Comments on: Dinosaurs are for Boys (Girls Allowed)

By: “And So Do Girls”: Girls as an Afterthought » Sociological Images

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:28:29 +0000

[...] today’s advertising seems equally gendered, with girls thrown in as an afterthought (like in this dinosaur toy website) or neatly segregated (see here, here, and [...]

By: Cassandra

Cassandra — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:17:24 +0000

“Because dinosaurs aren’t for girls, you see. Dinosaurs are for boys (which goes without saying), so we have to make an special space full of stuffed animals, origami, diaries, and necklaces for the girls.”

They’re just trying to satisfy all the freaking feminist, all of you. Or a lot of you. I thought that this site was really interesting, I read a couple pages then realized that everything is wrong. Everything, EVERYTHING is discriminatory against women. Do you or don’t you want special treatment? It doesn’t say Anywhere that, “Dinosaurs are for boys” and maybe they had created that girl page so this wouldn’t happen. This is bothering me. Yes, lots of boys do considered, “Girl things” and the other way around. But if more boys do “Boy things”, then wouldn’t it make sense to advertise that way?

By: Meg

Meg — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:43:36 +0000

Total # of “dinosaurs for girls” products: 15
# of items in the “dinos for girls” category not gendered with pink or flowers: 5
# of items that don’t involve crafts or plush toys: 3 (and two are pink, one is a diary, one is a necklace)
Most Ridiculous Product Name: Cuddlekins Utahraptor

Things I would’ve liked to have as a kid (and, okay, maybe now):
Large Flying Reptile
T-Rex/Stegosaurus T-shirt
Dig N Play Lost Jungle Game
Dinosaur Excavation Game
Bouncy Dinosaur Balls
Cosmic Glow Dinosaur Shapes
Dinobot
Pretty much any of the models (Baby mammoth 4 lyfe)

# of things in the above list that appear in the girls’ section: 0

Le sigh. You know, ED (unfortunate acronym there), if you could find a way to fool sexist parents into thinking that the Dinobot is a toy for girls, I would probably forgive you. Maybe some photos of a little girl using it as a mount for Troll Hunter Barbie? IDK.

By: KD

KD — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:00:55 +0000

They’ve changed. Dinosaurs and science kits are strictly in the boy’s aisles now.

By: jynja

jynja — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:54:47 +0000

Dinosaurs were in the unisex isle at the store when I was a kid. Maybe things have changed. The only reason I didn’t get to play with them before my brother is because they were hard plastic and pointy. Something I could put in my mouth. Later I inherited his toys and they were a wonderful expression of imagination for me in the sandbox.

Because I got to play with them as a child. I could imagine building one as an adult. http://www.jynja.com

By: Shae

Shae — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:27:45 +0000

Hm, I was a kid in the 70’s and that obsession was certainly around.

By: Chelsea

Chelsea — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:13:50 +0000

You know, I think the whole “search engine” problem could be addressed without pushing girls to the bottom of the list by simply including all of the girls’ products in with the rest as well, thus rendering the “girls” section just collecting all of the possibly-girlie things in one place.

I can understand the desire to pander to parents and guardians, but I think there are plenty of other ways to address it. One way would be to include “boys and girls” in the descriptions, and to throw in pictures of boys AND girls holding/playing with the toys. What’s with the boy holding the “bed buddy” stegosaurus in *two* pictures? Why can’t you have one picture of the boy and one picture of the girl? I think this is just a matter of not trying hard enough and just throwing up their hands and saying “Whatever! Who cares?!”

By: Feminist Friday Quick Clicks, 10 and Open Thread « Cook & Hook

Feminist Friday Quick Clicks, 10 and Open Thread « Cook & Hook — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:50:41 +0000

[...] “Dinosaurs are for Boys (Girls Allowed)“- Sociological Images discussing androcentrism, “or the idea that boy things are good for everyone but girl things are only good for girls” [...]

By: mc

mc — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:43:48 +0000

i totally was obsessed with dinosaurs as a kid. granted my mom was really into encouraging me into sciencey things and discouraged ‘lame girly stuff’ (ah, the disappointment she must feel now knowing i blog mainly about — the horror! — fashion) — but, like, i had a rock collection, and an ass-ton of lil’ plastic dinosaurs, and a lot of books about science experiments. and a lot of art supplies. and an american girl doll, and a kitchen playset, and some sort of nontoxic nail polish set for kids. and i did ballet, and i played (co-ed until age 8 or so, when body weight/size became a difference) soccer. american girl doll got along really well with the dinosaurs, let me tell you. and the giant plastic sunny side up eggs from the kitchen set made awesome volcanoes in dinosaurland.

also, i am SO SO SO SO HAPPY to see all this discussion on the one-sided view of sexism, and am so agreed on this — i love when people here remember to point out the double problem of the gender standard, which is that it’s detrimental to BOYS too. when i made a fried egg a volcano my parents praised me for my creativity, but if a boy stole his sister’s toy fried egg, his parents would probably be embarrassed and tell him not to play with girl stuff. and in the long run, this sucks for basically everyone. as an adamant feminist, i still get so angry about so much feminism being all about men-and-society-do-bad-things-to-women when in reality, it’s current-system-sucks-for-all-of-us-regardless-of-gender. sigh.

