Gender-neutrality @ Harrod's

[Diamond]

Sad to say this is nothing new, it has been tried before.  Many times in fact. 

It all comes down really to the parents and how they present it.  I too this day see parents say things to there kids that make me cringe.  It is then repeated by the kids.  I also see them come in and want that pink car seat for there girl irregardless of how safe it is.

Thoth played with trucks and horses, she never liked dolls that much, Polly Pocket yes Barbie to my older sisters dismay not so much.

[Ivaness]

I feel lucky that my son has no issues going down the girl isle. If he sees something he likes, he goes for it. He loves watching My Little Pony, Dora the Explorer, but he loves He-Man and dinosaurs and video games.

Not to mention, my My Little Ponies frequently fight Goombas and Bobombs.

[MnDancer]

Personally, I don't get the need to do this. I'm not opposed to it, but when I was a kid I had absolutely no problem going into the "boys" section and grabbing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle! I owned several of them. I also started buying Star Trek action figures when I was about 12 (I still have my tricorder!) So what's the big deal?

Post Merge: August 13, 2012, 09:43:08 PM

Oh, I do agree that there isa bit too much pink in the girl aisles though, I never understood that either. When I was a kid I went for the aqua and the white ponies, a pink Celestia would have bothered me as a kid enough to not want to buy it when it clearly should be white.

[TraderTif]

Didn't Toys-R-Us try this a few years back?  (I know I read something about it in one of the toy industry magazines.......)  I thought it ultimately hurt their sales, because consumers were more confused about where to locate items and they would give up and shop elsewhere?

[tulagirl]

There is no way to fix something so every person in the world feels happy, included, better intact self esteem or even safe. I mean we need to do this within ourselves.  There is just no way on the planet to serve the masses.  What society needs to do in my opinion is start looking inward for their empowerment and self esteem and sense of belonging regardless of differences they see in themselves.  We need to teach our kids that it is okay for them to go to a certain isle and get what they want.  They have to learn to beat the odds of what makes them different and like themselves for being the orange in the apple cart.  Thats what makes an intact, healthy emotional person.  I personally feel that building self esteem instead of having it done for you has lasting results that will follow you all through life.  I don't expect everyone around me and everything around me to make me feel safe enough to be me. I have to feel safe enough to be me no matter what enviornment I am in.  I say empower the child and leave the store out of the picture.  Free to be me so to speak...all kids need to learn that. 

Its like you are running a hotel and bunch of people come in and say, "change the curtains to blue. Green is ugly."  So the hotel changes the curtains to blue. Then a new crowd comes in and says, "change the curtains to red, blue is ugly." I mean this could go on and on and never end.  I see both sides...I just don't see a solution that will really work.

We have always had issues with sterotyping and the like.  We have always tried to come up with a solution and just about the time we fix one problem we create another one.

[Daiyuflower]

I think it's good that Harrod's is doing this, but on the other hand I also think that gender neutrality is going to be better taught by parents than anyone else.  Having been in Harrod's, I think it is a beautiful store, but I wouldn't want the store values to be the only thing influencing a child. 

I think a child would get spoiled thinking that level of opulence is normal (I mean, a bakery section and popcorn just for dogs?  really??).  I used to live in NYC, and I loved going to FAO Schwarz and other department stores, but the lux factor of Harrod's was jaw-dropping all the same.   

[Zombelina]

Absolutely, we all should learn to be strong on our own.  But no one can exist isolated from social influences, and I don't believe we should have to be strong in spite of our own society. Probably I'm idealistic, but I don't think that's an okay way for things to be, or that it's the way it has to be. 

Social codes and expectations (like gender-roles, gendered toys) still affect even those of us who are aware of them, and they will affect those who aren't aware even more, and I really think that's a problem. We're not separate from our environment, and when that environment channels girls down one aisle and boys down another, that's creating a gendered divide that does have an effect.

Kids (like I was, who yes, was and still is very sensitive and struggles with self esteem) should in my opinion not ever have to be faced with a gendered presentation, like pink aisle/blue aisle, that forces them to make a choice, because they can't grasp that choice, shouldn't have to, and aren't ready for it. It really does make some kids (like me) feel bad, and wrong, and confused despite what our parents have taught us. Why, if mom says I can like anything, is the stuff I like in the "Boys Toys" aisle, when I'm a girl? That is really darn confusing for a kid--it was for me! (And yeah some stores where I live aren't just color-coded but have actual signs that say Girls Toys and Boys Toys!)

