“We’re all born into a preexisting society in which the criteria for determining difference have already been constructed and have largely become a taken-for-granted part of social institutions and belief systems” (Newman, 39). Children are born into a world that is full of choices: black or white, boy or girl, cheap or expensive, masculine or feminine; that is, if you believe that choices are dichotomous. I believe choices are more complex than a cut and dry dichotomy, but that belief goes against our patriarchal world of superiority, domination, and oppression. As Johnson states, “if a society is oppressive, then people who grow up and live in it will tend to accept, identify with, and participate in it as “normal” and unremarkable life” (93). Even though we are led to believe that we have choices, do we honestly? For example, when a person is shopping for toys for a child, what is one of the dichotomist classifications? Any website or catalog will more than likely ask you to choose between either “for a boy” or “for a girl.” In each of these classifications and sections, you will find a gendered-biased selection of hegemonic normative toys for the different sexes; everyone knows that sex and gender are synonymous, right? Wrong.
Children learn who they should be, how they should behave, and what they should think from their parents, peers, schools, and the media. As Johnson states “to live in a patriarchal culture is to learn what’s expected of us as men and women” (95). It’s not surprising that children are not only shaped by animate beings but also inanimate objects and concepts such as toys and language. “People are not born with a gender,” however from birth, we are conditioned to be either macho brave boys or sweet innocent girls, be masculine or feminine, and believe boys are superior to girls (Newman, 53). In agreement with Newman, “they cultivate it over time as they learn the cultural expectations associated with being a boy or a girl” (53). Children are given different yet gender-normative nicknames such as sweetheart for girls or champ for boys. “Because gender-typed expectations are so ingrained, parents are often unaware that they are treating their children in accordance with them” (Newman, 111). Even toys use gendered-labels differently according to the sex of the child, such as action figure for boys’ toy or doll for girls’ toy. As Jhally stated, “…images having to do with gender strike at the core of individual identity; our understanding of ourselves as either male or female … is central to our understanding of who we are” (253). Once children are brainwashed into their specific gender, toy companies and others have created the ideal ignorant consumers because “…the context within which kids play is now structured around marketing considerations” (Jhally, 254). In this case, hegemony works because “its effectiveness depends on subordinated peoples accepting the dominant ideology as normal reality or common sense…in active forms of experience and consciousness” (Lull, 63).
Do children’s toys display purely fantasy and merriment, or do they symbolize the conditioned gender-normative of our hegemonic society? According to Newman, “…toys and games remain solidly segregated along gender lines [in which]… girls’ toys still revolve around themes of domesticity, fashion, and motherhood and boys’ toys emphasize action and adventure” (112). This is a problem I would like to address concerning gender-normative toys. I am aware that parents and their parenting styles, peers and social groups, television, movies, and music all influence children’s gender development however, I would like to focus on gender influences in children’s toys.
For this blog, I asked my 8-year-old niece Caitlin to participate in this assignment. My niece is influenced by her peers and commercials as to what she should and must have in order to be popular and fit within her social group. She disregards how much money her family has or how much a toy costs. She focuses on what she wants rather than what she needs. She is an ideal target consumer for hegemonic toy companies. I asked her for a wish list of 4 toys and they are: the dragon Webkinz, iPod Nano, American Girl doll Kit Kittredge, and a few Nintendo DS games such as Wild Petz Dolphinz, Alvin & the Chipmunks, and Guitar Hero. I will analyze the toys from my niece’s wish list and the online shopping adventure in regards of gender normativity.
When I searched for the first toy, the gendered-colored pink whimsical dragon Webkinz, I thought to myself for a moment. A pink colored dragon, how interesting. A dragon that is colored pink represents how people have to alter the original gender-normative image of a dragon to make it more appealing and appropriate for girls. In the search, most of the pictures showed either only the toy itself or a young girl holding the Webkinz. Why would a bo
y want to hold something that is soft and cuddly and needs love? I browsed around and noticed one can purchase not only a Webkinz stuffed toy, but also accessories such as clothes to dress it in, purses to carry it in, lip glosses, and other feminine normative extras. The one my niece chose is pink and appears soft, glittery or metallic in some areas of its body. The toy is expensive with a lack of purpose except for the online code that endows points towards the child’s online Webkinz account. I examined this online point system further to stumble 
upon Webkinz child consumerism. There is a store to purchase virtual items for the online pet and virtual furnishings for the virtual home the child designs for the pet. Webkinz website is using the propaganda system effectively with children because “in [this] image-system as a whole, happiness lies at the end of a purchase” (Jhally, 252). There were options for boy consumers and Webkinz owners, however the dominant consumer for Webkinz appears to be the girls. With the bright colors, fluffy structures, feminine normative accessories, I determined that Webkinz is a feminine gendered toy designed mainly for girls.
