fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #1962 ]

⌈ Secret Post #1962 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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02.

[Ferris Bueller's Day Off]

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03.

[Community]

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04.

[Big Time Rush]

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05.

[Avengers]

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06.

[The Decemberists]

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07.

[Tim Minchin]

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08.

[The Lizzie Bennet Diaries]

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09.

[Community]

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10.

[The Hunger Games]

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11.

[Nell: The Day Before]

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12.

[Devil Survivor]

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13.

[Homeland]

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14.

[Pippin]

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15.

[Portal 2 & Left 4 Dead]

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16.

[The Avengers, 30 Rock, Psych]

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17.

[FFX]

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18.

[Mad Men]

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19.

[Legend of Korra]

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20.

[Faust: Love of the Damned]

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 020 secrets from Secret Submission Post #280.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Not speaking for your situation or parents, but as an adult woman who quietly peruses the toy aisles listening to parents (research into what drives market trends), I hear a lot of parents actively steering their children in the direction of one toy or type of toy, even after the children fix their attention on something else. Nine times out of ten it's a parent that steers their child away from toys that are not "for" their gender.

The most heartbreaking example was a mother with a young boy (I estimated around five years old) who steered him away from the "pink" aisle entirely. He kept trying to walk down it, and she finally took his hand and actively walked him away from the aisle while saying, "You don't want anything down there. Those toys are for girls."

I regularly see parents walking with boys and girls, and when the boys are perusing action figures, and the girl(s) with them show any interest, the parents (male or female - I haven't noticed much difference) will routinely say, "That's not really your thing. We can look at Barbies once your brother picks his toy."

I have, on very rare occasions, seen better examples. The one that sticks in my mind was a little blonde girl about seven years old looking at toy trucks with her dad. She pulled a huge-ass dump truck off a shelf of toy construction equipment, and her dad was all, "Hey, that's an awesome truck! Is that the one you like?" I so wanted to thank him, but I didn't want his little girl to think he was doing something strange or unusual, so I just mentally applauded him.

There's not an immediate fix for the solution, because it's a cultural issue. It's easy to say, "just make all the packaging neutral and mix the toys (Barbies with action figures, toy trucks with toy vacuums, etc)" but that won't help a lot if children don't see more gender-neutral role models on television, in their home life, and at school.

Black Widow is a good start for marketing, because she has an all-black outfit and is all kick-ass, but then we need women (and men) not putting her down in front of children as being suckier than the male characters, and merch needs to show up in both the "boy" and "girl" aisles - perhaps a tie-in figure with the other tiny Avenger figures for the "boy" aisle, then make a 12-inch figure to go with the other 12-inch Avengers and move all of them to the shelves next to Barbie and Monster High. If a boy walking past the Black Widow/Avengers toys can say, "Hey, this one is cool like Batman!" and not be put down for it, and if a girl likewise walking past Black Widow/Barbie/MH toys can say, "Hey, she's cool and pretty!" and not be put down for it, you've got a start on breaking down some of the gendered stereotypes in our culture.

I am applauding this comment. All of it.

Yes, that's all very true. If my parents, who were pretty cool with this stuff comparatively speaking, still upheld some girl/boys toys distinctions and tried to steer me that way, I can only imagine how strong this is for most kids. More specifically, my parents were alright with my playing with my brothers' "boyish" toys (cars, actions figures, fighting games, the whole thing) - especially my dad, since my mom did express some doubts about it but let me play nonetheless. Yet they did steer me towards the plush animals and other such girl toys in stores. But I also went towards them because they were what my school friends had. I find it hilarious that I played more with my brothers' toys than the ones I bought myself - but it's also a bit sad that I never realized I could be buying them for myself until I was a preteen.

I love this comment. How sad, though, the situations you described at the beginning. =( and kudos to the dad of the truck-loving girl!

And yeah, it's a cultural problem and also a corporate one because toys are all about making money, you know?

But I love your idea of incorporating BW into both. XD

[ SECRET POST #1962 ]

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