Toy Op-ed Reflection - Arwa Rasool

In the toy industry and society today, gender oriented toys are still prevalent in many ways, but gender neutral toys are crucial to the improvement and imagination of our children now and in the coming future. If toys are portrayed as just for boys or just for girls, this doesn't give the children of today a choice to be who they want to be and the interests they want to explore, because they don't fit into the regular boy and girl categories.

In our seminar, we discussed how if a boy would want to play with more feminine toys, they would be considered "weird" and "too feminine", but if a girl played with more boyish toys, she would be considered a "cool tomboy" and I think that this is still somewhat of a prevalent double standard and inequality in our society today, not just with children. But, I also feel that our society and the current generation are a lot more open to these types of feelings of wanting to be a more feminine boy or a more masculine girl, as there are many more genders and identities that are available in our society today.

One more thing we discussed in our seminar was how that the many toys that are separated by gender, were also separated by gendered colors, greens and blues for boys and pinks and purples for girls. For example, there are the regular Nerf Guns, which are blue, for boys, and there are Nerf Rebel Guns and Bows and Arrows, which are pink and purple, for girls. We also discussed briefly that gender neutral colors on toys would be an improvement and I also agree with that because it would give the children in our society today more choice without feeling like they aren't supposed to or aren't allowed to play with something like a toy kitchen or action figures. The colors on toys that are now still associated with gender, limits the choices of what either a girl or a boy cannot do and what they can or cannot play with. It also limits their own imagination and their interests, because they feel like they are not allowed to play with toys that don't seem right for their gender, because of the color, when with a gender neutral color, it would let them be free and open to play with any toys they want to and to pursue anything their imagination lets them.

I feel like this whole topic relates to the sociological theory of conflict. Grounded in the work of Karl Marx, it focuses heavily on inequality and the differential distribution of power, which is very prevalent in this topic of gender oriented toys because there is a lot of inequality in the differences between girls playing with boy oriented toys and boys playing with girl oriented toys, because as I said before, if a girl plays with boys toys, she is seen as "cool" and a 'tomboy", but if a boy plays with girls toys, he might be seen as "too feminine" or even gay, which is an obvious double standard/inequality.

In conclusion, gender oriented toys are still a prevalent problem in our society, but it can be fixed if we actively try to fix it. All children today in our society, and the coming future, should be able to be free and open to play with any toys they want to and to pursue anything that their imagination will let them and let it run wild, They should be able to be how they want to be and play what they want to play with when they're children, because that is what shapes them when they are older.