The case for gender-neutral toy marketing
- By Loretta Boronat
- •
- 12 Oct, 2015
- •
This is a subtitle for your new post
Back in August, Target announced it was phasing out gender-based signs in some departments. And the giant retailer certainly made good on that promise right away despite the many criticisms it has received. Its stores all over the country have already removed references to “boys” and ”girls” in toy, home, and entertainment aisles. Toys are now sorted according to categories (like dolls, action figures, building sets, etc.) and books and movies are sorted by genre. They also traded in pink and blue shelves for a more neutral, wood-grain look instead. In the long run, making toy aisles gender-neutral is a good thing. Because according to science, boys and girls are not as different as society says they are. Different toys benefit children in different ways, and color-coding toys can actually backfire down the road. Toy makers were also identified as having an important role to play because they tend to take advantage of this cycle of beliefs passed down through the generations by packaging toys in gender specific colors and labels to reinforce old gender stereotypes. Read the full article here…

"My daughter is adopted, a little Alaska Native child with Inuit blood coursing through her veins. It was perhaps because of that background that a recent NPR piece titled “How Inuit Parents Teach Kids to Control Their Anger” first jumped out at me." Read more here: https://www.mysiblingdolls.com/why-parenting-without-yelling-is-better-for-kids-and-you

"There are numerous studies showing that low-income children who begin kindergarten at the same academic level as children from wealthier families are more likely to graduate on time, go to college and start a career." Read more here: https://www.mysiblingdolls.com/parenting-matters-investing-in-our-young-children

"But aside from improving your children’s vocabulary, research shows that being an early reader helps kids develop comprehension skills, makes them more receptive to creativity, and better able to navigate change." Read more here: https://www.mysiblingdolls.com/here-are-parenting-tips-to-learn-how-to-raise-a-reader