Feldman (FGCU): Segregation in Toys R Us?

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. “

-Nelson Mandela

               When we are young, we learn the most about life and who or what is important. Why is gender such an important idea and term in our society?  Why must we conform to these social institutions telling us who were supposed to be and who were not allowed to be?  When walking through toy stores, the toys are organized in a way to reinforce the ideas of femininity, masculinity, or other.  Walk down one aisle, pink overkill.  The next aisle is loaded with plastic muscles, guns, and trucks.  The next aisle is usually shades of yellow for those parents who don’t know the sex of their upcoming child or for newborns and babies, when these ideas are not as important to the parents because the children cannot yet tell which is right or wrong.  But is there a right or wrong?

               Why do only girls get to play with bratz dolls, shopping carts, and easy bake ovens?  The most dominant subjects for female gendered toys or games are beauty and popularity. As young girls and women, we are taught the things that are socially acceptable and “normal” for girls and women to achieve or portray regarding how we are supposed to look or act.  This learning period must also include socialization, which is a lifelong process of learning social skills and standards and acquiring status in society. 

               The most dominant subject for male gendered toys or games that I noticed is sports.  When walking through a toy store, one very noticeable section is trading cards.  Yet, almost every single card has a male pictured on it. Why is that?  Can only men play sports? Obviously not, there are many professional women players and teams out there, but why aren’t they on trading cards? This situation could also be perceived as dominance and subordination.  In this case, the dominant group (males), have defined that the most acceptable roles in sports are only acceptable for males to take part in and that females are the subordinate group because they are “worse” at sports. 

               I believe that toys & games are the main ingredient in our children’s newly constructed lives and play a major part in their futures.  A major part of all of this is marketing as the biggest contributor. It is important to teach our children the values and morals they need to succeed in life, and let them know that life does not revolve around gender alone.  We must learn who we truly are on our own and not by the colors or pictures on a box.

This entry was posted on 22. February 2010 at 19:18 and is filed under Introduction to Sociology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.