The Gender Stereotyping of Toys - Art imitating life or life imitating art?

The topic of gender stereotyping of toys is a hotly contested one in Mum circles. As a parent who is a Gen X, I believe we were really the birth of what I term the Aware Parent. The one that refuses to take everything at face value and succumb to patterns of behaviour just because "Mum and Dad did it this way and I survived" and that is a wonderful thing. So the discussion of gender stereotyping in children's toys and merchandise is a valuable one to have.

I know that my opinion, particularly in feminist circles isn't a popular one. But to be fair to both sides of the debate I must explore the popular one. There is no denying that in every facet of our lives we see gender based marketing. Dolls are always directed at girls (because any 'good' female, even a child should be maternal right?), cars at boys. Toy companies have even brought out gender specific lego. We have girls and boys toothbrushes, clearly defined clothing sections in department stores with the gendered colours and styles. Even as adults we are exposed. Female razors, deodorant with pretty flowers in pink on the can and even girls pencils and pens. Because we all need a pink lead pencil that is thinner for our little Lady hands! 

Many argue this is inherently damaging to gender equality on both sides. We are instilling expectations and social mores that will ultimately not only shape them, but change them. Like the sensitive maternal boy who wants a dolly at 3 and is told only girls have dolls and "there is no way my son will turn out gay!" On a broader level beyond toys, the girl at 5 that wants to play football and is gently albeit condescendingly told that she can't play because she might get hurt. "Boys are rough honey, how about netball"? On a macro level these covert and overt messages shape our lives. The father that desperately wanted to be a stay at home father but didn't for fear that others would think he was a sissy that liked being a kept man. The woman that gave up dreams of being a mechanic because that made her butch and a lesbian and no man wants to marry that. At it's foundations this train of thought is an extremely valid one, and one which I agree with.

But what if some of these stereotypes have been born out of truth? Could it be that much as art imitates life so do stereotypes? Do some people have certain gendered behaviours and preferences hardwired and toys and in fact life are simply reflecting those?

My occupational field is very much feminist in demographic and it was hammered into us in university that gender was socially constructed. Then we studied the brain in detail and a very interesting aspect came to light. Male and female brains are different, and more than just in size. Different regions of the brain are bigger and smaller in the sexes. Not surprisingly, women's communication and memory centres were larger and more receptor-rich than men's, while men had larger and more developed regions for spatial ability and motor skills. So why then is it so offensive to suggest that some girls are drawn to a tea set where she has a picnic with her bears while they chat to each other for possible biological or neurological reasons?

http://solarey.net/science-fun-fact-male-vs-female-brains/

Now let me be very clear. I am not for a moment saying that the social construction of gender doesn't exist, or every child fits the mold for their sex. Not every little girl wants a tea set and not every boy wants a truck. There are of course exceptions to the rule, which one could argue is also influenced by parental construction of gender. That argument is reciprocal. Like the woman I know that bragged her daughter isn't into baby dolls, but rather prefers cars and the sand pit. That is her 'proof' that the neurological aspect doesn't exist. But what she failed to mention until asked, was that the child didn't actually own a baby doll..... nor anything 'girly'. She had been so adamant about not forcing her daughter into one gender bias in toys that she in fact forced her into boys toys.

So when I had my first son after my daughter I conducted a little experiment on multiple days when he was around 9 months old. He had always had exposure to what are considered boy and girls toys since birth. So I placed him on a blanket with a baby doll, a Tonka truck, you get the point and just observed. He went straight for the truck and motion related toys. I even actively attempted to engage him with the baby doll, kissing him with her, modelling cuddling. He smiled..... and went back to the truck. And he is still obsessed with them. Since starting this blog and considering this topic to blog about, I did this with my now 10 month old second son on several occasions in the last few days. He has an abundance of both gender neutral, girl and boy toys. Each and every time he went for the 'boys' toys. The noisy, bright moving ones. The flashing robot, the Fisher Price talking dump truck that shoots balls. Yes I know, this is a cohort of 2 and not real research. But anecdotally it was quite telling. Surely the initial ideas for children's toys started somewhere? I argue they started from natural preferences the sexes showed.

Here is an interesting study that really confirms my thoughts that some of the preferences children show are actually biological and neurological, and seem to be usually visually based.

So we come full circle to the question - do children favour gender specific toys because of socialisation or biology? 

I say it's unequivocally both! It is both art imitating life AND life imitating art.