![]() While gender is what’s traditionally used to sort target markets, the toy industry (which is largely run by men) could categorize its customers in a number of other ways-in terms of age and interest, for example. In essence, the "little homemaker" of the 1950s had become the "little princess" we see today. These roles were still built upon regressive gender stereotypes-they portrayed a powerful, skill-oriented masculinity and a passive, relational femininity-that were obscured with bright new packaging. However, late-century marketing relied less on explicit sexism and more on implicit gender cues, such as color, and new fantasy-based gender roles like the beautiful princess or the muscle-bound action hero. During the 1980s, gender-neutral advertising receded, and by 1995, gendered toys made up roughly half of the Sears catalog’s offerings-the same proportion as during the interwar years. In 1984, the deregulation of children’s television programming suddenly freed toy companies to create program-length advertisements for their products, and gender became an increasingly important differentiator of these shows and the toys advertised alongside them. (Sears)Īlthough gender inequality in the adult world continued to diminish between the 1970s and 1990s, the de-gendering trend in toys was short-lived. In the 1970s, Sears catalogues had a higher proportion of gender-neutral advertisements. ![]() Every little girl likes to play house, to sweep, and to do mother’s work for her": For example, a 1925 Sears ad for a toy broom-and-mop set proclaimed: “Mothers! Here is a real practical toy for little girls. Toys for girls from the 1920s to the 1960s focused heavily on domesticity and nurturing. That is not to say that toys of the past weren’t deeply infused with gender stereotypes. ![]() For example, a recent study by sociologists Carol Auster and Claire Mansbach found that all toys sold on the Disney Store’s website were explicitly categorized as being “for boys” or “for girls”-there was no “for boys and girls” option, even though a handful of toys could be found on both lists. This is a stark difference from what we see today, as businesses categorize toys in a way that more narrowly forces kids into boxes. In my research on toy advertisements, I found that even when gendered marketing was most pronounced in the 20th century, roughly half of toys were still being advertised in a gender-neutral manner. But in fact, the princess role that’s ubiquitous in girls’ toys today was exceedingly rare prior to the 1990s-and the marketing of toys is more gendered now than even 50 years ago, when gender discrimination and sexism were the norm. ![]() When it comes to buying gifts for children, everything is color-coded: Rigid boundaries segregate brawny blue action figures from pretty pink princesses, and most assume that this is how it’s always been. ![]()
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