Gender and Toy Advertising

[steepholm]

Beyond narcissistically feeding my own work through it I've never found a really good use for Wordle, pretty as it is, but this graphic demonstration of gender bias in children's toy advertising, while sadly unsurprising, is worth the thousand words that went into it and then some.

Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

As you say- says it all.........

Sigh :o(

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

That is a nice use of Wordle and I must bear it in mind for the future because until now, like you, I've found it pretty but not really useful.

Leaving aside all the more obvious gender stereotyping for a moment, the thing that struck me (and was also picked up by one of the commenters some way down the thread) was that whilst the word "fun" featured prominently in the advertising aimed at girls, it was totally absent from the list of words aimed at boys.

I noticed many years ago that Men Never Play. In other words, anything done by men has to be Serious and Important, whilst anything women do is automatically deemed Silly and Frivolous. I hadn't realised that the indoctrination of boys started so early.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

It's very sad, IMHO. People say that it is all natural: boys and girls don't need any encouragement to conform to sterotypes. And so, advertisers give them that encouragement anyway, and they get into a vicious circle of stereotype > reinforcement > conformity, and grow up poles apart from the people who are going to be their partners.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

So imagine just how confusing it is to those of us born trans! :o/

That being said, I STILL don't like pink much :o)

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I am made to feel freaky just for being an ordinary, straight, if slightly tomboyish female who just isn't very girly. I really don't give a stuff about handbags and shoes and reality TV and musicals and sugary cocktails and chick lit and Desperate Housewives, and all the things that "normal" women are supposed to like.

Heterosexuality has Gone Too Far, IMHO, the genders are becoming parodies of themselves.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

If that's supposed to be 'normal' just sign me Ms Bonkers! :oS