Target's Gender Neutral Toy Aisles Ruining America! MERGED

[salex]

One of my people posted the article, with a comment above that said something like "this is too far, kids can't all wear the same clothes. they have biological differences" or something like that. Then she came back in the comment section and was like "oh so i read the article and it's just toys and house wears, still who cares? smh people make too much noise about stupid stuff" (paraphrased, of course) And her friend who didn't read the article who had already commented about how stupid, then was like 'ugh girl now i gotta go read' .

I'm just sitting here like "how do I know these people again?"

The upside is most of mine is on my fakebook page, but yesterday one guy posted the article about Target and said "What 12 year old girl is going to want a jock strap for her birthday" I didn't even go into it with him, as I'd pissed him off earlier. You can't cure all the stupid people in the world.

[Maggie Mae]

The upside is most of mine is on my fakebook page, but yesterday one guy posted the article about Target and said "What 12 year old girl is going to want a jock strap for her birthday" I didn't even go into it with him, as I'd pissed him off earlier. You can't cure all the stupid people in the world.

Jeez Louise that is just stupid. Are people so stupid they just go in and are like "well, so and so is 12 and a girl? Where is your section for 12 year old girls? Oh, this baby bottle is in the 12 year old girl section so I guess that means they like baby bottles I'll buy it because it's here in the 12 year old girl section."

I am reminded of the time I tried to reason with someone on FB about bathroom usage by trans gender individuals. And he just kept shouting "MEN HAVE DICKS AND BALLS" at me. :roll:

[thoughtful]

All of this stuff seems to come and go in cycles.

I don't remember gendered toy aisles. Of course, there really weren't superstores or big box stores yet when I was a kid (50s-60s). Department stores had staffed low counters rather than aisles.

Toys were certainly marketed to girls (baby dolls, Barbie, doll houses, miniature versions of cooking and cleaning items) or boys (guns, cars, trucks, toy soldiers).

Some toys were considered gender-neutral or marketed to all. This video, including the descriptions and pictures from the ads, gives a pretty good sense of things:

[bBvideo 560,340:2790hg3z]

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Into the 1960s (mostly marketing to boys, except for the Nativity scene -- notice that only the girl cuddles the baby Jesus, while her brother looks on):

[bBvideo 560,340:2790hg3z]

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For girls:

[bBvideo 560,340:2790hg3z]

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Things really got more even-handed in the 1970s, and then went insanely gender-stereotyped in the years after that. It made me really sad -- it seemed like such a backslide.

[polecat]

Jeez Louise that is just stupid. Are people so stupid they just go in and are like "well, so and so is 12 and a girl? Where is your section for 12 year old girls? Oh, this baby bottle is in the 12 year old girl section so I guess that means they like baby bottles I'll buy it because it's here in the 12 year old girl section."

I am reminded of the time I tried to reason with someone on FB about bathroom usage by trans gender individuals. And he just kept shouting "MEN HAVE DICKS AND BALLS" at me. :roll:

I may be a 12-year-old boy rather than a middle-aged woman, but "MEN HAVE DICKS AND BALLS" made me laugh. I'd take that as a user name!

[PrairieGirl]

I may be a 12-year-old boy rather than a middle-aged woman, but "MEN HAVE DICKS AND BALLS" made me laugh. I'd take that as a user name!

I am 12 as well, because that line made me snort!

ETA: I am not quite sure how I screwed up the quote. :embarrassed:

[salex]

I may be a 12-year-old boy rather than a middle-aged woman, but "MEN HAVE DICKS AND BALLS" made me laugh. I'd take that as a user name!

Made me think of this...

[bBvideo 560,340:1dj6lkwq]

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[waterandrocks]

This really hits close to home for me. I will never understand the color thing. When I was little my favorite color was blue and my least favorite was pink. No one told me I was acting like a boy. My son, a preschooler, currently loves the color pink and it blows my mind how many children AND ADULTS feel the need to tell him pink is for girls. He likes to play with dolls and cook play food. He also likes to play with cars, trucks and Legos (of any color.) Good for Target for taking a step in the right direction but I think society has a long way to go on this one.

[ADoyle90815]

I don't remember a boy and girl toy aisle either. The toys were less gendered too. There weren't boy Lincoln logs and girl Lincoln logs, there were just Lincoln logs. Now even Legos are marked as girl or boy, while the ones I had were just Legos.

