Toys by Age and Gender

Toys by Age and Gender

As I looked at toys in the toy department at Target, I saw clear signs of marketing to one sex or another that accelerated with age. Female toys encouraged passive play while male toys encouraged active play.

Four toys for age 0-2 all seemed gender-neutral. "Pop-Onz" encourages the child to take things apart and put them together, but although toys that do this at a later age were clearly targeted at boys, there was no indication of gender on this box. The box used bright, primary colors, neither pastels aimed at girls later on nor the dark colors aimed at boys later on. The picture, however, did show what was clearly a baby boy playing with the toy.

Phonics Radio" is an interactive toy that exposes the child to the sound of letters. Again, the package used bright primary colors and was not designed in any way to appeal to one sex over the other. This is a teaching toy and presumably both parents and manufacturer see learning as a good activity for children of both sexes.

Busy Box" is a toy that hangs on the side of a crib or play pen. It is interactive in simple ways that an older infant can perform. Push a button and a swirled design spins. Other things can be manipulated to make sounds. It has rotating cubes that show different pictures. The toy is done entirely in primary colors, and is bright and attractive. Presumably mothers would want both sexes of babies to have this stimulation.

Musical mobile" hangs in the room, presumably over a crib. It can be wound up, and then will turn and play a lullaby, but it also turns freely. It is hung out of the reach of the baby. This item is in more muted pastels, but its purpose is to soothe, not stimulate, so this was not seen as sex-preferenced colors. The characters hanging from it were all animals, cartoon versions of lions, bears, giraffes, elephants, etc.

At ages 2-5 some sex differences occurred. Fisher Price's "Little People" creates a pretend world and little people who can exist in it. This item seems to have no overt gender preference as both males and females were included in the set. Many other sets that actively manipulate items were aimed at boys, however. This was one toy promoted for both sexes that involved active manipulation to change events.

Other toys were clearly pitched to either boys or girls. "My Little Pony" were dolls of ponies, done in cute cartoon style with long flowing manes and tails. The ponies were pastel pinks, blues, purples and yellows. The activities available seemed to be to brush and braid the ponies' hair. There were no saddles, and no girl or boy who could pretend to ride them. On the packages, only girls were playing with them, and the packages were decorated with bows.

Baby Born" is an infant doll that looks quite life-like. Again only girls were shown playing with these on the packaging. The girls' pictures were framed by hearts. Baby Born comes with bottles, rattles, and a blanket, so the toy is interactive. Thus girls are given interactive toys that nurture, while the boys are being given toys that encourage them to build and explore their world, especially at later ages.

The Wiggles" Musical Guitar" is a toy electric guitar that is played by pushing buttons placed along the neck. This toy is clearly aimed at boys. While it uses bright, primary colors, only young men are shown on the box, and the message is driven home as some of the buttons are shaped like boys as well. No girls are shown anywhere, perpetuating the stereotype that only boys play electric guitars.

At ages six to ten, real differences appeared. "My Real Puppy" was not packaged in a sex-preferenced way. It is a somewhat realistic representation of a puppy (or kitten) and comes with bowl, collar and leash. It makes animal sounds. The animals themselves hinted at gender, however. The dog has a royal blue bowl and a more assertive posture than the kitten, which also has a light pink bowl.

New Born Puppy/Bunny" is clearly geared toward girls. The toys act in ways designed to get a nurturing response. Supposedly newborn, they raise their heads and open their eyes. The packaging shows little girls looking adoringly at the toy and cuddling them.

At this age there were a lot of Legos kits, none of which seemed to appeal to girls. The STAR WARS kit allows the child to make a kind of starship used in battle in the movies. The package is colored in dark colors of browns and blacks, with orange and bright, non-pastel yellows. It shows a boy flying the starship.