highlighted with the strong and powerful characteristic, whereas the Disney princesses are weak, vulnerable and being protected. According to Tiffany, gender stereotypes and behaviours illustrations are very common in Disney culture and their depictions have become sophisticated over the years especially those of female characters.

Read More
574 Words | 3 Pages

“Children use toys to try on new roles, experiment, and explore interests.” (Susan Linn) The toys being sold in the US have clear gender discrimination. Gender stereotypes are more of a problem now than in the 1970’s. “By the mid- 1990’s, however, gendered advertising had returned to 1950’s-levels, and it continued to grow in the 2000’s.”

Read More
998 Words | 4 Pages

An example of this stereotype of gender roles in Toy Story would be when Sid's sister wears pink clothes and plays with dolls. This is stereotypical of girls because girls are thought of to wear pink and play with dolls from a very young age. Sid, however, wears a shirt with a skull and plays with action figures. Besides that think about what Sid did to the toys he was very rough and even broke some and that is another stereotype of a boy's gender role. The story also teaches that it’s important to respect other people's property, as well as your own!

Read More

More about Gender Stereotypes In Toys Essay

Open Document