from Brandy:
When you were a child did you look forward to the pink isle or the blue isle? You knew that the pink isle was for girls and that the blue isle was for boys. If you were a little girl you were not to venture to the blue side and if you were a boy you definitely were not to go to the pink side. My picture shows that toy companies, in this case Mattel, socialize gender in children with color and content of toys, packaging and display. These were two separate pictures that I chose to put together because I believe the impact is greater when there is clear contrast. These pictures were taken from the height of a child to try to portray how overwhelming the images they are presented with can be to them. For that very same reason I chose to add a “glow” to each side of the isle. Most times the process of socialization with respect to gender starts out very young. Our textbook tells how companies gear children, sometimes as early as 18 months, to associate a specific gender with certain toys. Our textbook goes on to state that these 18 month olds can identify non-verbally that “dolls [are] for girls and vehicles [are] for boys”(92). I believe that my picture is probably the most accurate representation of how this came to be true.
As I was browsing articles and websites to support my topic I typed in Barbie.com, I was then shocked to be redirected to the URL “barbie.everythinggirl.com”. “Everything girl,” I asked myself. What about the little boys that love those dolls? Is Mattel trying to say that boys are not to like Barbie? That it is too girly? So I decided to press on and look at the flip side. When I typed “Hotwheels.com” part of the URL I was redirected to said “hwkids” not “everything boy”. This shows that Mattel is socializing gender in children not only by the colors that they choose for products but also by teaching a gender vertical hierarchy subliminally. Young girls can play with “boys toys” and that’s empowering. A young boy playing with a Barbie is unacceptable. I strongly believe that the majority of gender inequality in our country starts at developmental ages among children and that is what this picture signifies to me.
Works cited
"Barbie.Com." Mattel, Inc. 3 Oct. 2007
Crawford, Mary, and Rhoda Unger. Women and Gender: a Feminist Psychology. 4th ed. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.175-209.
"HotWheels.Com." Mattel, Inc. 04 Oct. 2007
www.hotwheels.com/index_hwkids.aspx
4 comments:
I absolutely love this photo. I think it shows how even gender socialization is present everywhere in society, children present or not. Children are categorized from a young age into male or female and given the list of what is acceptable behavior, even down to the toys in which they play. This image is a powerful portrayal of how advertising and toy companies construct and promote the rules by which genders are supposed to play. The two store aisles seem almost mirror images of each other except that the colors, blue and pink are so contrasting they seem to push the aisles apart. The contrast is visually abrupt creating, as society does for girls and boys, two separate aisles; one of pink and dolls, and the other of blue and trucks. It seems as drastic and strictly kept as the gender rules of young children. Also the depth of the picture creates the illusion that the aisle seem to go on forever. This seems to parallel the reality that gender roles and acceptable behaviors “go on forever,” they infiltrate into every aspect of life. It is almost impossible to go outside of the “aisle” in gender roles as it is in society. From a young age we are told that girls play house with dolls and boys play war with trucks. Gender socialization is as jarring as this image, creating two equally stringent but separate set of rules or “aisles.”
Brandy, this is excellent work here. I love the extreme contrast of pink and blue used by the glow, evoking a sense of separation and boundary. The camera angle is very clever. Just like seeing through the eyes of a child. When I looked at this photo I was taken back to my years walking through Toys R Us. Never once did I venture into the “boys section” until my little brother was born. I cannot even recall a time thinking of any other isle a Barbie and never questioning why I did it. This picture is an amazing example of how advertising subliminally molds even the youngest minds into socialization of gender specifics. Mattel certainly is just as guilty of socializing gender as much as Tonka, which is primarily aimed at boys. What puzzles me more is, as Brandy said, that it is acceptable for a young girl to play with “boy toys” but unacceptable for a young boy to play with a Barbie? Why? It truly is overwhelming for a child to go into a store and see shelves stocked full of toys that supposedly defines their gender. It’s absolutely ridiculous and the picture really evokes that overwhelming sense of decision on me. Great job!
LLoovvee the picture! It's kind of spooky but so true. I never really remembered a toy store being so color coded when i younger. but i guess i never was really looking for it. I went into a toy store recently to get my neice something and i was shocked at how PINK EVERRYYTHING was. I hated the color pink after i left that store. it was just so bright and lit up in pink. the boys isle did have a lot of blue but it had other colors in it as well. The boys isle looked so dark and scarey compared to the girls isle. But i love this picture and it def stands out
this is a great picture. it shows how toys stores are divided by sex and gender. The angle says it all. looking at this picture you can see that gender is everywhere. You can't just buy a toy anymore it has to either be a boy toy or a girl toy. it rediculse
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