The essay

Choosing a subject was really hard at first, there are so many subjects to choose from. When i made my presentation for the mid-terms it clicked. The subjects in the book "The Politics of Design" (by Ruben Pater) that interested me the most all connected to influencing people, their thoughts, behaviour and feelings towards things. For example colour symbolism, a reasoning about choosing colour, to make people feel a certain way. Or the fake diversity, influencing thoughts to make the institution more diverse.

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What subject to pick....

The support image of my presentation at the mid-terms, these are all images which are connected to the subjects I was interested in the most.

Page from the book Politics of Design by Ruben Pater (p.80 & 81)

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Toys, children and gender

After some tossing and turning I decided on gendered toys.




It is a classic sight: the divided blue-pink sections in toy stores. It is made clear what’s the girl- and boy section. In the pink section you find dolls, domestic toys and beauty themed kits. The blue section is filled with vehicles, building sets and action figures. In general terms these are all separated stereotypical girl- and boy toys. The marketing of toys is heavily gendered (Fine, 2016). The terms “gender-specific” or “gendered toys” refer to toys that represent gender norms (Rommes, Bos & Oude Geerdink, 2019) and so it encompasses the toys referred above. Marketers gender toys in implicit and explicit ways such as the use of colour (implicit) or labelling it “for boys” or “for girls” (explicit) (Fine, 2016).

In addition, it is important to ask if children are influenced by gendered toys, and in what ways? Regarding the influence, playing with toys is a significant contributory factor to the social and cognitive development of children (Fine, 2016). From birth girls and boys experience different socialization processes, these are reflected in the activities and toys that are provided (Murphy, 2001). Though toys children learn skills like social skills and constructing as well as exploring interest. Which some children are missing out on, because they don’t indulge in counter-stereotypical behaviour because the gendered toy marketing is telling children how to behave and what they should be interested in (Linn, 2015).
As previously stated, the marketing of toys is gendered and that affects what children are learning. Girl toys are focussed on nurture, caring, appearance, creativity and empathy. Boy toys more about building, being rough, more aggressive, into action, rowdy and constructing things. This reinforces gender stereotypes. Gender stereotypes are making expectations about the characteristics males and females should have and gender norms dictating double standards for how males and females should behave (Fine, 2016).

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In conclusion, there is a lot of influence on kids within toy marketing. They develop from the same preference of par example a tea set to different toy preferences like cars and dolls. There are different factors that influence that. The importance of this subject for cultural diversity is that it is about differences in people and the pressure society puts on being in a binary group, boy-girl. Although you can always divert from that and find your own identity.

What is the influence of gendered toys on children?

(Part of my essay, written in 2019)