Or, putting it another way, what purpose does it serve to split toys by gender? All I can think of, like others have mentioned, is that in reducing "what girls like" to one aisle and "what boys like" to another it makes it apparently easier for people to shop for gifts. And why is that easier for us than to shop by, say, theme? Because our society is dependent on gender-coding... people (and I'm generalizing here, of course there are many of us who go beyond this--but not enough yet!) want a "girl toy" or a "boy toy." They'll look by gender first, not by interest. And I honestly believe this is something we need to change in our society.

Yes, we're all individuals and all different and we should all celebrate it! But we should be empowered to celebrate ourselves as unique human beings not only on a personal level but also an institutional one. If we teach our kids that boys and girls are equal, and they can be whoever they want and play with whatever they want... and then they go to the toy store and actually see that their world is not actually laid out that way after all? I think that isn't right. I guess I really think that for our society to learn not to reduce people to their gender means we need to start rethinking our world from the roots up. Starting, say, in toy stores. 

/stops rambling

[ButtonMasher]

My experience as a kid is similar to Zombelina's. My parents raised me to treat boys and girls the same and not to create stereotypical barriers in my head. My sister and I played together with all kinds of toys regardless of whether they were "boys" or "girls".

But parents' influence on their kids is not absolute. So I always felt like I wasn't allowed to spend any time in the pink aisles even if I REALLY wanted that LPS toy or creepy pregnant Pound Puppy or whatever it was that I was after at the time. I can remember disapproving looks from random parents in the store or staff asking me if I was looking for the GI Joe's and didn't I know they were on the blue aisle over there. Stuff like that. And heaven help me if the new toy I took to show off at school was a fluffy kitten toy or one of my sisters dolls instead of a monster truck or something with guns on (though I loved all that "for boys" junk too). Kids quickly learn what is considered "normal" and "okay" and what is not, no matter how progressive the parents are.

So I think the more desegregation like this that we see "out there", the better. The more kids are exposed to the idea that there is no hard barrier between what is for girls and what is for boys, the more it will take root and carry on into their adult lives. Yes, parents are the best place for the idea to start but if the rest of the world doesn't at least sometimes help the idea along, it stops as soon as kids hit school age.

[starrypawz]

And there are times when companies tell you what's for girls and what's for boys. McDonald's is the best example. Whenever they had two toys, one was for boys, and one was for girls. I remeber my mother being asked at the counter or drive up window if the meals were for boys or girls, and that dictated which toy you got. I sometimes asked for the boy's toy, but it was pretty obviously seperated by gender.

McDonald's toys are a great example of this. Or, you could watch the commercials on TV. Most "cooking sets" (like ice cream makers, Easy Bake, etc) the commercials will strictly have girls in them -- craft kits are like this, too (I don't think I've ever seen a boy in an ad for stick-on gem kits, despite my younger male cousins' fascination with them). Regardless of whether parents are involved in dictating "this is a boy/girl toy", there are still societal messages being sent to our kids.

I like the idea of grouping toys by theme (ie, "fantasy" and "animals", etc). The toys would still be organized in a way that would make them easy to find, without labeling them "girl" or "boy" toys.

I've noticed that. Only adverts for cooking stuff I've seen boys and girls present was when they did the McDonald's themed McFlurry maker and for a chocolate coin maker and a gummy sweet maker.

Also I've noticed most of the 'crafty' stuff unless it's say Crayola markers always seems to be marketed toward girls that and most 'girls' craft stuff is always billed as fashion related like 'make a cute bag' or 'make cute cards' and if you find any kids 'how to draw' books chances are there's one for 'girls' which will have stuff like princesses, baby animals etc but a 'boys' one will be about dinosaurs, spacemen etc.

It's weird as I'm sure a lot of stuff billed as 'for boys' is actually pretty gender neutral in the grand sheme in things. Like dinosaurs I love dinosaurs and several people I went to college with who are female really liked them too.

There's also the thing that for stuff aimed at girls it seems to be 'look how pretty, look how cute' but with boys its 'look how cool, look how fun' type advertising.

