Do gender-specific toys have a negative impact on a child's development?

[Fitness-Fanatic]

Toy manufacturers market gender-specific toys towards girls and boys, perpetuating traditional gender roles. Some toy shops are considering dropping sexist marketing and gender stereotyping of its products to girls and boys, because shoppers are concerned with sexism in the toy industry, and the impact it's having on children in today's society

Do gender-specific toys have a negative impact on a child's development - how so / how not?

[RetroAlpha]

Studies have shown that if you fill a room with all kinds of toys, children will naturally seek out the toys they like. Boys overwhelming pick boyish toys and girls overwhelmingly pick out girlish toys. There are, of course, statistical outliers, whose picks are either ambiguous or clearly from the "wrong" gender. Needless to say, the results proved that the toy makers aren't causing gender identity. gender identity causes toy makers to make profitable and logical decisions.

In other words, no toy can make you straight or gay, male or female. There is nothing harmful in toys, period, IMHO.

[maxx233]

I had a very different opinion on this before I actually had kids. Holy shit kids gender stereotype themselves. It has little to nothing to do with marketing - we don't even have TV, it doesn't matter. Our girl just freakin looooves pink dresses and disney princesses - very much against our will and best attempts to keep her from the godawful crap. The boy is suuuch a doofus, always hurting himself, loves playing with sticks, loves playing with cars and bugs. It's honestly ridiculous how in-built it seems to be. We've long since given up being neutral about things, that was a waste of effort.

[kikisand]

Absolutely not.
Are there guys who are going to be teachers, doctors, uncles, fathers? Yes. Then let them play with the doll.
Are there women who are going to work in construction, engineering, and other STEM careers? Yes. Let them play with the truck.

[momo770]

I don't think it has a negative effect, but children should be able to pick out toys that they want to play with.

[SaintRichie23]

Children understand their gender by the time they reach 2 years of age.

I hate how society is so full of themselves where they think we are above natural, biological instinct. We have two genders, and there are roles for each gender. This fact applies to every species, where each gender takes on different roles and behaves and looks entirely different from their counterpart despite being of the same species.

I find it interesting how society actively tries to fight against it and even go so far as to see it as unnatural.

[cipher42]

Plenty of animals have more than two gender roles? And plenty dont have terribly distinct or rigid roles at all? Plus, different groups of people all throughout history have had vastly different roles surrounding sex/gender so there's really very little evidence that humans have some innate biological set of instincts surrounding gender roles as you're suggesting.

[Dim1213]

I completely agree before I helped with kids. I halfway bought the gender neutral idea. Now heck I encourage gender specific toys to an big extent. Apart from just rebranding a toy from a boy to a girl by slapping some pink on it. I like gender specific toys cause they just work.

[SaintRichie23]

@cipher42 You care to elaborate at all?

Nowhere did I suggest that roles are rigid, just that they are innate. Humanity's cognitive ability in free will allows us the most fluidity in how we take up our roles.

I can produce scientific journals showcasing that children do in fact show very early signs of instincts towards their birthed gender. They eagerly seek out to participate in activities associated with their gender. Namely, The Development of Social Psychology of Gender, Chapter 4, research done by Dr. Martin.

There is a shit ton of literature saying the very thing you're claiming has little evidence of. This is the second time you're questioning me. Bring evidence to back up your claims, or don't speak at all. Otherwise, I'm getting tired of you following me, and playing the devil's advocate out of emotion rather than reason.

[Goforit1010]

A study was done about 20 years ago testing this very point. The results? By 2 years old, boys naturally gravitated toward playing with cars, balls, blocks while girls went for the dolls, dresses, and playing "house".

This somewhat proved that we're wired different. I don't understand WHY this society has a hang up with boys doing certain this and girls doing other things. WHY is that wrong?

[SnapTsch]

the gendered toys aren't sexist
no one cares if a girl likes trucks, she can play with it
no once cares if a guy likes dolls , thats his choice

to ya are market ted to gender because in almost all cases those genders prefer those toys given a choice.
why make gender more complicated by saying that gender is on a spectrum?

[Dim1213]

No but gender netrual ones do. If a kid does not want to play with a doll making it look like it has no gender won't make a kid want to play with it any more. it hurts by having the parent buy it for the wrong gender wasting the money for the toy that the kid won't play with.
Pretty much every time a boy will want a car and a girl will want a doll.

[HungLikeAHorsefly]

I dunno. My wife tells a story that when she was a kid, her parents would only get her toys made for girls. Problem was, she liked her brother's toys much more than her own so she ended up making deals with him to let her play with his toys.

I doubt that had much psychological impact on her development (other than learning how to make deals), but it would have been better if they had just let her play with toys made for boys.

[mobymark]

Guys have a lot of tesosterone and girls have more estrogen. We are very different in other genetic ways also, especially after puberty. Let your child decide what they want. At a very young age the differences can be muted. I pity the children that have only one role model instead of both parents. Children so need both genetic parents or at least a parent of each sex.

[GorillaOne]

Why do want to make things so complicated?
Take a kid to a store. Buy him or her anything they like. There no sexism involved in a kid's happiness.
Toys are for kids.
And no toy has a tag that says it's for a specific gender.
Stop trying to flaunt your stupidity.

