The effect that sexist toys have on girls
For millennia, societies have made children, those members of humanity belonging to the new generations, clear about their gender from the first years of life. This, among other things, is done through the play styles and toys .
For example, until the mid-twentieth century most of the toys indicated in their boxes for which of the two sexes the product was indicated, something that changed with the arrival of feminisms of the second and third wave, between the 70s and the 90. Today, however, toys still have a strong gender burden. It is natural to associate action figures for children and games for kitchenettes for girls , for example.
But ... does this make toys sexist? Could it be that the existence of this role distinction causes inequality to appear? There are currently good reasons to think that yes sexist toys exist, and that they are especially made with girls .
- Related article: "Types of sexism: the different forms of discrimination"
Sexist toys and the gender charge
The type of toys used by boys and girls does not follow a causal differentiation. In the vast majority of cases, these games they are a reflection of gender stereotypes . For example, girls are given games that deal with the care of babies, the importance of aesthetics and personal image, or housework, while children are given action figures and games that have what to do with dealing with imaginary situations that, if real, would be scary, violent or disgusting. Now ... this is so because there is a genetic predisposition to be attracted to certain games and not others, or is it due to the effect of culture, what society teaches us during childhood?
From what has been seen, there is evidence that part of these preferences for toys with a stereotyped gender burden is due to biological, not cultural, factors. For example, it has been seen that children between one and two years of age, a time when they are not yet socialized in a group, prefer toys that are associated with their gender. In addition, in cases of some diseases that alter the hormonal levels of the girls, making them more "masculine", the preferences for the girls' toys also turn more towards the masculine.
But nevertheless, these differences between boys and girls do not have to be very deep .
- Maybe you're interested: "Video games make us violent?"
The influence of the environment
We must bear in mind that in most experiments in which the reaction of children to toys that do not correspond to their gender is explored, we work with concrete toys, with specific properties. In these situations, the effects of hormonal differences, which are broad, may seem very concrete, and falsely reinforce gender roles that are too rigid.
For example, that children prefer to play with action figures does not mean that they are attracted to that category of entertainment that we call "action figures" , but there is something in those objects that they find interesting. The possibility of fantasizing about risky situations is one of them.
But the violent situations (those to which we usually associate the game with action figures) are not the only ones in which risks are taken and emotion is felt before the danger. In fact, it is perfectly possible that many of them are not associated with masculinity.
On the other hand, it has been seen that men are generally slightly better than women in tasks that involve spatial processing , and this also shows in the use of toys. Children tend to prefer more elaborate puzzles than girls play, and these toys have to do with cognitive skills related to spatial thinking.
However, it has also been seen that fathers and mothers encourage children more when they play this kind of games, and they do less when the children do it. It may seem unimportant, but if this social asymmetry happens at such early ages, can leave a mark on the mental development of people .
We see then that although there seems to be hormonal differences that influence the preference for toys depending on the sex to which one belongs, this is interpreted as if it were the gender burden of these games, and not the situations to which they give rise, that make them tend to entertain themselves with some things and they do it with others.
- Related article: "The 6 stages of childhood (physical and psychic development)"
Girls are disadvantaged
How does this affect girls? Basically, it reinforces strongly implanted gender roles that put women at a disadvantage. For example, many of the highest paid professions are closely related to spatial reasoning, and if children are more encouraged to play with toys that promote this skill, these will have an advantage when it comes to taking engineering positions .
On the other hand, if it is assumed that as children feel a predilection for action figures, women should be assigned to the "safe" area of domesticity, their existence will be more similar to that of a pet than to that of a person with capacity. to be independent.
In short, the effect of sexist toys on girls is the power to pigeonhole them in roles that have been created by society and that are given a priori: it is enough to coincide with certain characteristics related to this type of role, so that it is of course that the whole personality of that girl (future woman) can be summarized by "the feminine" . The consequences of this is, in short, more sexism and more possibilities d more girls are pigeonholed in that lifestyle.
