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—Holly Holmberg Brooks, Founder of GirlSite
Babes in Toyland
You're so accustomed to the way toys are packaged, advertised and marketed that you probably don't even realize most of today's toys are wrapped up in shocking gender-stereotypical packages. Read my story, and you’ll understand why I’m so over it.

By Jennifer Park, GirlSite editor

Pink Stinks
I started shopping early for back-to-school presents because I have three nieces—Katie, 15, Macy, 10, and Julia, 5—and buying for girls is fun. I headed to the toy store to check out the latest and greatest in toys and games for Macy and Julie, and something groovy for Katie. As I strolled up and down the many aisles of tea sets, dolls, and dress-up kits for Julia, I started to think, "Why am I surrounded by so much Pepto-Bismol pink?" It was everywhere. The entire “girl” section was drenched in pink paint, pink lettering and pink products. I considered putting on my sunglasses in order not to be blinded by the glitter reflecting off every plastic Barbie box, but figured that too pretentious even in Los Angeles. I finally took cover in the shade of a giant mound of fluffy teddy bears, and contemplated the dreadful aisles surrounding me. Not only was pink and purple the color of choice for “girl” marketers, but there was no shortage of classically annoying “feminine” toys, such as household cleaning items like vacuums and, this year’s must have, a girl’s first ironing board. Gee, thanks, Santa.

Boy toys. Not what you think.
Still trippin’ out on the gross girl aisles, I snapped into reporter mode and went to the boy aisles to investigate the marketing strategies for the other half. I guess I wasn’t surprised to find the boy aisles much darker in colors (army green, dark blue, black, silver), but I admit to being somewhat shocked at how competitive and violent boy toys are. There is every kind of fake fighting weapon, sports gear, injury pad and helmet, and action figures that look like steroid mutants with every feature, including fangs, claws, and something called a “berzerker” which enables the fighter to, evidently, go totally crazy in order to beat an opponent when the chips are down. Fight! Kill! Perfect for little boys, doncha think?

Wanna play?
I started to think back to when my brother used to play with G.I. Joe and I played with everyone’s favorite gal pal, Barbie. Then, I never gave much thought about what those two toys symbolized. Until now. I immediately left the fluorescent lights of gender-biased Toyland, and went straight to my computer to do a little toy homework. I discovered that researchers believe G.I. Joe essentially taught boys to be aggressive and dominant, while Barbie conditioned girls to be passive and submissive. In other words, girl toys are made to promote “female” traits (pretty, passive, domestic) and boy toys are made to promote “male” traits (aggressive, violent, rough).

Female gender-biased toys usually promote being domestic-oriented, nurturing and appearance-conscious. Male gender-biased toys usually promote being active, career oriented and logical. In my research, I dug up these 1969 Life ads, which is just awful.

“Because girls dream about being a ballerina, Mattel makes Dancerina—a pink confection in a silk blouse and ruffled tutu. Barbie, a young fashion model, and her friends do the “in” things girls should do like talk about new places to visit, new clothes to wear and new friends to meet.”

“Because boys were born to build and learn, Mattel makes Tog’l—a set of blocks for creative play. Because boys are curious about things big and small, Mattel makes SuperEyes, a telescope that boys can have in one ingenious set of optically engineered lenses and scopes.”

See and Say
Toys aren't just fun and games—they are socializing agents that help mold you into a certain type of person. I loved my Barbie, but I admit I was totally jealous of my brother’s toys. I wanted to play with He-Man, Transformers and G.I. Joe, but my Aunt Trudy and Uncle Tom kept buying me Barbie this and Barbie that. Now I wonder why? Did the bright pink box hypnotize them? Or maybe the glitter spelled out a subliminal message of “buy me!” Probably not. Our society basically starts this “gender-gap” way of thinking from the moment we are wrapped in a pink or blue blanket at the hospital. The bias is enforced from then on by the clothes we wear and the toys we play with.

According to longtime GIRLSITE friend, Dr. Joanna Rosoff, a psychologist (Dr. Joanna has a private practice in Brentwood, CA and specializes in working with teens and their families. She can be reached at (310) 650-1138), toys are a large part of how we learn about the world. “When a child is given a full variety of toys (masculine or feminine), that child explores gender roles that one must explore to facilitate one’s true self,” Dr. Joanna says. “And when adults or other children interact with this play (for positive or negative) it affects the child, their thoughts, beliefs and feelings and ultimately the person who is developing.” So, what she’s saying is that toys totally affect why we are the way we are. To use the aggressive boy toys as an example, researchers believe that while aggression is a part of human nature, violence is a learned behavior, and children learn violent behavior and values by imitation. Plug in the sweetly passive, non-career oriented toys for girls (“values by imitation”) and you start to get why it’s time to challenge this cheesey, old-school toy marketing.

Bang, Bang, Kids Lose
Each year, the Lion & Lamb Project, a not-for-profit organization committed to conscious and healthy toys, reports what it calls “The Dirty Dozen,” which is a list that highlights the 12 most violent toys. One of the winners (I mean, losers) was a toy gun called “Laser Challenge V2.” The V2 is marketed to children as young as eight years old, and to play the game, two children wear special vests, and one child shoots the other in the chest on the vest target using a laser light beam. Lion & Lamb Executive Director, Daphne White, recently told CNN: “You would think that after so many children have been shot running around the streets with real guns, that they wouldn’t make things like this anymore.” Yeah, I would think that, but toy makers obviously don’t.