[CaptainSmartass]

I don't really think this is a issue at all. If you asked a group of kids to choose from selection of toys, they will go for the ones they like. It so happens that boys will pick water pistols, NERF guns and toy trucks. Girls will naturally pick dolls and what-have-you.

You can't argue with facts like that. Kids don't see the issue, they just see toys. Only adults and SJWs see an issue. It's time we all grew up, really.

Simples...

[cipher42]

Fun actually verified fact on this subject: kids actually tend to play with the toys of "their" gender more when adults are around, and break gender boundaries more when left alone, implying that social expectations actually have a pretty significant impact on what toys kids choose.

[ProfessorBoyfriend]

Yup. Setting strict guidelines to what our kids can play with is so unnecessary. Anyone who deviates from those guidelines are heavily judged and often times persecuted by others. A Barbie isn't going to make your son gay and if so who cares.

[cattertone]

parents just need to pay attention to what their kids are interested in. a childs development depends on being able to pursue things they are interested in, and it's up to the parents to help their children follow their interests. parents can be blamed just as much as you marketing when it comes to child development.

[BCRanger10]

No. The only reason why people think they might is because of all the silly social engineering that social "progressives" and academics are pushing and then promptly complain about.

[Rosconie]

Absolutely not. If I was to buy my son some type of gun every year from his 1st yr for his birthday & Christmas would it be save to say when he becomes an adult he will go out and buy himself an assault riffle? No

[404filenotfound]

No they're not, "gender" means nothing more than biological sex to most people.

And most people know that being male or female doesn't mean that you have to exhaustively follow a check list.

[masterotaku]

if you understand enough about adolescent social anthropology, there are actually some valid reasons why differences and play toys for children exist.

[masterotaku]

I will add one thing. the bigger issue is to make sure that you raise your children correctly, so that they don't use things like gender stereotypes to be terrible to one another. there are measurable differences in adolescent psychology between the sexes, but they are very subtle. it'll be best just to listen to your children occasionally and teach them how not to be jerks to one another.

[msk19994]

let's be honest here, these toys have been here for quite sometime. you might have also grown up playing them. If you didn't have any issue then why would your kids have an issue

[Adamxt]

Why do we give boys men action figures and girls female dolls? Yet we expect them to change when they get older?

[TheDamnYankeeLad]

No? Gender roles are good. Besides, most girls want to play with pink toys. It's a statistic. It's called "marketing".

[Shimy]

I think that's because since they were born they've been told that girls = pink and boys = blue

[TheDamnYankeeLad]

Girls aren't told that... we dress baby boys in pink all the time. Girls tend to like pink. There's nothing wrong with girls playing with pink toys and boys playing with blue toys. Besides, traditional gender roles are an amazing thing.

[Shimy]

They're not told directly, but girl toys are pink, they're often dressed in pink because it's cute, etc. That's just differentiated socialization

[masterotaku]

it is curious to know that before the age of the Enlightenment pink was the color for boys and blue was the color for girls. it was actually due to the way in which the value of your children changed due to changes in the culture. history is weird LOL

[Shimy]

Oh I didn't know that, I guess it proves that girls don't just naturally tend to like pink, same for boys and blue 😋

[masterotaku]

all the things we today a tribute two women started with men anyway. hurry hurry makeup high heels lace fancy underwear etc etc etc.

started with men, segued into courtesans, and then popular culture. with the historical fall of the divine right of kings and the adoption of ideas like Liberty males became much more simple in their dress as a rejection of opulence and vanity, so those dress behaviors remained with women alone and do so until this day.

like I said, history is weird LOL

[masterotaku]

I meant hosiery and wigs... lol that was a weird autocorrect fail.

[TheDamnYankeeLad]

Your history is only a little bit off. At no point in history were pink and blue specifically attributed to men and women. Pink was never a "boy's color". Such concepts didn't really exist until the 20th century. It was, as you stated, a result of Enlightenment ideas that caused men to reject opulence. Women have always worn lace; women have worn fancy underwear as long as underwear was a thing.

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

I don't think gender-specific toys have a negative effect on children.

[RedThread]

Nah we should just let children play with whatever they want to.

[AynonOMouse]

Gender specific toys are fine. Guns are for both genders though.

[WhereAmI]

No because kids like to emulate adults and adults identify by gender.

[Rojaasu]

no I grew up playing with dolls and cabbage patch kids and I still am a typical guy

[April10]

No. People are making gender too complicated.

[Pizzalover101]

I think sum what let kids play with both my cousin use to make me play with the girl Barbie an she play with my Batman figure

[sadgirl2002]

I think gun toys for children should be banned

[Agent]

Water guns included?

[sadgirl2002]

Yes, they're bad too

[Agent]

I personally think they do no harm. I have a feeling kids have an innocent and playful perception of guns (well, of everything, really) compared to adults/teenagers--I know I had such a mindset when I was younger. I have family members who I've seen play with guns at younger ages, they're fine. I played with toy guns at a younger age, and I'm pretty much the last person you'd expect to be violent. Coupled with the fact that I have not encountered any scientific research that has arrived at the conclusion that they make children violent. Not claiming I'm right, though. Your choice is up to you.

[Rissyanne]

All this gender crap is bull shit.

[Loveherbut]

Yes kids should choose not told what to be

[DamnAnon]

No, it has a positive one

[NerdInDenial]

No, no it does not.

[BronzedAdonis]

I don't think so