A Disturbing Discovery
Gloria 45.0 (she's going to kill me for that) and I went to shop for a birthday present on Saturday night.We were shopping for a seven-year-old girl. Her parents said "anything girly" would be fine, so we went to Target and looked for the girl-designated aisles.
If you don't have kids, you may not know this, but toy sections in stores (in the U.S., at least) are usually pretty clearly divided between boys and girls. Because of this, I've never really been in the girls' sections before.
Wow. I was so surprised that I made a list of what was available in the respective sections.
First off, here's how you tell where the "girls' toys" are: almost everything in the row will be pink. It's incredible, these long runways of pink, which is clearly the most foul and disgusting color in the world (but I digress).
Almost all the toys targeted at girls were in these pink rows, and here's a list of the toys:
--Disney dolls
--Barbie dolls
--High School Musical dolls
--Bratz dolls
--Hannah Montana dolls
--My Little Pony
--Littlest Pet Shop
--Stuffed animals
--Dollhouses
--Easy Bake Ovens
Holy crap! Okay, I admit I wanted an Easy Bake Oven when I was a kid, but only because it would give me access to a potentially unlimited number of fresh-baked cookies without needing to ask my mom.
Can you believe that list? I mean, WTF? Who came up with this merchandise selection--Walter Freeman?
Even worse, nothing can be done with the vast majority of these dolls except change their outfits, their hair, and their makeup. Damn, haven't we already been damaged enough by spending months waiting on grown-ups performing these very activities?
I want Eli 7.10 to live in a world of strong, interesting women, not lobotomized, compulsive re-dressers. But how are little girls supposed to become strong and interesting when almost every toy intended for them is completely droolworthy?
Now let's look at the toys for boys. There was so much variety that I didn't even write everything down, but here's quite a bit of it:
--trains
--cars
--dinosaurs
--pirates
--knights
--cowboys
--science kits (there's one specifically marketed to girls--it's called "perfumery," I shit you not)
--mythical creatures
--construction vehicles
--robots
--Legos
--Bionicles
--Magnetix
--Bakugan
--branded action figures, including Transformers, X-Men, Ben 10, Power Rangers, WWE (good grief), Batman, and Star Wars
All of these toys are active, not passive. They're about adventure, not outfit-changing. They require imagination and invention.
How much imagination does it take to put on the fourth skirt in the set?
I remember thinking when Eli was much younger (the 3.5 range) that it was surprising how boys and girls were already different. And they are, but in no way are they THIS different. I could understand seeing this kind of difference in merchandising FIFTY YEARS ago, but good grief, why hasn't it changed since then?
I was curious enough to Google around for a while, and I found a list over at About.com of The Best Girl' Toys of 2008. Here it is:
1. Color Me Gemz
2. Holiday Barbie Doll
3. Girl Tech Stylin' Studio
4. Cherry Blossom Market from Playskool
5. Spa Factory
There are five more items on that list, including a stuffed dog and horse trading cards (and the "Hannah Montana Glitter Studio"), but it's all MOTS.
I just threw up in my mouth.
Could this be unique to to the U.S.? Maybe in other countries it's not like this, or it's not to the same degree. Surely, it can't be as bad as this.
Far down the road, when the time comes, I'll encourage Eli to date international.
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