Nov 24, 2009

The difference between girls and boys

So, with holidays coming (both my Islamic one, and my family's Christmas one), it was time to go out and do shopping. I have 3 nieces and another on the way. This is great...easy. I also have a daughter, and 2 sons. This is not so easy.

I was able to leave the kids home with their father while I ran out to get gifts. Now, I normally shop for toys for kids under 4 (which can generally be anything, boys will play with girl stuff and vice-versa). However, my son is almost 6 and is most definitely above the "preschool" level of toys.

I wander into Walmart and am faced with 6 aisles of toys for girls. There is make up, Barbies, babies of all kinds , dress up clothes, easy bake ovens, those trashy "I wanna be a hooker" Bratz things, Little Pet Shop, beading crafts, knitting crafts, nail art crafts, there is drawing stuff, painting stuff, and glitter making stuff. All packaged in various shads of pink and teal and all with an overly-happy young girl, smiling till her cheeks hurt on the front. Picking up my 4 girl gifts was nothing, I had such variety, I was able to choose a gift that didn't go against my beliefs about what little girls should and shouldn't play with.

Then...it was on to the "boy" section. What a depressing thing this was. There was literally 1 2/3 of an aisle. I guess you could call it 2 full aisles, but one aisle was literally 1/3 sports balls. I understand that boys do play sports, but considering that they put pink soccer balls and footballs with Barbie in there too, I'm not calling it a "boy" section.

The boy's aisle consisted of one full length of matchbox cars and their accessories (ie, race tracks). This aisle was opposite the trampy Barbies. On the other side of the car isle was Transformers (possibly 1 body width worth), then Starwars figures (again, 1 body-width), then some GI Joes (same amount as the first two). The rest of the aisle was for Bakugon. I have no idea how these things work, but my guy is interested in these things and Transformers. Opposite to that was the boys "dress up" section. Meaning, it held things like a Transformer Head that you could put over your own, swords and guns. Yay.

I think it's pathetic how we push these sexist things on girls. We are basically teaching our girls that they have to look pretty, be skinny and be "homey" (motherly with babies, cooking, etc). Why are we teaching them to dress up like "ladies of the night??" Why are we teaching them to set such low limits??

And boys -- no wonder there's an issue with vandalism and violence. These poor boys are bored to death with next to nothing to play with...unless....I know, let's give them fake weapons so that they can grow up beating the snot out of each other....great practice for when they're older.

6 comments:

C said...

Asalaamu Alaikum

sniff sniff all I ever wanted for Christmas when I was small was an Easy Bake Oven and I never got one! I also wanted spirograph and never got that either! Anyway for my boys I got islamic stuff from Soundvision and one of my boys is into crafty stuff so I got him a knitting kit (no I did not force this on him). There are always great winter choices like sleds, skates, skis,hockey sticks,shovels. As for most of my girls they hate dolls for some reason. What my boys usually want is video games! But enough is enough! You can also go to an educational toy place where you can find things like electricity kits and lots of other cool stuff.

Hethr said...

ASA C,

When I was a kid, all I ever did was climb trees and read books. I could have cared less about barbies (which I just used to determine what my breasts would look like when I was grown --- I'm disappointed) and easy bake ovens (to this day, I do NOT even pretend to enjoy cooking)

My boys are pretty generic. They'll just as easily play with baby dolls as they will a basket ball. I'm just a little put off by the over sensationalism that is directed towards our young girls, and the lack of options for our boys.

C said...

Oh I climbed trees and read books too and read books in trees too! I also hate cooking but I love baking. Funny that you didn't like dolls but you have a daycare! What kinds of things would you like to see for boys?

C said...

see if you like any of these

http://www.kaboodle.com/holiday-gifts-products/for-kids-and-babies-for-boys?startIndex=0&pf=&so=

Hethr said...

hmmm....what kinds of thing would I like to see for boys??

* Dress up clothes. BOYS LIKE TO DRESS UP. I'd like to know what company it is that makes dress up clothes that seems to figure boys don't like to dress up.
* Things like Ties (pre tied, and sewn to stay that way --- or even just clip on ones), little blazers, little suit cases. Mens Shoes...
* Construction stuff --- like a vest with the reflective X on it, work shoes, a tin lunch box (could be plastic)....
* Doctor/Dentist/Vet out fits --- You know, all the ones that I saw had some sort of pink it it?? STUPID!!!
* Mechanic type of blue overalls...
* Astronaught suit...

My oldest son loves transformers and Bakugon...which I'm fine with, but it sure would be nice to have MORE options...It just gets me upset to see aisles and aisles of things for girls, and nearly nothing for boys (unless it's weapons...which I refuse to buy)

Princesstefer said...

That's why I don't shop for kids' toys at department stores (though I rarely shop at them period). Horrible, horrible selection that gives me the creeps.

Great blog! I clicked the link at the bottom of one of your LP posts.

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