So why do manufacturers still create violent toys? Senior Brand Manager of Wild Planet Toys, Marybeth Moser, says this: “Maybe there’s a financial opportunity for them. Boys are more aggressive than girls, and some companies choose to encourage that behavior instead of giving them an outlook to use their imagination.” And it doesn’t stop with just fake guns. One study found that 40 of the 47 top video games from Nintendo were violent in nature. Surprise, surprise. The Dirty Dozen lists “Super Street Fighter II: Turbo Revival” (for Game Boy Advance, and though the game is rated “E” for everyone, the box instructions encourages little kids “to wreak havoc on your opponent and become the best street fighter in the world.” According to the directions, special moves involved in playing the game have names such as “psycho crusher,” “devil reverse” and “somersault skull diver.” Children who play the game will hear characters say things like, “My fists will have your blood on them.” One version of the game, called “survival mode,” requires children to kill 100 people without stopping.

What’s more alarming than that is the fact that I could list dozens more examples of violent, hyper competitive or just downright aggressive games and toys for boys on shelves right now.

Girls are gamers, too
As you read this, 19 million girls in the US between the ages of eight and eighteen spend $57 billion of their own money each year…on lots of different things, including games. Despite this figure, the $6.3 billion U.S. video game industry has been in slow-mo to develop a substantial range of products that reflect girls’ interests. This may be due to old misconceptions that girls don’t like to play video games. However, solid research shows that girls are interested in playing. According to a study by the Interactive Digital Software Association, girls make up 43 percent of PC players and 35 percent of console gamers. Another study showed that 74 percent of girls using computers spend time playing games online.

“Super Street Fighter II” sits on the shelf next to other “boy” games like “Madden NFL 2003,” “Dead or Alive 3” and “Need for Speed 2.” It’s obvious that video and computer games like those are targeted to boys, and not girls. How do I know? A surefire way to tell is by the packaging. “Boy” games feature real boys, animated male characters, or explosive coloring on the front of the box. “Girl” games are typically found way down at the other end of the shelf with what the computer game industry calls the “pink” games like “Barbie Fashion Designer,” “Mary-Kate & Ashley Sweet 16” and “The Little Mermaid II: Pinball Frenzy,” (which may be fine for my 10-year-old niece, Macy, but what about older girls like 15-year-Katie?). Once again, girls get the (pretty-in-pink) shaft.

Are you game?
To market to girls, a quick fix idea from video game designers and advertisers was to simply take toys or products originally designed for boys and paint them pink in order to market them to girls. (Yes, more pink.) An early example of this was Ms. Pac-Man—she resembled the traditional Pac-Man in every way, except she wore a pink bow. A more current example is Nintendo's Game Boy, available in bright pink for girls. Wild Planet Toys conducted a color study with 50 girls to decide which colors to use for their Undercover Girl line. The study found that the majority of the girls liked blue, purple and silver more than the stereotypical (and way overplayed) pink. “Most of the girls think that pink means Barbie-like, which means babyish,” says Moser. “Girls are more sophisticated than we thought.” No?! Really?!

What Can You Do?
Considering the misogynist history and current demands, why isn’t there a big rush to make girl games? Or, just make better toys and play products for girls? You’d think marketers and manufacturers would be choking on that $57 billion stat, but progress in gender-based marketing is as slow as an Easy Bake Oven. I don’t have all the answers, especially when it comes to stuff like that barfy pink ironing board for the future disgruntled housewives of America, but for older girls, there’s more hope. With the console competition between the Xbox, GameCube and Sony PlayStation 2, I’m hoping that game makers will create more innovative, and less violent games that appeal to a wider audience.

Now here’s where I sound all smart and collegiate-sounding on you, but bear with me: Because toys and games are a socializing agent, and because this causes gender differentiation, it is absolutely logical to assume that changing the marketing of toys can positively impact gender-role socialization. I did find (after seriously hunting in the toy store) that there is a fair amount of unisex toys, which is definitely on the rise. Some traditional "girl" toys have started to shed gender stereotypes, such as the Harry Potter action figures, games and board games. This shift in gender socialization is a major step toward gender equality. My 15-year-old niece, Katie, offers this philosophy: "Maybe the problem is because we're not playing the “boys” games fighting bad guys or aliens, that's why girls are still fighting for equal rights and equal pay. Maybe if we could take over an entire planet in the cyber world, we could fight some of the smaller battles we face in everyday life."

Exceptions to the toy rules
GirlTech made its debut in 1995, and is dedicated to creating technology enhanced toys that are designed with girls' play patterns, preferences, and concerns, including privacy. In 1999, Girl Tech revolutionized the toy industry with the introduction of a line of breakthrough products for girls, including the Password Journal, which uses voice recognition technology to keep a girl's journal safe from intruders. For more info go to www.girltech.com.

Wild Planet first hit the toy scene in 1993. The company makes innovative products that appeal to both kids and parents. Their products spark the imagination, promote creativity, and provide positive experiences without relying on gratuitous violence. And, they strive to treat both girls and boys with respect. I love their Undercover Girl line, which includes a Mystery Message Kit, Hip Talkies, Secret Listener and a SnoopProof Safe. Check them out at. For more info go to www.wildplanet.com.


Great Games!
The game “Nancy Drew Stay Tuned for Danger” challenges players' problem-solving and analytical skills through participation in a detective story by asking them to find clues and solve puzzles.

Judith Love Cohen's “You Can Be A Woman Engineer” encourages girls to learn about NASA and space exploration, and gives an easy-to-understand introduction to engineering and technology.

The games “Mia Hamm Soccer” and “Mia Hamm Soccer Shootout” are the first women's soccer games on the market. These games give soccer fans a chance to enhance hand-eye coordination and knowledge of the sport.

I hope this report made you as aware (and mad!) as me. What do you think? Let me know your opinion on the topic by e-mailing me at editors@girlsite.org.