I've noticed it on TV. We have CNToo and that seems to be where they broadcast all the 'action' cartoons like Ben10, Transformers, Generator Rex yet in all the logo related stuff (sorry can't think of a proper name, it's when they do the little gags involving the logo) it's always boys. Yet several of these 'action' cartoons feature females as protaganists like Transformers:Prime and Thundercats.

[Tulips]

Lol when I was a kid I was a real tomboy so I avoided the pink aisle like the plague!
It's a shame, I might have succumbed to ponies sooner lol
It's nice to see a store going gender-neutral. I wonder if children's clothing might ever go the same way, I always thought that boys got the best clothes while girls got all the pink frilly stuff, blegh!

[Scraleos]

I think this is a very good idea. My sister has some form of Autism, and she has a weird way of making decisions from it. I take her to the toy shop everytime I go to get ponies usually, and I'll ask her what she wants. She comes across a Ben 10 figure she liked, but wouldn't buy it because she's got it stuck in her head that Ben 10 is for boys and she wasn't allowed it because she was a girl. I tried to explain it didn't matter, but it was a no go. I think if things are set out more gender neutrally it'll be great for kids who have this sort of notion!

[hathorcat]

This is always a hot topic but first off I work in marketing and I can tell you pink and blue aisles are not leaving a toy store near you soon - this is a clever press raising stunt by Harrods. The store has never had out and out girls and boys sections anyway - they are as much a tourist attraction as a toy shop after all - I dont know too many regular Londoners who shop for toys in Harrods!

I dont want to sound too annoyed [] but I must say a comment along the lines of "get ushered into the set roles of each gender very early, and these roles severely limit what we feel is ok to do in life" is a little odd - just because I am a girl and liked girls toys when I grow up I can only 'do girl things' and not break out of 'feminine roles' when I grow up? In its own way that kind of statement is just as gender bias as girl aisles and boy aisles - its implying that unless we can be "gender-neutral" as children we will never be able to "cross gender barriers" when we grow up.

I can assure you in my house it was very much "boy toys" for my little brother and "girl toys for me" - was that my parents and families choice? Probably yes - however as a little girl I didnt want race cars and he-man toys - I wanted Barbie and MLP and I am not afraid to say that. Even now when I can appreciate other toys and think some boys toys are "cool" I dont want to collect them. If I had a child would I force her down the pink aisle and to pick girl toys - no of course not - she could have whichever toy she preferred but at the same time I would probably be more likely to buy her a toy from the pink aisle than the blue if I was choosing myself. I dont think there is any harm in that - am I reinforcing gender type? Maybe, a little - but is it really awful that we think girls cant be girls and boys cant be boys? Its great for kids to understand differences and understand that nothing is stopping them doing what the other sex can do but at the same time I also don't have a problem with their being a demarcation between genders [sometimes]. Male, female, other its what makes us interesting and different. Children should have a choice but as well as that choice to "play with toys for a different gender" they should also be able to choose only toys for "their gender" without the implication that doing so is enforcing 1950s stereotypes.     

Is the pink and blue aisle thing about marketing? Yes, largely its put in place to help guide buyers to obvious purchases - yes there is a lot of pink in girls packaging and a lot of blue in boys packaging. But hey - it works - it wasnt put in place because toy manufacturers got together one day and said "lets set up a gender divide" - that colour divide has been in place since the 1940s [and was originally a clothing colour divide rather than toys]. Why are cartoons of full fat milk in "blue" packets and semi-skimmed milk in "green" and fully skimmed milk in "red" no matter who the manufacturer is?  Its to make purchasing simpler - its a marketing tool thats all but its a helpful and successful one.

Little boys and little girls can and do play together, they share toys, share games and should always mix - but personally I dont have a problem if a little girl wishes to be a girly girl or a tom boy or if a little boy wants a pony or feels the need to only play with his box of toy cars. Kids are kids - educate them well but personally I dont like to assume that only allowing a child to play with girls toys is doing to damage them as a person when they grow up.

Oh and seriously someone needs to point me in the direction of where to buy a McFlurry maker - I NEED THIS

[partypony566]

I couldn't agree more. Sorry I love my dolls, ponies, make up and sparkly princesses. I don't want to play with super heroes, football and guns. I want my pink aisles. If guy wanna shop in the pink aisle that's not a problem but why does it have to be colour neutral? :/

To clarify, no I wasn't 'brainwashed' as a kid or 'damaged' by having a girls section and boy section, one of my favourite toys as a child was Lego Knights castle. However I craved for pink stuff. That's it.

