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Annotated Bibliography

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The purpose of this study is to explore the influence our culture’s dominant ideologies may have upon the gender socialization of children. I am going to compare the Legos manufactured for girls vs. boys, specifically comparing the packaging, display of items, types of sets and roles portrayed by figures. The reason I have chosen to observe Lego collections is because they are a brand that has been manufacturing toys in their current form, for multiple age levels, since 1958. Based on my experiences of buying Lego sets for my own children, I believe I will discover Lego collections reinforce the established social norms for gender based on the packaging, sets and roles of characters in their collections. Through this study I would like to determine …show more content…

The aisles of toys with girl specific items are lined with approximately 11 items wide and 6 shelves high of Lego sets. The Friends Lego collection featured the same purple background and a ribbon of pink packaging on each box. The Elves Lego collection featured more of a blue background but all of the items in the sets are covered in pink and purple flowers as well as other items in the sets that are predominantly pink and purple. The Princess Lego collection featured packaging in pink with hearts and filigree. As we are aware of the color preference for girls socially being pink or purple, the color scheme chosen by Legos packaging of girls collections reinforces the dominant culture’s ideologies that girls should choose pink or …show more content…

The packaging of the large range of sets sold for boys also contained a variety of colors. Each set had a dominant color in the background, but unlike the girls sets none contained pink as the dominant color. The main colors used in packaging of the boys Lego sets are yellow, blue, red and green, except for the Ninja Turtles collection that contained some purple. The packaging aligns with findings in a recent study by LoBue and DeLoache in 2011 that by age two and a half most boys will shy away from toys containing the colors purple and pink. This is due to the pressure placed on boys to not pick girl colors and the influences of society that pink and purple are girl

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996 Words | 4 Pages

Declaring this as a feminist victory, Filipovic mentions that parents may appreciate the “creative fun of playing with dolls”, but they don’t want the memorandum that this is figurine is something younger girls should aim to be. The rational fact that a child should not be objectified by a malleable doll for the reason that she’s just an appealing face. As the writer goes on, she validates that this conclusion that the company Patient Zero for two generations, blatantly isolated “girl’s toys” from the “boy’s toys” (Filipovic par. 3). Leaving the progressing younger girls thinking that they can’t be a superhero, but pushed to be a princess or homemaker. Furthermore, tension rises as the Filipovic remarks a suggested toy from the toy store Toys R Us recommends a Dyson Ball vacuum cleaner as a toy for girls’ ages to 5 through 7.

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499 Words | 2 Pages

The author uses a simile to describe the attraction stating that “the color draws them like heat-seeking missiles” (Orenstein 35). The simile compares the young girls’ attraction to pink to heat seeking missiles which is an exaggeration that helps show how strong the attraction is. This however, was not always the case as other adults revealed they “do not remember being so obsessed with pink” (Orenstein 35). The author corroborates this statement with evidence from Jo Paoletti who is a professor of American studies at the University of Maryland. He argues

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505 Words | 3 Pages

She first takes notice as she observes toys she would want, "I first skimmed the pages filled with action figures, toy cars, light sabers, and various flying machines, some of which I actually considered for my own wish list". She was then up-taken as she recognized that the toys were meant for boys as the background color, blue, associated with a male audience, while her toys were considered to be female life role toys such as baking, sewing, and other female related

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276 Words | 2 Pages

For girls, everything is pink. One color, one shade. This same one dimensionality is reflected in the toys. The vast majority of products involved home related items and baby dolls. Being a mother is an important role, but it shouldn’t be taught

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590 Words | 3 Pages

Discussion 3.3: Toy Store Rant At the beginning of the toy store rant video, Riley states, "It wouldn't be fair for all the girls to buy princesses and all the boys to buy superheroes". Riley doesn't care that superheroes are "suppose" to be for boys, she seems to think it is not fair toys can't be for every child no matter their sex differences. However, she later explains boys do not want to buy the toys that are pink and the companies making the toys try to trick the children based on the color of boxes the toys are in. This statement that Riley makes is that the toys are gender based and she is explaining what Berk and Meyer would call gender schema theory. Gender schema theory is explained by ..."how the environmental pressure and children's cognitions work together to shaper gender-role development" (Martin & Halverson, 1987; Martin, Ruble, & Szkrybalo, 2002 as cited

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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.”

