The Problem Surrounding the Marketing of Children's Products

I wanted to take this week to respond to some comments I've seen throughout my blog posts, so it doesn't seem as if I'm ignoring you guys. Several of you are wondering why gender stereotyping in toys and clothes is a big problem, so I hope to convince you today that it is. Sure, gender stereotypes aren't as immediately threatening as things like terrorism or racism, but it can be directly threatening in forms of bullying and harassment, as well as ingraining in children (who grow into adults that shape society) gender stereotypes and norms.

Let's start with children. Bullying in schools has recently been addressed as a serious problem, with countless programs like government funded Stop Bullying, Stomp Out Bullying, and the Anti Bullying Campaign, along with countless school-implemented programs starting in Kindergarten in attempts to end bullying before it starts. As a student who attended a school with such a program, our anti-bullying "sessions" typically involved discussion over why these programs aren't preventing bullying as well as we would like.

Anti-bullying education starts (or doesn't) as soon as a child starts socialization; really as soon as they are born. Bullies often pick out those who are different from the rest. By marketing toys as "for boys" and "for girls" we are creating a stereotype, that only boys can play with the toys from the boys' section and only girls can play with those from the girls'. If you don't believe that children and adults adhere so closely to these labels, I challenge you to walk through the toys section of a store for several minutes, and you'll likely overhear some interesting conversations. Just by watching a show I watch every week (called The Return of Superman from KBS), I was able to spot gender stereotyping:

A dad's response to his son saying "I want that one."

You may think this one second interaction is minuscule, harmless. But teaching children what toys they are "allowed" to play with opens the door for bullying; a young boy is playing with a toy another boy's parents just the day before scolded him for expressing interest in, so he feels the need to alienate the boy because of his negative experience. If he's not allowed to play with that toy then neither can any other boy, right? This interaction can easily turn into something far more serious than two boys playing in a classroom. Children aren't the only one's perpetuating the stereotypes, either, adults are often more judgmental than their offspring.

Gender stereotypes don't disappear outside of the classroom. These days it is impossible to be unaware of the gender inequalities in the workplace, mainly with the gender wage gap. Dr Maria do Mar Pereira from the University of Warwick’s Department of Sociology found in her research with Year Eight students that 14 year old boys had acquired the belief that girls should be less intelligent than they are. According to the Human Rights Campaign, only 207 of 636 companies analyzed offer healthcare to Transgender people, simply for identifying with the gender they feel most comfortable with. Even more startling, research from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey shows that 41% of over 6,000 transgender participants (that's 2,644 people) have attempted suicide, with sexual assault as the biggest cause, followed by physical assault, harassment in school, and job loss. Concerning still, only 18 states have laws in place to protect the rights of transgenders, as found by the ACLU. That means that, for example, in any of the remaining 32 states, a transgender person can be fired from their job solely on grounds that they are transgender. Due to this lack of consideration for transgender rights, the National Transgender Discrimination Survey also found that 26% of participants have lost their job due to their identity.

Real people are being threatened on the basis of their identity, threatened by people taught through simple "harmless" actions like labeling toys and clothes by gender. Discrimination based on identity can be lessened through the simple practice of allowing children to explore their interests rather than restricting them to strict gender norms, and we can create a more accepting future for our children. A child is already pressured to make good grades, get involved in the community, and maintain strong relationships, I want my children to grow up without the added pressure of conforming to norms they may not feel fit their needs and interests.

The Horror of Children's Toys

I consider myself to be a fairly family-oriented person; I enjoy spending time with my parents and I am not absolutely turned off at the thought of kids (although not for many, many years). As university students, we don't spend much time shopping for children's toys, so the idea that gender roles and inequality are taught to children from birth not only through their parents, but clothes and toys came as a shock to me. The notion was unreal to me, until I walked through the toy section of Target with it in mind.

There it became glaringly obvious; the big signs denoted which toys are for boys and which are for girls, the abundance of pink packaging in the girls' section contrasting with the overwhelming dark colors in the boys'. It wasn't very hard to observe the discrepancy between the two sections.

Can you tell which Legos are marketed for boys and those for girls?

It is too easy to distinguish between the two sections; within just this one brand, the branding and marketing are entirely different. The girls' packaging is commonly pink with the occasional lilac thrown in the mix, while the boys' packaging is overwhelmingly blue or green. The entire aisle of Star Wars themed toys is black (logically space themed), but with a severe lack of female action figures and toys. Isn't that concerning considering the lead role in the recent Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a girl?

Some people might say, "So what? Boys don't like pink, anyway." And that's where the problem lies. Children learn through a process called socialization which consists mostly of observing others' behavior and copying until the behavior is internalized. So those hilarious moments when a child yells out a curse word in public and the parent sheepishly says, "I don't know where she heard that from," the child is either copying their parent or someone else they observed recently. These awkward moments portray the imperfect nature of socialization; a child easily imitates observed behaviors, but does not necessarily copy them perfectly, or understand the time-sensitivity of most social interactions. 

