Op-ed Reflection

Nathaniel Samuels
On the topic of gendered toys there are, in my opinion, three main sides in America. One being that gendered toys are completely OK and there is nothing wrong with them. I am going to focus on what I think the other two are.  People who think targeting a toy for a particular gender is bad and those who think that it is ok, as long as you let kids play with whatever they want. The first of these is the belief that no matter what, all toys should be made in neutral colors for all children and nothing could be specific to either. The other of these two says that it is ok to have a pink easy bake oven marketed to girls as long as there is also another variation so boys can share in the fun.
        The main difference that I can see in these two is the first of them maintains that boys and girls should not only be treated equally but are in all aspects besides sex the same. The other maintains that while there are differences between boys and girls interests toys are not a one size fits all. I believe this question is unanswerable with our current data and tools.  In today’s society it is impossible to escape pressure from not only commercials and TV, but parents when you are first born and what your friends are playing with at school. In reality girls and boys are taught and raised to like different things from birth. This issue goes back thousands of years as men and women had different jobs and thus were taught differently from birth. And, as our society has evolved and now have unisex jobs, our mindset still remains thinking that people like things based on gender and dictions are made in the education of a child before they are even born.

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