Boy's Toys
Toys for both genders are designed to educate children by stimulating pretend play, developing cognitive skills, and social play with other children (Blakemore and Centers, 619). Toys are also incredibly gendered. From a young age, due to the types of toys they play with and the behaviors that are associated with those toys, boys are taught to engage and manipulate their environment more freely than girls are.
Traditionally “strongly” masculine toys (as deemed by Blakemore and Centers 2005 study) like GI Joes, footballs, Matchbox cars, miniature weapons, and toolboxes, and even “moderately” masculine toys like microscopes and chemistry sets, are designed for boys as “socializing mechanisms, as educational devices” and are “aimed to help smooth a career path” and “[train] for leadership” (Oldenziel, 142-143, Root Aulette et al., 48).
Boys have more “spatial-temporal” toys (like clocks or outer-space toys) and sports equipment.
Image from Kramer.
Traditionally “strongly” masculine toys (as deemed by Blakemore and Centers 2005 study) like GI Joes, footballs, Matchbox cars, miniature weapons, and toolboxes, and even “moderately” masculine toys like microscopes and chemistry sets, are designed for boys as “socializing mechanisms, as educational devices” and are “aimed to help smooth a career path” and “[train] for leadership” (Oldenziel, 142-143, Root Aulette et al., 48).
Boys have more “spatial-temporal” toys (like clocks or outer-space toys) and sports equipment.
Image from Kramer.
Studies show...
In a study conducted by Miller in 1987, where college undergraduates rated 50 toys for young children on 12 dimensions, 41 of the 50 toys were rated as either boys’ or girls’ toys. Besides the basics like color, some of the differences were striking. “Boys’ toys encouraged more fantasy play that was symbolic or removed from daily domestic life, whereas girls’ toys encouraged fantasy play that was centered on domestic life. In other words, boys could use their toys to build something new or to imagine flying off to outer space, whereas girls could use theirs to pretend to iron clothes and wash dishes. Boys’ toys were also rated higher on sociability (permitting play with others as opposed to solitary play), competitiveness, aggressiveness, and constructiveness. Girls’ toys were rated higher on creativity, manipulability, nurturance, and attractiveness” (Blakemore and Centers, 620). This means that from a young age, boys and girls are socialized into their gender roles through the toys they play with.
Boys’ toys are also much more likely to be rated as “violent” than were girls toys, and ranked higher in competitiveness. Are these traits we really want to be teaching our young boys? Handing them toy guns before they can fully process what a gun is and the destruction it can cause?
Image via http://goo.gl/sB0XxV
Boys’ toys are also much more likely to be rated as “violent” than were girls toys, and ranked higher in competitiveness. Are these traits we really want to be teaching our young boys? Handing them toy guns before they can fully process what a gun is and the destruction it can cause?
Image via http://goo.gl/sB0XxV
Blakemore and Center conclude their article with the declaration that both boys’ and girls’ development would be enhanced by learning domestic skills, and by playing with construction toys. “Children of both genders would benefit from playing with toys that develop educational, scientific, physical, artistic, and musical skills” (Blakemore and Centers, 632).
Image via http://goo.gl/5SqxP0
Image via http://goo.gl/5SqxP0
Boys Will Be Boys
We assume that the toy preferences children have are a result of socially constructed norms that the child learns through observation of parents, older siblings, television commercials and other forms of advertising (explored further on our Toys and Advertising page). However, could preferences for toys be biologically determined? Boys and girls aren’t equally attracted to gender-typical toys: boys have strong preferences for gender-typical toys, girls do not (Dewar). Boys want boy toys! “In a study of American preschoolers (ages 2 to 5), Clyde Robinson and James Morris asked parents what their children had gotten for Christmas. … As it turns out, the toys the kids requested for themselves were more likely to be gender-stereotype (e.g., boys asked for “masculine” toys). When parents chose the toys, they tended to give gender-neutral toys to girls, like art supplies, musical instruments, and educational toys (Robinson and Morris 1986). In the Robinson and Morris study, it was mostly the boys who were requesting gender-stereotyped toys. … Boys show strong preferences for stereotypically male toys. Girls don’t show strong preferences for stereotypically female toys” (Dewar). In the image to the right, there is an example of a wish list from a 7-year old boy that includes a gym, a light saber, and a robot.
Image via http://goo.gl/MMz0DW
Image via http://goo.gl/MMz0DW
Link to Sources:
Dewar, Gwen. "Girl Toys, Boy Toys, and Parenting: The science toy preferences in children." Parenting Science. Accessed December 2, 2013. <http://www.parentingscience.com/girl-toys-and-parenting.html>
Kramer, Laura. "Learning and Doing Gender." In The Sociology of Gender: A Brief Introduction, 54. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Oldenziel, Ruth. "Boys and Their Toys: The Fisher Body Craftman's Guild, 1930-1968, and the Making of a Male Technical Domain." In Boys and Their Toys? Masculinity, Technology, and Class in America, edited by Roger Horowitz, 139-68. New York, NY: Routledge, 2001.
Owen Blakemore, Judith E., and Renee E. Centers. "Characteristics of Boys' and Girls' Toys." Sex Roles 53, no. 9/10 (November 2005): 619-33. Accessed December 2, 2013. doi:10.1007/s11199-005-7729-0. <http://web.mit.edu/2.00b/www/documents/ToyGender.pdf>
Root Aulette, Judy, Judith Wittner, and Kristin Blakely. "Socialization and the Social Contruction of Gender." In Gendered Worlds, 48-73. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc, 2009.
Dewar, Gwen. "Girl Toys, Boy Toys, and Parenting: The science toy preferences in children." Parenting Science. Accessed December 2, 2013. <http://www.parentingscience.com/girl-toys-and-parenting.html>
Kramer, Laura. "Learning and Doing Gender." In The Sociology of Gender: A Brief Introduction, 54. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Oldenziel, Ruth. "Boys and Their Toys: The Fisher Body Craftman's Guild, 1930-1968, and the Making of a Male Technical Domain." In Boys and Their Toys? Masculinity, Technology, and Class in America, edited by Roger Horowitz, 139-68. New York, NY: Routledge, 2001.
Owen Blakemore, Judith E., and Renee E. Centers. "Characteristics of Boys' and Girls' Toys." Sex Roles 53, no. 9/10 (November 2005): 619-33. Accessed December 2, 2013. doi:10.1007/s11199-005-7729-0. <http://web.mit.edu/2.00b/www/documents/ToyGender.pdf>
Root Aulette, Judy, Judith Wittner, and Kristin Blakely. "Socialization and the Social Contruction of Gender." In Gendered Worlds, 48-73. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc, 2009.