Then I searched for the iPod Nano. My niece did not specify which color she would prefer, but they do offer a pastel pink color in case she wants to match it with her pink dragon Webkinz. Th
e iPod Nano is an expensive gadget for a young girl, but it does provide her with access to gendered-language and images in music and videos. If she wants to explicitly warn others of her femininity, she can add a flower design or shiny rhinestones to her iPod Nano; likewise, if boys want to boast their masculinity, they can add silhouette images of naked women onto their iPod Nano.Next is the American Girl doll. The name itself reinforces hegemony by usin
g gendered language, that a girl’s toy is labeled as a doll and not a boy’s toy. When I searched for this doll, I was also provided with pictures of the other America green-eyed girl with freckles, who wears a bonnet, pink sweater, flowered sn Girl dolls, books, a magazine, clothes and accessories, a movie, and some video games; all of these displayed bright or pastel colors, joy and hope, and a hegemonic normative image for a feminine girl. The one my niece wants is Kit Kittredge, a blonde,kirt, dressy white shoes, and carries a clutch-purse; it doesn’t get much more American than that. All the American Girl dolls appear happy by constantly smiling, frolicking through life, however they have manners and life skills, and provide each girl with a story and moral. The American Girl doll coincides with gender appropriate normatives “for girls and women in the United States, [such as] not burping in public, sitting ladylike, paying attention to appearance, wearing make-up and jewelry” (Newman, 54).
The last toys on my niece’s wish list are Nintendo DS games, Wild Petz Dolphinz, Alvin & the Chipmunks, and Guitar Hero. When I searched for Nintendo DS games, they already have a gender label on them from their gender normative images. There are games for boys that involve heroes, action and adventure, mystery and suspense, violence and crime, car races, and “female characters [that] are often provocatively sexual, scantily clad, and voluptuous” (Newman, 91); there are games for girls that involve cooking and taking care of pets, clothes, make-up, fashion and beauty, exercise and body image, and simple play and dreams. These observations extend Newman’s discussion on gender in the media in which he stated, “traditionally female interests [are] deep communication, emotional bonding, intimate
relationships, and motherhood,” whereas “…for men, …[they] will contain little emotional introspection and plenty of gore, fast cars, and explosions” (89). The only gender neutral options are games that involve Sims and Tycoons to build theme parks, zoos, aquariums, etc, brain games, and ones that teach a foreign language. There are even games that explicitly state in their titles “Smart Girl’s Playhouse” and “Smart Boy’s Playhouse” reinforcing the hegemonic and patriarchal belief that boys and girls play differently and obviously cannot play together. “The gender messages in such games may have a detrimental effect both on boys’ attitudes towards girls and women and other their conceptions of appropriate male behavior” (Newman, 91).
In this analysis of children’s toys, this blog exposed their explicit or hidden loyalty to hegemony’s gendered differences and belief that gender and sex are synonymous. Toys are just as influential as parents, peers, and the media on children about what is gender appropriate according to hegemonic normative standards. Boys will be boys and girls will be girls. Since this hegemonic belief system has been influencing and conditioning our lives for so long, it is hard to say if we can reverse the tainted and engraved beliefs. Newman agrees with this point in stating, “…some sociologists…question whether parents or anyone else ever has the ability to change such deeply ingrained lessons as gender roles” (115). These beliefs have become part of our unconscious and most of the time we are unaware when we are conforming to gender normative standards. However, it is possible that we can change or vanquish gender normativity and defeat the passive oppression from patriarchy because we have a choice to do so, do we?
References
1. Jhally, Sut. “Image-Based Culture: Advertising and Popular Culture.” Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A text reader, eds. Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez. London: SAGE Publications, 2003.
2. Johnson, Allan G. “Patriarchy, the System: An It, not a He, a Them, or an Us.” The Gender Knot: Unraveling our Patriarchal Legacy. Temple University Press, 1997.
3. Lull, James. "Hegemony," in Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A text reader, eds. Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez. London: SAGE Publications, 2003.
4. Newman, David M. “Manufacturing Difference: The Social Construction of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality.” Identities and Inequalities: Exploring the Intersections of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality. New York: McGraw Hill, 2007.
5. Newman, David M. “Portraying Difference: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in Language and the Media." Identities and Inequalities: Exploring the Intersections of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality. New York: McGraw Hill, 2007.
6. Newman, David M. "Learning Differences: Families, School, and Socialization." Identities and Inequalities: Exploring the Intersections of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality. New York: McGraw Hill, 2007.
Pictures
1. www.img.qj.net 24 July 2008 http://img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/72655/gamesforgirls_qjpreviewth.jpg
2. www.gamecrazy.com 24 July 2008
http://static.gamecrazy.com/images/games/boxart/12382.jpg
3. www.priceinspector.co.uk 24 July 2008
http://www.toysrus.co.uk/Content/Product/products7/78274201_m.jpg
4. www.kootykinz.com 24 July 2008
http://www.kootykinz.com/images/webkinzz/2_whimsydragon.JPG
5. www.makeafriendkids.com 24 July 2008
http://www.makeafriendkids.com/sitebuilder/images/boys_page-490x557.jpg
6. www.makeafriendkids.com 24 July 2008
http://www.makeafriendkids.com/sitebuilder/images/girls_page-490x557.jpg
7. www.pmptoday.com 24 July 2008
http://www.pmptoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/pink-ipod-nano-3g.jpg
8. www.2dayblog.com 24 July 2008
http://www.2dayblog.com/images/2007/september/ipod_nano_1.jpg
9. www.enquire.com 24 July 2008
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2000/08/15/doll.jpg
10. www.threekidcircus.com 24 July 2008
http://www.threekidcircus.com/auditions/SmartGirlsPlayhouse.jpg
11. www.amazon.com 24 July 2008
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61rtVZdbsaL._SL500_AA280_.jpg
12. www.kotaku.com 24 July 2008
http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2006/12/shinydslite.jpg
