Gender Discrimination Is Us?
Pretty pink princesses or muscle-bound superheroes? Monster trucks or sparkly ponies? Go into just about any toy store, and you’ll notice that half of it is pink with toys for girls and the other half has brightly colored toys meant for boys. Is that really fair? Does our gender really have all that much to do with what kinds of toys we should like? A group of sixth graders in Sweden don’t think so.
The students had been learning about gender roles in school and felt that the 2008 Toys “Я” Us Christmas catalog portrayed outdated gender images by having girls and boys playing with separate kinds of toys. Boys were featured playing with very active toys in busy settings, and girls were usually pictured sitting and playing passively. The sixth graders decided to file a complaint with the Swedish agency that polices marketing and advertising in order to voice their concerns about the gender messages they were seeing in the catalog.
The agency agreed with the students and recently issued a statement, saying that they felt Toys “Я” Us’s advertising materials showed a very narrow-minded view of gender and excluded kids of all genders from enjoying a range of toys. There are no fines or penalties associated with the statement from the Swedish agency, but the students raised their voices and called attention to issues of social and gender inequality in media and advertising. Their actions won’t revolutionize the world, but these Swedish young people are a reminder that there is power in the voices of youth. How are you going to use yours?
Tags: discrimination, emotional health
(7 votes, average: 4.43 out of 5)
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November 4, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I believe gender advertising is a little ridiculous. It is at the point where kids are being stereotyped and made fun of for playing with certain toys. It doesn’t only happen at Toys R Us though. It happens with advertising all over the world. Also, it starts at a very young age, therefore; by the time kids are teenagers, and they have their mind set on what “feminine” and what is “masculine”. It causes adults to be very cautious about their jobs and the decisions they make with the rest of their lives. I feel that this is not going to change anytime soon, although I do not agree with it. It is an easy way for advertisers to get their products on the market and direct them towards specific individuals. In Signs of Life in the USA by Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon, Steve Craig states “The ads are carefully crafted bundles of images, frequently designed to associate the product with feelings of pleasure stemming from deep-seated fantasies and anxieties.” (p. 212)