Boys, Girls and Toys - Oh My

Upon entering any given toy store, it is extremely clear where you should head depending on the gender of the child you are looking to buy something for. The aisles filled with 'girl' toys seem to radiate the color pink. Walk down an aisle geared towards boys and you will find yourself immersed in a sea of dark colors. The little girl in the Youtube video explaining to her father her take on pink toys and princesses understands this clear distinction but is obviously unsure as to why this is the way things are. The packaging of a typical Barbie, Bratz, or Polly Pocket doll tends to be pink or purple, sparkly, and adorned with text in "cute" fonts. Dolls are abundant among aisles geared towards girls, but these aisles also contain items for playing dress-up as well as products for "playing house", such as the Easy Bake oven. From early childhood girls are exposed to the stereotypes placed upon them by society; girls should be ultra feminine, strive for beauty and fashion, and learn how to be domestic. The emphasis on body image and appearance is especially great in these toy stores, which is an unsettling concept considering how young the consumers of these products are.

In this photograph the changes made to Barbie's body are absolutely obvious. Her torso has been made much thinner, her breasts perkier, and her butt curvier. What disturbs me the most is that her underwear was made to be much skimpier. 

Bratz dolls are known for their extremely heavy makeup, flashy jewelry, fashionable (and sometimes revealing) clothing, and overdone hair. Why do we shelter young girls from inappropriate, oversexualized television but allow them to play with dolls that have unrealistic, unattainable bodies with scandalous clothing and highly made-up faces? Girls' toy aisles have a hidden agenda, which is to expose girls to what society expects of them as young women before they have even hit puberty.

The same thing is present in the boys' aisles as well. Boys' aisles primarily contain action figures of superheroes, athletes, and soldiers, all with exaggerated muscular builds and tough-looking facial expressions, in addition to toy trains and trucks, Matchbox cars, and sports equipment. Again we see that young boys are having thrown at them the mold they are expected to fill as they grow older in American society. Boys are exposed to products emanating hypermasculinity with the intentions of developing this hypermasculinity within the character of these boys as they grow. 

The little girl in the Youtube video made a point to say that there are boys who would like to buy princess dolls and girls who would enjoy playing with superhero action figures, but she was not sure why they were not allowed to do so. Technically nothing is stopping these children, but the toy stores and American media in general surely don't make it easy for them to even think of asking the question.