Toys R Us - Let toys be toys!

[Coach]

I have absolutely zero problem with breaking down gender associations in this way. My only concern is store organization. Are there going to be no signs now for where to find stuff? Same with clothes. Would people have to navigate through the sea of Wal-Mart or whatever trying to find boys or girls clothes?

I foresee confused parents wandering stores endlessly driving themselves insane looking for that specific StarWars figure for their kid. Where was it all along? Stuffed between two Barbies. Makes sense.

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

It's okay. I'm all for letting them advertise all toys to all kids. All things will ultimately get settled in the playground anyway

[To Be Quite Honest]

It's time to put boys in skirts people! Just let it be known that it will be even easier to put their penises into things!

I took my sisters barbie dolls and drove them off the cliff with my ACTION FIGUREs in my Tonka truck. The Barbies would always come back missing heads, legs, arms. Good memories.

I used an easy bake oven, I had a cabbage patch doll, I had lego and I had transformers. Toys are toys and Boys and Girls will use them differently. This means nothing.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Bmuzyka

But when corporate makes this a policy, it means that the stores can't, and the publications can't. Government Legislation isn't the only thing in the world that decides that people and organizations can't do something.

Well that's just part and parcel with their role within the corporation. No GM owns the business, it's not a franchise. They get 0 say in corporate policy.

[Bmuzyka]

Originally Posted by Teh_Bandwagoner

It's okay. I'm all for letting them advertise all toys to all kids. All things will ultimately get settled in the playground anyway

I am just thinking of the Advertisements. Here's one of Tommy and Suzy playing GI Joe, oh and whats this, Debbie and Steve are playing Esthetician.

Next we will get rid of gender specific washrooms in schools, and after that, we can say goodbye to the urinal gentlemen, its just a matter of time that this gender specific device goes the way of the spittoon.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Bmuzyka

I am just thinking of the Advertisements. Here's one of Tommy and Suzy playing GI Joe, oh and whats this, Debbie and Steve are playing Esthetician.

Next we will get rid of gender specific washrooms in schools, and after that, we can say goodbye to the urinal gentlemen, its just a matter of time that this gender specific device goes the way of the spittoon.

Not the craziest slippery slope argument, but definitely an unnecessary one.

[Buff]

Targeting toys is not going to stop this. They have to go after clothes makers, movies, books... darn near everything. A barbie is made for a girl. Its a girl toy. So what if a boy wants to play with it? I'm fine with that, but to go through the effort to change toys is taking it a bit too far. There will always be something else that is terribly wrong with this world that will cause emotional scars on people. You can't make the world perfect, you can make it a better place, but is this something that makes it a better place?

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

Originally Posted by Bmuzyka

I am just thinking of the Advertisements. Here's one of Tommy and Suzy playing GI Joe, oh and whats this, Debbie and Steve are playing Esthetician.

Next we will get rid of gender specific washrooms in schools, and after that, we can say goodbye to the urinal gentlemen, its just a matter of time that this gender specific device goes the way of the spittoon.

Not the urinals! I love urinals

[pylon]

So how far does this go? Once we can make babies in jars do we basically cut off every mans penor and sew shut every women's vag and balance everyones hormones to be exact so we have complete integration and absolutely zero difference between male and female? Because that is where we are headed.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by pylon

So how far does this go? Once we can make babies in jars do we basically cut off every mans penor and sew shut every women's vag and balance everyones hormones to be exact so we have complete integration and absolutely zero difference between male and female? Because that is where we are headed.

It really isn't.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by pylon

So how far does this go? Once we can make babies in jars do we basically cut off every mans penor and sew shut every women's vag and balance everyones hormones to be exact so we have complete integration and absolutely zero difference between male and female? Because that is where we are headed.

And this slippery slope went all the way down the ramp, flew through a flaming hoop, did a triple gainer, jumped the shark and landed in a broken heap on the beach while Potzie laughed.

[The Ditch]

Whenever I want to read the most far right conservative reactions to a news article I'll always pop by here, and I'm never disappointing.

[Ark2]

Originally Posted by The Ditch

Whenever I want to read the most far right conservative reactions to a news article I'll always pop by here, and I'm never disappointing.

CP is a pretty liberal place. I think Pylon's post was in jest.

[You Need a Thneed]

Related, why can't you buy gender neutral clothing items - i.e. ski pants, that could be handed down from girls to boys, etc.

Our first born is a girl, and you have a hard time buying these things that don't have pink on them. Why not a nice navy blue?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by GGG

Why is a GI Joe a boys toy?

Why is a Barbie a girls toy?

Neither has genitals, last I checked.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Ark2

CP is a pretty liberal place. I think Pylon's post was in jest.

It was and it wasn't. I am all for equal rights, gay rights, equality in the work force etc....

However, there seems to be this movement where we are trying to social engineer out, the natural tendencies of boys and girls, and force girls stuff down boys throats, and vice versa. Why not put no kids in the ads, and just show the toy, and let the kids choose for themselves? The fact that I chose Transformers over Barbie had nothing to do with what my parents or anyone else told me. It was because "OMFG, Robot Truck, LAZHOR BASE!11!1!!!"

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Ark2

CP is a pretty liberal place.

All three of us liberals.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by worth

I think there is a serious debate in here somewhere. Our whole society is brought up on the notion of if you are a boy, you do x, if you are a girl, you do y. This goes far beyond toys and I think most people have recognized that you can't paint one gender with one stroke of a brush. I think this is a subject that deserves some serious thought.

I have a 7 yr old boy and a 9 yr old girl. They are different, they are wired different, IMO.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I have a 7 yr old boy and a 9 yr old girl. They are different, they are wired different, IMO.

Of course they are, that doesn't mean that a girl should feel bad about wanting to play with Joe's and a boy should feel bad about wanting a Barbie.

[Ark2]

Originally Posted by pylon

It was and it wasn't. I am all for equal rights, gay rights, equality in the work force etc....

However, there seems to be this movement where we are trying to social engineer out, the natural tendencies of boys and girls, and force girls stuff down boys throats, and vice versa. Why not put no kids in the ads, and just show the toy, and let the kids choose for themselves? The fact that I chose Transformers over Barbie had nothing to do with what my parents or anyone else told me. It was because "OMFG, Robot Truck, LAZHOR BASE!11!1!!!"

I definitely agree that there is a slippery slope argument to be made here. A couple of years ago I read an article about two parents that didn't want to disclose the gender of their second child and they also sent their oldest kid (who was obviously a male) to school wearing dresses. Their argument was that they didn't want to restrict their children with gender roles that stated that dresses are for girls only.

Let's be realistic here, kids need some restrictions. We can argue what those restrictions should be, and toys probably don't need to be one of them, but at some point, common sense has to become a factor. When I was a kid, I would have loved it if I could go to school wearing a tiger mask and superman cape everyday, but making children believe that they can completely disregard social norms and do whatever they want isn't doing them any favours in life.