I took these pictures at the Toys ‘R Us in Henderson, NV. If you can’t tell, the picture on the left is the boys’ section of the store, and the picture on the right is the girls’ section. First, why must there be a boys and girls section at all? Must all toys be coded as masculine or feminine? Second, notice how gender is color-coded. Kids can tell immediately, even before being able to read, which aisle is for them. All this is aside from the content; that is, what toys are sold in each aisle. These are strong and clear messages to children about group differentiation.
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Were the areas labeled boys and girls? “First, why must there be a boys and girls section at all?” If they were no signs there weren’t. There are merely two areas. In Henderson I doubt many boys would go to the pink aisles, but a girl in the Star Wars aisle wouldn’t surprise me.
Tim, these areas don’t have to be labeled “boys” and “girls.” They are labeled as such by societal norms. To be interested in and want toys from the “opposite” area is to transgress those norms. Why else would boys get tormented for liking dolls?
Not many boys are likely to enter the pink aisles because the punishments for doing so are more severe than for girls to be interested in “boy” things. It’s a lot more acceptable in our society for a girl to be a “tomboy” than for a boy to be a “sissy.”
I had a similar experience recently at Legoland. If you’ve not been there, the entire park is in primary colors — great for small children’s developing eyesight. One of the rides is a driving simulator that teaches the kids some rules of the road. Afterward, they get a certificate that allows them to buy a Legoland driver’s license…which are offered in primary colors for boys and in pastels for girls. This struck me as super bizarre. There were roughly equal numbers of boys and girls there, in what I had assumed to be a genderless fun park. However, making the girls’ drivers licenses in a color scheme completely different from the rest of the park was odd. Suppose I had forgotten that “genderless” actually male, with female as a marked identity.
Similar to this (and to add to MF), the colors on the aisle endcaps — red on the boys’ side and pink on the girls — serve just as well as text labels, perhaps especially for preliterate children.
About three months ago, my girlfriend and I went to buy some clothes for my newly born nephew. We couldn’t get any other colour other than pink or blue in the four stores we went to. I blame the parents.
I like the aisle names, i.e. clearance on the feminine side versus star wars on the masculine side.
The girls section is just pink overkill!!! Remind me not to take my nieces there. I will go blind!!!
Reminds me of the other day at work, lifeguarding at a busy city pool. I was working in the bag room, and a mother came up with her children, one boy and one girl, who couldn’t have been either more than two. she asked for a swim diaper, and when asked what size, she said the smallest one we have, and a FEMALE one. Now, our swim diapers are, like most swim diapers i am guessing, unisex, so i brought her a size small and asked if it was a good size, and she snapped that she wanted a GIRL’S diaper. (i guess her daughter might have been scandalized by having finding nemo print under her zebra print bikini). then she insisted that her daughter have a girly life jacket and her son have an orange one, even though the orange one was too big for him and the purple flower power one would have been safer and more comfortable. while i was a bit annoyed with the woman (mainly because she was rude) the incident made me frustrated with our culture which views gender roles as necessary and important. it’s like that all the time…..i don’t know how to feel when people call me sweetie or when men open the door for me because i love friendliness and courtesy but hate the culture that inspired our notions of courtesy.
Color-coded gender kids in the wild here.
Thanks for this post. My husband and I were floored when we recently visited the tonka website to check out stuff for our 3 1/2 yo daughter. Needless to say, tonka won’t be getting my dollars because, you know, tonka is “built for boyhood”… Subtle? Not so much.
“these areas don’t have to be labeled ‘boys’ and ‘girls.’ They are labeled as such by societal norms.”
Clothing areas are marked with signs that decree gender and age. Without signage I would expect this blog to say something like the sections are marketed towards boys/girls or have boys/girls in quotes. Explicitly labeling sections as boy and girl when they weren’t previously enforces the societal norm that I would think this blog would seek to change.
“Not many boys are likely to enter the pink aisles because the punishments for doing so are more severe than for girls to be interested in ‘boy’ things. It’s a lot more acceptable in our society for a girl to be a ‘tomboy’ than for a boy to be a ’sissy.’”
Which is why I commented; “I doubt many boys would go to the pink aisles, but a girl in the Star Wars aisle wouldn’t surprise me.”