This is why toys are such a crucial part of child development: toys give children the opportunity to "try on" different social roles and develop creativity and individuality. Baby dolls and playing house allow children to essentially practice for when (and if) they eventually become parents themselves. Legos foster creativity, pretend food and kitchens allow children to practice cooking without making a mess of the real kitchen. 

The current divisiveness of children's toys, however, disallows children to explore social roles and activities that do not conform to the gender norms, even if the child shows interest. Susan Linn, a psychologist at Harvard Medical school in an interview with The Boston Globe claims, "Rigidly gendered toy marketing tells kids who they should be, how they should behave, and what they should be interested in."

Children learn from a young age that boys should be interested in racing cars and battling superheroes against villains and girls should care for children, cook, and play dress up. On top of the push from toy companies, the rigidity is enforced by parents and other adults in society. As seen with Baby Storm, just a simple article about a genderless baby can cause an uproar of resistance from people who are entirely uninvolved in the situation. While I was standing in the toy section of Target, I overheard an alarming amount of adults reprimand a child for showing interest in the "wrong" section of toys. The internalization of rigid gender roles was exemplified by a young girl who ran past the boys' section saying "I can't play with the boys' toys" to her mother trailing behind her.

Not only are these "rules" preventing children from exploring interests and social roles in their time of development and curiosity, they are creating bullying attitudes. When a little girl is caught playing with a toy marketing for boys, it becomes a clear deviance from the social norms children are still in the process of understanding.  At this age, children are aware of common patterns in society, for instance, that the toys with the blue background in the store are made for boys, and in their attempts to emulate the patterns around them, can easily misinterpret or take the norms too far. Author Carrie Goldman explains the thought process of a bully: "[A boy is] just confused or frightened because [he] thinks that girls are only supposed to like dolls and princesses... Schoolchildren may view a boy who likes pink trainers as a threat to what is 'normal'." Children have these rigid gender norms, then go home to parents who unintentionally reinforce their observations.

This is not to say that girls have to race cars and boys must take care of baby dolls, but that children should be given equal opportunity to play with the toys they like. Equal opportunity should not only apply to the workplace, but to play as well.

Why Do We Care So Much About Gender?

If you don't think people are entirely wrapped up in the construct of gender, here is a prime example:

Baby Storm.

(STEVE RUSSELL / TORONTO STAR)

When this article was published in 2011, there was an uproar of criticism against the parents' method of raising their baby. Only a handful of people close to Storm are aware of the baby's biological sex. Storm's sex is not ambiguous, but the family has raised Storm gender neutral, meaning the baby did not receive any strongly gender-biased upbringing-- Storm decide what to play with and what to wear, including things for both traditionally boy and traditionally girl.

Here are some comments left on another article about Storm:

Citing fake symptoms of a psychological disorder-- a classic response.

Another testament to how important gender is: this person needed to bring it up in a hateful comment.

The most common argument against raising a gender neutral child: it will mess the child up.

This idea, as shown through the response to Storm's gender neutrality, is often appalling and difficult to understand. Many questions are raised by these often brash reactions. The main question being: Why is gender so important to us?

Gender, on its own, is socially constructed. This is not to be confused with sex, which is biological and not chosen (although you could say that gender is not particularly chosen either). What does socially constructed mean? To cite my sociology notes from Soc 030:

Social Construction- when groups decide what is "right" and live by, teach, and enforce these rules.

The easiest ways to tell if something is socially constructed is if it changes over time or over place. Take for example gender expectations in the United States. Up until around the 1960's, women were generally expected to remain home and take care of the children while the men provided for the family. That is just one small example, but that is an argument for a different time.

Storm is a perfect example of both how social constructs exist and how they can change. It is important to note here that since the original article in 2011, Storm has chosen to identify as a girl, using the pronouns she/her. Storm is also a perfect example of how harshly we react when such strong social constructs are challenged (similar to basically every rights movement that happened in the 1960's).

The first criticism specifically brought up in the comments of this article (the same article as the above comments) this is taking away the child's right to "embrace their gender" and "rejoice" (from this comment). This idea plays right into the social construct of gender, that there are specific activities, behaviors, clothing, and so forth for each gender. Given the definition provided earlier, wanting to abide by the "rules" of society is a viable viewpoint, since society, as a whole, has created these ideas.

It is also important to mention that up until rather recently, corporal punishment was a widely accepted method of parenting, even acceptable from those who are not related. While corporal punishment is still more present than some would like to see, the idea has become inappropriate to many, has been largely debated, and has undergone change (only 19 states allow corporal punishment in schools). My intention in bringing corporal punishment up, along with the rights movements of the 1960's, is to simply imply that, similar to other situations, a widely accepted belief could turn out to be incorrect, or be revised to better suit a new generation.

One of the most common criticisms is that raising a gender neutral child will "mess up a child" (from the third comment pictured above).

