Toy Segregation – Soft vs. Hard

From: Elma 

In our reading of the The Two Cultures of Childhood (Module 5), we learned that segregation both allows and encourages girls and boys to develop separate social worlds or “cultures” characterized by different activities, interaction styles and social roles. (Rudman, Glick 59).

The way I chose to depict the separate social worlds was to use a collage effect photo. The background photo depicts a toy store aisle.  The front photos depict my grandchildren playing.  The front photos were softened at the edges and the children were highlighted to emphasize their interactions with their dolls and with the video game.

After walking through several different toy stores it didn’t take long to see the differences in the aisles between girl and boy toys.  The background photo shows that the aisles dominated in pink had soft and nurturing types of toys while aisles with the hard colors showed toys of competitiveness and action. This store aisle photo depicts the stark differences in toys for boys and girls. In looking through the aisles of the toy stores it was obvious to me that the boy’s aisle had toys that were rougher in material and the toys in the girl’s aisle were softer. 

According to the sociologist Elizabeth Sweet, toy companies began intensifying their use of color-coded marketing and segregation of toys in the 1980’s. (The Atlantic, Katharine Schwab, May 5,2016).  Making the aisles gender-based in stores and online is meant to help customers find what they’re looking for, but according to the campaigner and parent Jess Day of the nonprofit “Let Toys Be Toys”, “it’s driven by a massive assumption about what a child might want.” (The Atlantic, 2016).  

The two front photos I have chosen show the differences in toy activity for boys and girls. In the photo of my two granddaughters they are having lunch with their dolls, and are in their glory while visiting American Girl Doll store in New York City. This brings to mind the scene where many young girls will grow up to take their children to lunch with other mothers and their children.  It definitely indicates a nurturing female gender activity. You can see in the photo that the girls are considerate of their dolls and everyone is enjoying their lunch. The photo of my grandson captures his intent on making every shot in the video game he is playing. He is acting in a very competitive manner and wants to win the game. He is paying attention to only the game and nothing else. 

In Growing Up Apart, Coming Together (Chapter 2 The Two Cultures of Childhood), Eleanor E. Maccoby (39), discusses how boys will establish dominance relations which often takes place in competition.  Whereas, girl’s themes play are less solitary, and more likely to involve cooperative role-taking.  Maccoby (41) indicates that these roles frequently invoke domestic or school themes. Girls often use dolls as props for their domestic play, and this is often seen as female nurturance. 

According to gender schemas and how they become part of self-identity with preferences, attitudes and behavior we can see through the photos the differences in gender schemas in both the girls and boy.  Strength and power with boys and warmth and nurturance with girls.

The children’s actions and the toy store aisle in my photo represent how child’s play captures the idea of separate social worlds for girls and boys and reinforces our reading on the “Two Cultures of Childhood”.

Works Cited

Rudman, Laurie A., and Peter Glick. _The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations_, The Guilford Press, 2015, pp. 59–63. 

Katharine Schwab _ The Atlantic Daily, (Will Toys Ever Go Beyond Blue and Pink), May 5, 2016

Eleanor E. Maccoby_ The Two Sexes_ Growing Up Apart, Coming Together, _ Harvard University Press, 1998, pp. 32-56