Toy Op-ed Reflection

Ashwin Dev
Mr. Roddy
IHSS
2 October 2018
Toy Op-Ed Reflection
In our seminar, we talked a lot about how gender based toys came to be in the first place. We came to the conclusion that it was a mix of the toy making companies' faults and in some cases, the parents' fault. Nothing is stopping a parent from giving their son a "girly" toy however most parents are aware of what the consequences will be socially if other people and kids were to see them using a "girly" toy. However on the other hand, it's a toy companies' fault for not making gender fluid toys in the first place.
Although it was said in a couple of articles that toy makers are starting to make more toys associated with different gender options in the 21st century, I haven't noticed anything myself. Whenever I go to a store that happens to have toys, it is always so easy to find aisles filled with the color pink and another section of ailes filled camo and blue. In observing these ailes, I still only see boys in the camo aisle and girls in the aisle with a majority of pink toys. This goes back to something we talked about in seminar which was, how color even got associated with gender in the first place, however, that was something we never really had an answer to. Color isn't just used for toys but, for example, it's also used whenever someone is in a situation where they are finding out if a newborn is going to be a boy or girl.
A majority of what's been described ties into the conflict theory. "Conflict theory focuses heavily on inequality and differential distribution of power," I would say that the way in which toys are made today show problems that relate to inequality and distribution of power. Although it's not something we talked about a lot, the toys that are made for boys will probably make them feel that every boy is bigger and stronger than most girls mainly due to the design of most toys. 

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