The Girls Aisle: An Analysis Of Gender Stereotypes

Growing up, we are surrounded by gender stereotypes. You walk into a Walmart, looking to buy your nephew a toy for his birthday. You approach two aisles: one full of action figures, dinky cars and monster trucks - the other, full of Barbies, dress-up clothes, and frilly stuffed animals. Societally labelled: “The Boys Aisle” and “The Girls Aisle”. If you bought your nephew a toy from the “Girls Aisle”, he would be shamed and mocked simply for having an interest outside of society 's norm. The “Boy Aisle” is seen as masculine. Men like trucks and fighting. But, women? We must be feminine, delicate creatures. We must confine to our love of makeup, cuddly stuffed toys, and dolls. How dare a young girl want to play with a truck? How dare a young boy want to play with a Barbie? That is outside of the status quo, and society will not tolerate such behaviour. From a very young age, I was subjected to these gender roles. I was told “No, Mackenzie, the truck is for your brother.”, “No, Mackenzie, do not play dress-up with your brother!”. Gender stereotypes were thrown on me beginning from childhood, continuing through to my adolescence. Gender affects my life because of the traditional

This was an identification purpose. Though, once I was brought home from the hospital - I was immediately introduced to the world of stereotyping through gender. My mother and father had a room prepared for me: one which was coated in pink walls with ballet slipper decals aligned atop the white, wooden border. The idea was, “Pink is feminine”, “Pink is for girls”. Therefore, having their new baby girl be brought home - they made sure my gender was easily identifiable to an outsider. My mother filled my wardrobe with dresses and skirts. No one stopped her on the street, asking “Adorable child. Is it a girl or a boy?” - because they assumed, due to my mother’s choice of clothing, that I was a