Are Toy Catalogs Making Progress on Gender Stereotypes?

A girl playing with a toy kitchen.

A boy playing with trucks and race cars.

The images are so standard, so set in our minds.

For many, these images feel comfortable- a green lawn with two parents and a dog and cookies fresh from the oven. It’s what we’re used to seeing, and it’s what is easy for most major toy stores and box stores to “sell.”

Only in the last several years has movement grown from campaigns like Let Toys be Toys and A Mighty Girl to switch out the outdated, boring gender stereotypes with reality.

Anyone with kids know that the “pink aisle” and the “blue aisle” at the toy store are too limiting for children’s true interests. Many little boys want to play with dolls and tractors. Most little girls want to play with tools and wands. Why should toys or books be separated by gender?

(Don’t mind my obviously unclean floor)

Right now, my toddler daughter’s favorite activity is to use kitchen bowls as drums and make her own music. If we bought drums at the store for her, would they have to be pink?

We color-code children from such an early age and limit their potential opportunities. While the big box stores have begun to make progress, there’s still some work to do.

With the height of toy-buying season behind us, are toy catalogs making progress to avoid gender stereotypes?

I was excited to see Toys ‘R Us® feature a girl on the front page of the latest circular, playing with a Lego® set. Though it looks like the Lego Friends set, which were designed “for girls” and probably deserves a separate post about the pros and flaws of this mostly pink-and-purple-washed set.

Related: Girls Like Trucks, Too!

While I don’t love guns as toys, at least the bottom of the page features a girl and boy playing together (sort of) and some diversity in racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Then a girl who plays with drones! I was excited to see this smart girl – we know she’s smart because of the trendy hipster glasses – playing with drones in the Target ad, whereas most other catalogs only featured boys in activities that involve mechanics and engineering.

And again with the guns. Let’s put a pin in that.

Then, of course, the very next pages gave me mixed feelings.

What are the high points?

Diversity is number one. Target features kids of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, and children with disabilities and special needs. Love this! As a parent on Twitter said – that shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is.
It features girls and boys actually playing together. Sure, it’s a little easier to do when the toy has primary colors only and is historically not associated with a particular sex. But still, kids of all sexes playing together reinforces the idea that toys don’t have genders.

But then I’m not so crazy about the gendered activities. On the left, the boys are active and play with cars and buildings, while the girl sits at a desk in more stationary learning or arts activity. To the right, a boy inhabits the “road rug” toy that features transportation and cars and movement. Meanwhile, the girl accompanies the pink-and-purple play kitchen drenched with hearts and ruffles and bows.

This page of the Babies ‘R Us catalog does not make my heart sing. Overwhelmingly, it depicts girls with the stereotypically female toys: kitchens and dollhouses, doused in pink and purple. Just in case you weren’t sure who they were made for. And the boys get to play with the auto garage and work bench, because apparently only men need to drive to work and fix things.

An eagle eye will notice a boy in the lower left corner playing in a white and tan kitchen. (Good thing he didn’t step too close to the pink one. My heavens!) He is a welcome exception to the tone of this page, but an exception nonetheless.

So what can we do? If you’re tired of gender advertising, you can make a difference.

Engage in toy activism. Tweet to these companies to let them know what you think. Share your opinion with Toys ‘R Us by using @ToysRUS and @ToysRusUK, and Target by using @Target. Along with suggestions for them to improve, applaud them when you like what you see. Many of the major companies have come a long way in the last few years.
Show what kids really like. Does your son like to play dress-up in princess gowns? Does your daughter adore race cars? Share these images with your friends and family, or on Facebook, so that we get used to seeing kids do a variety of activities. Especially those outside of the gender norms.
My girl and her tractor.
Shop small and local. A lot of the mom and pop vendors on Etsy and elsewhere online sell toys that appeal to all kids, and don’t resort to the laziness of slapping on a pink or blue label. Comment below which are your favorites!

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