By: Karen Meara

Karen Meara — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:30:19 +0000

No, of course not. Was just emphasising the second point because I thought it was an interesting, less explored side of the story.

By: Hugh

Hugh — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:38:33 +0000

After reading the reply from “Everything Dinosaur”, it strikes me that this is really just positive discrimination — there is a section for everyone, and then there’s a subsection specifically dedicated to girls.
Is that much different from having specific resources for women in engineering, computer science, or physics?
Of course that doesn’t mean that this doesn’t have the unintended effect you’re describing in those areas too, but I’d think in those cases we tend to be a little more prepared to say that it’s a difficult and subtle debate with no simple answers?

By: Seegz

Seegz — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:45:46 +0000

I was speaking for the benefit of people who aren’t as therapodally-literate as you and I. Yeah, Deinonychus is twice the badass that Velociraptor could ever hope to be.

Even though I’m partial to the abeliosaurids. Carnotaurus was a monster.

By: nobody

nobody — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:19:07 +0000

You mean the Deinonychus, right? Velociraptors were the size of turkeys, while Deinonychuses were larger than an adult.

By: Victoria

Victoria — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:23:31 +0000

Erik, I really wonder sometimes where the homophobia in elementary school began.

I just want him to feel comfortable with whatever he does. Our family and friends are at least understanding to our faces, but sometimes I see the raised eyebrows. He feels like he should hide his interests because of those reactions that people think he doesn’t see.

By: persephone

persephone — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:09:11 +0000

My husband finds the stuffed Utahraptor adorable. I agree.

By: BG

BG — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:04:40 +0000

I’m a woman and I loved dinosaurs as a kid. I used to play with dinosaur figurines and watch videos about dinosaurs. I remember going to the store and being able to just buy dinosaur toys. Maybe I just don’t remember if they were exclusively marketed to boys or not. Or is it becoming more gender-segregated now for toys? I never liked dolls but anything to do with animals was cool for me. It’s just sad that kids are pushed into such strict gender lines with their toys. That’s an age when they should be able to try everything to develop their personalities and interests. But it’s like society brainwashes them with all these gendered expectations. It’s especially bad for boys who like “girl” things. If my brother was in my position but liked “girl” things instead of being a girl liking “boy” things, then that probably would not have been tolerated.

By: Erik

Erik — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:13:53 +0000

Victoria, that’s really sad to hear. I’m glad that you’ve been getting him whatever toys he’s drawn to and not just whichever ones are marketed to his gender.

My parents remarked that the modern obsession in school with calling other kids gay, or kids (boys) being afraid of being seen as gay, is a recent development. Did all this start when gay rights came on the scene in a big way in the 90s? Did it start as a reaction to the increasing visibility of gayness or gender irregularity?

By: Victoria

Victoria — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:48:18 +0000

I, too, agree with this:

“We live in a world where girls are allowed to do boy things (play sports, wear pants, like cars, etc), but boys are simply not allowed to do girls things. When boys do girls things, they are considered sissies or fags or whathaveyou. Girlified things, then, can’t be sold on a gender-neutral website. And because girl things can’t be sold to boys, girl things must be segregated, lest they contaminate the feminine-free space that we insist boys inhabit.”

I have a son who enjoys playing with toys that are ONLY marketed to girls. They’re collectible little animals… and I fail to see how they became a girl thing. I guess little boys aren’t supposed to like kittens and puppies, just scaly snakes and lizards. He’s always had an equal interest in toys “for girls” as he has in ones “for boys” and he has ALWAYS gotten shit from people for it. He’s 9 and already he’s being lumped into being gay, which is just indicative of another problem people have. Sometimes society really makes me sick.

By: erin

erin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:04:50 +0000

As someone who works in ecommerce, I’m positive that “Dinosaurs for Girls’ is included for SEO purposes. People are searching with some sort of combination of Dinosaurs and Girls enough that it’s worth including that phrase on their website for rankings / results.

By: Fangirl

Fangirl — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:48:14 +0000

» “is it because they learn at home that that’s their role, or is it because men have learnt that it isn’t their role because it’s ’sissy’…”

Is there any reason it can’t be both of these things?