That's also what I remember, that toys were less gendered, and that toy departments had aisles by type of toy, not segregated by gender. My brother and I both played with Lincoln Logs and Legos, which were gender neutral at the time. Our bikes were also just children's bikes, not specific for a gender either.

[Firiel]

OH NO.

Matt Walsh, Ass-Captain of the Universe, has spoken:

theblaze.com/contributions/yes-i-do-want-my-daughter-to-conform-to-her-gender/

[EmiGirl]

Oh the horror that a doll might be I'm the same aisle as an "action figure."

[Handmaiden of Dog]

One of my people posted the article, with a comment above that said something like "this is too far, kids can't all wear the same clothes. they have biological differences" or something like that

What? My kid wore clothes from the boys section for many years because boys pants in baby Gap were cheaper than girls pants and came in colors I liked better.

[DowntownAbbey]

OH NO.

Matt Walsh, Ass-Captain of the Universe, has spoken:

theblaze.com/contributions/yes-i-do-want-my-daughter-to-conform-to-her-gender/

You’ve likely heard by now that Target will be ending the segregated, Apartheid-like conditions in their stores, getting rid of gender labels on toys, games, and most other products. They’ll also ban the colors pink and blue, and tear down the barbed wire fence that separated the two areas, which apparently made it previously impossible for a girl to enter the boy’s section or vice versa. For the time being, there will still be girl and boy aisles in the clothing department, but they assure us they’re keeping the labels because of “fitting and sizing differences,†not because they would presume to insinuate that only girls should wear dresses.

Is there some sort of Godwin's law for the Apartheid?

[memabelle]

I don't know any young child (who hasn't been taught otherwise yet) who has ever said, "No, let me not play with that because it's not for girls (or for boys)." A toy is either fun or not fun. My daughter loves the color pink. She also loves the color blue, and I would say blue is probably her favorite color. She loves to cook in her play kitchen. She loves to bang away on her tool workbench. I guess I just don't understand why we have to throw out common sense and critical thought along with gender-labels for toys - if you're THAT confused in a gender non-specific aisle as to what to buy for a kid you don't know that well (I always go for coloring books or reading books, never hurts to encourage reading and creativity in young children of either sex) then call up their parent and ask what the kid likes to play with. If you're having that much trouble picking out a toy your own child would like without the gender-labels, if you really know your own child that little, then you have much bigger problems in your life than toy labels...

And adding to this post just because this topic apparently has been bothering me much more than I realized, just because toys aren't labeled by gender anymore doesn't mean you can't still force a gender-specific toy on your child if that's the route you wanna take in life! A Barbie is still a Barbie, whether it's shelved with baby dolls or action figures.

:angry-banghead:

[memabelle]

What? My kid wore clothes from the boys section for many years because boys pants in baby Gap were cheaper than girls pants and came in colors I liked better.

I just bought my 2 year old daughter her first pairs of underwear - Disney princesses from the girls section, because she loves Disney princesses, and Paw Patrol cartoon characters from the boys section, because she loves Paw Patrol. We also buy her clothes from the boys section sometimes because some of the characters she likes don't come in the girls section.

She still knows she's a girl.

I can't get over the dumbassery of some adults (not you, Handmaiden, you obviously have common sense - all the conservatives and religious zealots up in arms about this)

[Maggie Mae]

What? My kid wore clothes from the boys section for many years because boys pants in baby Gap were cheaper than girls pants and came in colors I liked better.

Don't ask me. I was actually REALLY surprised when I saw her comment. 1.) We went to college together. When did she become unable to form a coherent facebook complaint? 2.) It makes no sense. I know there are sizing issues or whatever, but does it matter if the blue shirt that says I heart Dad is on a girl or a boy? 3.) Why is she still on my facebook. It's not like I've seen her in almost 10 years, and we weren't that close to begin with.

[Grimalkin]

And it seems like legos aren't just legos. They all come with themes and directions and are less creative and possibly more expensive.

I had a face book person freak out about the announcement...then they read the article.

