Those categories mean things to some people. Removing search refining tools is never helpful to the user.
Don’t like the categories? Don’t use them!
Like the categories? Use them!
3 Likes
It will prevent people seeking toys from going with the cop out “They’re a girl, they must want a girl’s toy, so I’ll just pick something from the girl’s category” and force them to choose something based on the kid’s actual interests, or if these are an unknown variable to experiment across a broad range and find something the kid will genuinely enjoy. In addition, it’ll prevent the influence these categories have on the kids themselves; “I must not be allowed to like cooking because I’m a boy and that cooking thing is a girl’s toy.”
It’s not about avoiding upsetting people, it’s about avoiding encouraging parents to artificially restrict the selection of interests their kids can pursue by slapping a gender label on the toy that isn’t actually particularly meaningful, and preventing kids from throowing away their passions because of rules of thumb. Rules based on arbitrary social attitudes rather than any actual difference between boys and girls at that age.
10 Likes
We need gender neutral term for dolls (well, I realize dolls is gender neutral, but it’s loaded at this point). The toy industry made such an effort to make dolls acceptable to boys by coming up with “action figures” that it’s going to take an equal about of effort to ungender them.
1 Like
Amazon.co.uk hasn’t used ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ categories for toys for some time. UK shoppers seem to be managing to find stuff just fine. UK research showed under half online toy retailers used gender as a navigation option for toys, a 45% reduction over 2 yrs. http://www.lettoysbetoys.org.uk/online-retailers-less-sexist-this-christmas/
4 Likes
Yeah, cool as this is, I don’t think it’s going to go far in undoing decades of gendered marketing. People still associate certain toys with girls and others with boys (there’s even color-coding that companies use to indoctrinate children). This isn’t even a baby step. It’s more like the tread of an ant.
1 Like
The problem is that one of the things it means to some people is, “You can’t have this toy that you really want, because girls/boys don’t play with science/cooking.”
5 Likes
Agreed, there should be one category: dolls. That could then be broken down into Action Dolls, Fashion Dolls, and Baby Dolls.
2 Likes
Back when American Girl was still run by the founder, the emphasis was on the dolls from specific time periods, and what their lives were like. Westward Ho days, daughter of a former slave, during a World War, the Depression, etc. So would they be considered action dolls? (I would say yes, obviously.)
2 Likes
As a child-free person, I LOVE having toys categorized by suggested age. I sometimes need/want to buy a gift for a kid, but I have next to no idea what age different toys might be appropriate for (especially toys that weren’t around when I was a kid). I don’t want to get a little one something they will have to wait years to grow into to enjoy or something that they’ve probably moved past. Yeah, kids you’re close to you might know what they might be into without the help. But buying for kids you are less informed about, if you have at least the age guidelines to sort by it’s easier to find some things that might be good choices or steer clear of things that aren’t.
2 Likes
I don’t think they’re necessarily the same. I think it would make better sense to categorize the dolls more by styles of the dolls and the way you would play with them. If a child is into dressing up their dolls, a Spiderman action figure’s not going to cut it. If a child wants to stage an intergalactic army battle, a pretty squishy baby doll’s not going to be a good choice. I’m thinking more descriptive options based on the kind of things you do with them like “fashion/dress up”, “adventure”, “let’s play house”, or “let’s cuddle”, or by the way the dolls themselves are made "talking dolls, “soft body dolls”, “hard plastic dolls”, “weapons/fighting dolls” etc.
1 Like
It seems like it would be most beneficial to helping some cool toys that aren’t really traditionally either gender find their way into more homes where they will be enjoyed. Things that don’t fit neatly into the pink and blue aisle schematic could get more attention this way. I don’t see it making a ton of difference on the things with the very strongest gender roles attached to them. No, because it’s not labeled as a “girl toy” anymore doesn’t mean that suddenly tons of Dads who wouldn’t have bought it before would now be cool with buying their sons a Barbie doll. Because it’s not labeled a “boy toy” anymore doesn’t mean that tons of little girls will likely be receiving a toy tank who wouldn’t have back when it was sortable by gender. If you had a strong opinion about those strongly gender-associated things, the lack of being able to sort that way as a top-tier option is not going to change your mind. But by not automatically funneling you into a pink aisle or blue aisle, things that aren’t really necessarily so heavily associated with gender like nerf guns or legos or lincoln logs or a spirograph might get more consideration.
Calm down. I know change is difficult, but it is inevitable. Things will be okay. You will still be able to find toys for your grandkids on Amazon. I promise. Just take it easy.
2 Likes
I agree with what you say in the context of a toy store, where kids are most likely to browse toys. I don’t know, and maybe some boinger parents can weigh in, but I’d be surprised if kids browse Amazon that much for toys.
I also understand what you’re saying about limiting selection for a parent or child but in my view it’s an important lesson for a parent to teach their child that it doesn’t matter what someone else says you should or can do, that’s up to you to decide. If you instill that lesson then the kids will decide for themselves what they want to play with and also maybe be able to see through the gendered marketing bullshit.
I get it but those people are shit parents.
…because I sound extremely angry and everything.
Kids get Amazon gift cards as gifts from older relatives.
2 Likes
Children go through stages. LOTS and LOTS of stages. At the age where they are first trying to figure out who they are, they are hundreds of stages too young to understand things like fighting the Man and making consumer choices based on personal self-awareness. By the time they are old enough to comprehend, they’ve had a decade of socialization against their self-interest.
4 Likes
Heh. Are you sure about that? You are being unreasonable. But you also missed the joke…
1 Like
I didn’t!
1 Like
Or just get rid of dolls altogether. Dolls are stupid. They never have laser guns or robot arms or anything.
