
Toys Are More Divided by Gender Now Than They Were 50 Years Ago - rbanffy
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/12/toys-are-more-divided-by-gender-now-than-they-were-50-years-ago/383556/
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PaulHoule
At my son's elementary school the PTA would have raffle fundraisers where you
could buy an arm's length of tickets and deposit them in bags attached to
gifts.

It's an interesting game, to me, to choose items that are easy to win and that
I want. It's one of those things like stock trading or poker where I haven't
talked about the theory of it because it is a zero sum game and I don't need
competition.

Anyway, something I noticed is that the most popular toys are the most
gendered ones. (e.g. the girls will stuff the bag in front of the hula hoop,
the boys will stuff the bag in front of the sports gear.) Pretty clearly
gendered stuff appeals to the kids and their parents. I avoid it, even if I
want it (even the Hula Hoop), because there is no way I can win it.

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api
My daughter shows a preference for cute/pretty toys and girly colors (we
didn't push this on her, she just did it) but also for toys that do things or
let her build, design, etc.

Unfortunately the majority of the girly color cute toys are inert and non-
configurable and the majority of the toys that do stuff have boyish designs.
We've found good toys for her but we have to dig and often order online.

~~~
tropo
Suggestion: real tools for sewing.

Cooking is good too, but she can probably already borrow those tools.

~~~
api
We do those things. She also does like an electronics kit we got, so it's not
exclusive. But she prefers the girly colored legos. :)