I felt that way too but in defense of the kits, My son only wanted Jurassic park legos for his 7th birthday. Previously I had only bought a set that was not a kit but just a box of building bricks. My husband and I were amazed at how carefully my son put together the sets. One had over 800 pieces, and he was having a hard time with figuring out this dino catching car, but he stuck it out and figured it out. I was really proud of how hard he worked on it. He sat for hours and I don't think he ever had done that before, and I thought I would have to sit with him and build it with him. He will build with the bricks too, and he has done lego clubs at school, but the sets really captured his attention.

I like to do intricate bead weaving with seed beads and when I follow patterns and directions I learn new skills, and sometimes get new ideas from it.

ETA: the point was not that I think my son is a genius, but I was surprised at how well done the instruction booklet was put together for a kid who just barely reads, and how it captured his attention. My girls prefer free playing with Legos.

[happy atheist]

I felt that way too but in defense of the kits, My son only wanted Jurassic park legos for his 7th birthday. Previously I had only bought a set that was not a kit but just a box of building bricks. My husband and I were amazed at how carefully my son put together the sets. One had over 800 pieces, and he was having a hard time with figuring out this dino catching car, but he stuck it out and figured it out. I was really proud of how hard he worked on it. He sat for hours and I don't think he ever had done that before, and I thought I would have to sit with him and build it with him. He will build with the bricks too, and he has done lego clubs at school, but the sets really captured his attention.

I like to do intricate bead weaving with seed beads and when I follow patterns and directions I learn new skills, and sometimes get new ideas from it.

My kids always built the lego kit following the instructions, played with it for a day, then disassembled it and used the pieces for other things. Sort of the best of both worlds.

[keen23]

I was at Target at lunch time, and there was a white lady, mid 50's, losing her damn mind yelling at a poor clerk about this. All about how corporations need to "stop bending to the will of minorities" and how she and her friends are going to stop shopping at Target because of this "disgusting policy." Christ lady, take a chill pill. All they're talking about is un-gendering toys and furniture. Do grownups have aisle of "Man Furniture" and "Woman Furniture" nope. Because it's all the same thing.

As a mother of three girls, the pink explosion and Disney Princess EVERYTHING is disheartening. Some options other than that is fantastic. If my kids want green bedsheets or a blue chair, all the better for them. I feel that the gendered furniture aisle is ridiculous- my "girl" options are frilly and or floral, which none of my girls are.

[FundieWatcher]

I'm way more entertained by this than I should be.

[HarryPotterFan]

I hate the asshole who reported him and ruined all the fun. I'll just take comfort in the fact that he's a total idiot and probably wasted a lot of time.

[HarryPotterFan]

adweek.com/adfreak/man-poses-target-facebook-trolls-haters-its-gender-neutral-move-epic-replies-166364

More fun!!

[HarryPotterFan]

WALMART FOREVER! Oh lord.

[laPapessaGiovanna]

This is true. That is why Jesus wears a red robe and Mary wears a blue one. Don't tell the fundies, though because it will give them one more reason to hate on Catholics.

Actually that's not accurate. Both Jesus and Mary are often represented in renaissance masterpieces (such as Leonardo's Ultima Cena or Tiziano's Mary's Death or Raffaello Sanzio's Madonna con Gesù e San Giovannino) wearing a red vest and a blue mantle. The red being the color of blood and flesh stands for their earthly body while the blue mantle stands for their ties to the Kingdom of heaven where they both ascended.

[Johanna25]

These pink and blue aisles came in with modern advertising and merchandizing. When I was a kid toy stores and toy departments might be organized with board games along the wall; bikes, wagons, baby carriages and other large items in the middle books on one side, etc...but dolls might be next to tinker toys, next to paint sets, and so on.

One of my favorite toys as a child was a big red fire engine. Part of why I loved it was that my dad had brought it home for me one day for no particular occasion - just because. He must have wandered through the toy department, seen the fire engine, knew I'd love it, and bought it for me. My dad was a fairly conventional guy, if he'd been in a modern toy store looking for a gift for his daughter, he'd probably stick to the pink aisles and never come up with anything so appropriate.

[nibbles]

I have three boys, all of whom have had a baby doll at one point or another. The sighs, the questions, the rudeness ... just ugh. My youngest, one, gets mistaken for a girl all the time because i dress him in neutral clothing. Mainly because I loath "typical" toddler boy clothing.

Tl;dr Yay Target!