Do you think that gendered toys indoctrinate children?

[Anonymous]

Girls are given baby dolls and fake ovens so they'll start to think they want to grow up to be a housewife and boys are given things like tractors and fake tools so they'll start to think they want to "work like a real man" when they grow up. Am I too far off?

Yes

No

[MisterWack]

Yes & No.

With me as a child my parents tested this by giving me dolls & trying to introduce traditional ‘boy’ video games to my sister, we both stuck with our traditional gender made toy product however it is important to know that if they had 1,000+ children in this group maybe there would be outliers especially with age range. When I was playing with my friends in school, I liked the action figures / dolls / traditionally girly things because I saw them as just toys & toys are made to be played with (in an environment that was open & free)

What I will say is companies and their research teams pump millions of dollars to stick to what sells & find a demographic to buy their product. When there is a supply there is a demand after all. Some toys resonate with boys more than girls, some toys resonate with girls more than boys however by instilling “girls play with girl things” & “boys play with boy things” it can really negatively impact that child since they live in a mindset they have to be this and cannot be that which holds them back rather than uplifts & encourages.

Just my opinion. But, one last thing I want to mention is there are companies selling toy versions where a child can operate a UPS Truck or work in a Target store so…. These companies could feel they could influence the line of work the child has by instilling it in them while they’re young, but I don't know and I don’t think they know either though if it works they would win & if it doesn’t work at least they made a quick buck with the toy.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

You, at least the speeches I see from you, seem to represent, again, the idea that the fate of personal worldviews may be decided early on, during childhood

[MisterWack]

@Maybe_Maybe_not No I don’t believe that.

This video game / toy nonsense is just a play thing for a child to enjoy or to dislike or can even grow into once they are a little older. It doesn’t determine their path.

What I said with the UPS & Target is to perhaps instill in children their life path however no evidence suggests that to be true that their agenda will work.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

Let me rephrase then, in the description you make of your environment during infancy/childhood, I think it determines the fate of your future worldviews, many worldviews, those you have now. I don't refer to toys in particular, or this actual topic on this webpage in particular

[MisterWack]

@Maybe_Maybe_not The rephrase is more confusing honestly I’m an idiot I’m sorry…. I think what you are saying is MY environment and how I was brought up created my worldview of present day and in a general sense not a toy sense?
I think so to some extent honestly.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

That's exactly what I mean!

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

It's only the part of an ensemble, indoctrination is multifaceted.

Let's say you are given a gender-based role because you receive dolls to play with, but then school classes show you that all genders are together in the same process. What is the result?

Now multiply all aspects, your parents behaviour, your friends behaviour, products advertised to you, role models in literature, cinema, social media, during your studies, during your hobbies, at your workplace, with your lovers etc. The expected role of your gender is being constantly modified by all these external forces.

Whether or not you are aware of their presence.

[Anonymous]

By themself no, but parents can use them to. Buy your kid whatever toys they want don't force them to only have "boy toys" or "girl toys" & act like it's wrong to like the other kids.

My daughter loves any kind of animal toys, whether it's "girls" ponies or "boys" dinos. They aren't indoctrinating her bc I'm not teaching her that they're boy or girl toys, so she's not learning that she has to play only with ponies or that those are girl animals.

[Babygirl_S]

Honestly, I loved playing with dolls and kitchen sets and found other toys boring 🥱

[Anonymous]

If you believe that girls and boys are identical until they have gender imposed on them by society, I guess it would seem like gendered toys are an imposition.
If you believe that there are biological differences between the two, caused by the chemical mix, you are probably more likely to believe you are helping the child find it's centre and it's way in a society that largely still understands such things.

[Anonymous]

I genuinely did not like girl toys when I was a kid. Had nothing to do with gender, had to do with the fact that I liked hot wheels and shit. Didn’t like them because they were for boys, liked them cause I am a boy. Same with girls, they like cute shit, some girls also like hot wheels, and I played with bratz dolls for girls when I was a kid. What does it matter.

[NamerOfStars]

No and yes, respectively- we see the same preferences of toy choices in CHIMPS, who I think you'll agree are not hugely influenced by our society.

[DrPepper12]

The toy market DEPENDS on parental bias and collects data on birth genders at the county level to forecast demand. We got our white daughter mixed race dolls and it was never even questioned.

[strateguy632]

If she was bored she wouldn't play with it. She likes dolls n dressing n giving bottle.

[FunkyMonkee]

Into what, believing boys have dicks and girls have cunts?

[Cubus]

Emm, no

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