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475 Words | 2 Pages

According to the New York Times, “Boys’ toys and costumes tend to be associated with action or destruction: objects that move, characters that save the day and animals that prey. Girls’ toys and costumes are more passive: objects to be looked at, characters that are rescued and animals that are docile or pretty” (Miller). Parents give their sons with toy predators and toy

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1624 Words | 7 Pages

An examination of boy toys and girl toys reveals a distinct shift in the ways that each toy is designed to engage its user. Girl toys focus very little on “potential learning/skills development” while boy toys focused more on these aspects, including knowledge of construction and technology (Francis 332-333). A doll does little to prepare a girl for future academic curriculum, while a model car provides a subject to a boy’s developing motor and engineering skills. One could argue that girls perhaps gain more social skills, while boys gain more technical skills when playing with gendered toys, but this is the exact polarization that I am claiming to be stereotypically gendered. Understanding that gendered toys could lead to different developmental patterns in boys and girls, which then leads to different involvement in different fields, is a very real possibility and consequence to the real world.

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1425 Words | 6 Pages

This article also talks about how in the past a significantly small amount of toys were made specifically for boys and girls. Many ads for toys in the 1970s deliberately had boys playing with dolls and kitchen sets, while the girls played with toy cars and airplanes. While this was true for the 1970s, now it is more common for marketers to convince parents to buy two versions of the same, or similar toys for different genders (Robb). For example Living In Lego City, written by Alexandra Lange, talks about the difference between the brands two major cities: Friends’

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1066 Words | 5 Pages

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”).

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656 Words | 3 Pages

The final thing that’s super important to talk about is how are severe gender roles in toys affecting kids? One thing me research has lead me to conclude is that gender toys make profits on toys lower. The heavily gendered toys make it difficult for kids to feel conformal playing with such toys because they are made for the opposite sex. In another study I found it had concluded that younger girls love for or preference for pink is learned more than instincts. Studies have shown both male and female children have a preference for blue when younger.

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655 Words | 3 Pages

I believe they only reject pink because it’s a girl color. From the data I collected I realized that just because they are either girl or boy does not mean that boy are only limited to the boy toys and girls to girls. But labeling them girls and boys it already gives them a mindset that they cannot have toys from that section. Boys see that girl toys have to do with dolls, fashion, make up, cooking, mom roles, and so on. They eventually can come to the conclusion that those are only girl thing such as pink is only for girls.

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789 Words | 4 Pages

Study 1 was dedicated specifically to the color of the toys, and study 2 was focused on both the label and color of the toys. The result showed that, as expected, boys were more attracted to masculinized colored and decorated toys, and girls were attracted to feminized colored and decorated toys. Through study 2, they figured that boys and girls are very reactive to both labels and colors. This source is handy since it broke down the aspects of gender-specific toys into decoration, color and labels; more specific information can be extracted out of this experiment. Personally, I didn’t see any bias or anything that hurts the credibility of this experiment and analysis.

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1361 Words | 6 Pages

However, even if the back of the shelving units were not colored, the toys' packaging itself would be more than a clear giveaway. In what Walmart has as the girl's aisle are princess dresses hung on pink hangers, dolls in pink packing, ponies with pink hair, even toys that are undeniably gender

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851 Words | 4 Pages

If stores market toys for a specific gender they will prevent children from having this. 6th grader at Plainview Old Bethpage middle school Carly Barca says that “when kids see a toy they want but it’s labeled for just a girl or for just a boy it can make them feel down because if they want a toy and it’s labeled for a specific gender it can make them think that they cannot do what they want and they have to follow the “tradition” of what is considered for boys or for girls”. When toys are marketed for a specific gender they suggest what children should like to do and who they should aspire to be before they’ve had an opportunity to figure that out on their own. Children’s view of the world can be shaped based on what they do and what they play

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