While Storm is only about 5 years old now, she has successfully identified with the gender she feels most comfortable with, and has gained an important lesson very few children have learned: not everyone has to strictly abide to their biological sex.

Jazz, Storm's sister
Steve Russell via Getty Images

Storm's older sister, Jazz, while was not strictly raised gender neutral, was also given the same openness to identify with any gender. Jazz is biologically male, but has identified as female since she was six. These two children alone are able to prove that biological sex does not always align with personal feelings, not to mention the thousands of transgender people who are younger and older, and who have struggled significantly just to identify in the way they feel. Ask Storm, ask Jazz, Caitlyn Jenner, ask any person who has taken the risk to identify with a different gender, and I'm sure they would say they are functioning splendidly (and I sincerely hope are feeling better once they did).

I recognize that some people need to see concrete evidence to be convinced gender neutrality is a good way to raise children, or at least acceptable. Even then, not everyone can easily change their views on such a heated topic, as with the 19 states that still legalize corporal punishment despite evidence that it is associated with increased aggression and antisocial behavior.

I, myself, would like to see results (hopefully) proving that gender really isn't as important to a child's development as we make it out to be. It is only recently that transgenders and gender neutrality have become popular (in the loosest sense of the term), and any empirical study needs a significant number of participants, as well as time and money, in order to create significant results. The studies conducted on corporal punishment were only compiled after 62 years.

While we, as a generation, may not personally be able to witness results of studies on gender and development, it is important to keep an open mind and to remember we are learning along with everyone else as time goes on.

I would love to hear your opinions on this topic, and I'm open to having a conversation if you are feeling up to it!

We've Got Bathroom Issues (No, Not That Kind)

Ever since Caitlyn Jenner openly transitioned in the summer of 2015, awareness has increased surrounding the struggles of transgender men and women. Though there are plenty who support the acceptance of transgenders in our society, there are, as with any previously unseen cultural development, this topic has sparked questions and tension within communities.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RestroomSign.jpg

Bathrooms, as simple and essential as they seem, are at the heart of debate. The friction comes when
it is time to choose which bathrooms to enter. We, understandably, all want to use the bathroom for the gender we identify with. It is as basic as categorizing oneself (though this is ironic in itself, as sometimes categorizing one's gender isn't all too basic, but that's an argument for another time), fitting into the category and assimilating as much as possible to this way of life. 

It comes down to two main arguments: transgenders want to use the bathroom they identify with, while some are stuck on biological sex, and think a person should only use the bathroom of their designated biology (which is yet another gray area for another time).

So why, exactly, is this even a debate? Let's first pinpoint the major arguments against transgender people using the bathroom fitting of their identity.

I'll first take a brief moment to discount a minor argument: it goes against biology. Don't you think transgender people would know a lot about going against biology? For transgender people, they feel as if their own, physical body, does not match their personal feelings, experiences, their own sense of self.

A major concern is that perverts will go into the opposite sex bathroom to peep.

First and foremost, this stems from the idea that all transgender people are also perverts. To make a simple comparison, this is similar to saying that all dogs are brown, or all asians are good at math. Those are clearly generalizations, there are myriad colors dogs' fur can be and a person's ethnicity does not determine intelligence, so how could all transgender people be perverts?

That aside, those who support House Bill 2 (which bans transgenders from using the bathroom of their identity) claim it is mainly to protect women and children from sexual assault. Sexual assault, however, is already against the law, and transgender people (or someone impersonating a transgender woman, as some people hypothesize) would not be an exception to this law. Those who assume a male impersonating a woman would be the one committing assault also neglect to acknowledge that men are also at risk of being sexually assaulted.

Assuming that transgender people are dangerous is also extremely offensive towards trans people, and banning them from using their identified bathroom is a major civil rights violation. This article from NPR goes on to describe that, often, transgenders are often denied access to the bathroom or assaulted, even physically harmed, while attempting to do so. Not using the bathroom can also be harmful to transgender people, as using the identified bathroom is a pivotal aspect of transitioning. Of course, holding it in, due to anxiety about using the bathroom, is harmful to the body.

The most baffling is the idea that transgender people (assumed "perverts") are using the opposite sex bathroom to peep on the anatomy of the opposite sex. While peeping is also against the law, it would already be extremely difficult to accomplish, seeing as the greatest concern is protecting women and children. In my experience, I have not ever seen a woman's anatomy while using the bathroom, unless you count seeing a woman's hands while she washes them in the sink. The general nature of a women's bathroom does not allow for simple "peeping". A person would have to break multiple laws in order to accomplish such a crime. If anything, I would be concerned for men, seeing as men's bathrooms are much more open and less private.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Fakhro_Tower_typical_mens_toilet_-_Feb_2013.jpg 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/39908901@N06/8430470675

This banning of transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice restricts the rights and freedoms of the LGBTQ+ community. As a country that prides itself on liberty and freedom, we should not forbid transgender people from being comfortable in their own bodies.