Shaping Children’s Choices [and Selling Toys]
Through Sexist Advertising
I have to confess that every now and then I have experienced doubts about the need for our blog. In those moments, I have fallen prey to the mantra that so often is flung at feminists when they decry the use of sexist language: “You are just overreacting.” Inevitably, however, during those moments of self-doubt, something happens to reconfirm the need for all of us to address the words being used about women and men in our culture.
Just before Christmas, for example, I was searching online for a gift for a toddler boy when I discovered the following lists in the toy section of a major retail chain’s website:
“Shop by Interest. Spark their imagination no matter what they like:
For Girls For Boys
Dolls Cars and Trucks
Horses Trains
Princess Dinosaurs
Creative Activities Pirates
Dress Up Building Sets and Blocks
Music Knights and Castles
Music”
As Steve said when I sent the list to him, “Isn’t it nice of them to give permission to both genders to enjoy music . . . we are really going backwards fast.”
I truly doubt that any of us want our daughters to be relegated to dressing up, playing princess, or mothering dolls. This is not to criticize those activities—I personally loved playing dress up when I was little—but rather to ensure that our daughters have choices. Don’t we also want little girls to build houses, drive trucks, and play with trains so that they can grow up to be engineers and architects? Don’t we want our sons to be involved in activities that foster their creativity and nurturing sides so that they can grow up to be artists and good fathers?
So what should we do when we encounter information in our daily lives that is based on old-fashioned ideas of female and male roles—especially when it may influence our children’s choices?
And how do we deal with those who will continuously tell us that we need to calm down—that we are just overreacting—especially in the face of such convincing evidence that we may actually be under reacting? (Moreover, how do we deal with our own moments of self-doubt?)
How do we keep the principles of gender equality moving forward when so much advertising is bent on holding us back?
Cynthia