[Zombelina]

I dont want to sound too annoyed [] but I must say a comment along the lines of "get ushered into the set roles of each gender very early, and these roles severely limit what we feel is ok to do in life" is a little odd - just because I am a girl and liked girls toys when I grow up I can only 'do girl things' and not break out of 'feminine roles' when I grow up? In its own way that kind of statement is just as gender bias as girl aisles and boy aisles - its implying that unless we can be "gender-neutral" as children we will never be able to "cross gender barriers" when we grow up.
...
Little boys and little girls can and do play together, they share toys, share games and should always mix - but personally I dont have a problem if a little girl wishes to be a girly girl or a tom boy or if a little boy wants a pony or feels the need to only play with his box of toy cars. Kids are kids - educate them well but personally I dont like to assume that only allowing a child to play with girls toys is doing to damage them as a person when they grow up.

Oh, I absolutely don't think that there's anything wrong with girls preferring the pink aisle/stereotypically female toys. There isn't, at all. I loved my Star Wars action figures, but I loved my Disney Princesses more, and that's just as okay as if it had been the other way round!  Girly girls and boyish girls are both wonderful, just as girly boys and boyish boys are both wonderful. Of course there's nothing wrong with girls being girls or boys being boys--but there's also nothing wrong with the reverse either! And our society does not accept that part very well (especially boys not being boys).

The only problem is when society reinforces to the girly girl (boyish boy) that she is the one who is right/good/correct for liking what she does, and reinforces to the boyish girl (girlish boy) that she is wrong. And one of the ways society reinforces these ideas is through environments like gender-divided toy stores. Children certainly don't have to be gender-netural--they don't even know what that means of course! But I think their environment should be, so that they have the freedom to be themselves, however "girlish" or "boyish" that may be.

Basically, this--

So I think the more desegregation like this that we see "out there", the better. The more kids are exposed to the idea that there is no hard barrier between what is for girls and what is for boys, the more it will take root and carry on into their adult lives. Yes, parents are the best place for the idea to start but if the rest of the world doesn't at least sometimes help the idea along, it stops as soon as kids hit school age.

Gender-coded toy aisles aren't stopping girls from being girls or boys from being boys, and nor should they. (And I do not believe having toys organized by themes rather than gender would stop the girly girls or boyish boys from finding what they liked either, and nor should they.) But the gender-divided aisles can and do stop girls who also have "boyish" interests and boys who also have "girlish" interests. Just from my example and ButtonMasher's: a girl worried to go look at action figures after getting a doll and a boy worried to look at LPS after getting a truck, even though parents say it's okay? That really makes me sad.

I couldn't agree more. Sorry I love my dolls, ponies, make up and sparkly princesses. I don't want to play with super heroes, football and guns. I want my pink aisles. If guy wanna shop in the pink aisle that's not a problem but why does it have to be colour neutral? :/

To clarify, no I wasn't 'brainwashed' as a kid or 'damaged' by having a girls section and boy section, one of my favourite toys as a child was Lego Knights castle. However I craved for pink stuff. That's it.

And that's totally, absolutely okay and should be celebrated! (My favourite color was pink when I was tiny, and hey, it still is!) But I also want the little boy who loves princesses to feel okay too--and it's a lot harder for him to feel okay about himself when the aisle he's standing in says Girls. That's not sending a "celebrate who you are, boy who loves princesses" message--that's sending a "you're out of place, boy who loves princesses" message.

edited to fix a bizarre typo *facepalm*

[Taxel]

If stores made toy aisles gender neutral, that doesn't mean if you love girl toys you'd HAVE to like boy toys or if you like boy toys you'd HAVE to like girl toys. That doesn't make sense in the slightest, and that argument completely baffles me. Is it seriously that offensive to some of you to think about venturing into blue aisles and seeing "boy" toys next to "girl" toys? :/
This sure sounds familiar. . .maybe the word "brony" is related? -cough-

Its okay to be a girly girl and love pink, and its okay to be a boyish boy and love superheroes and sports. Its also okay to be a tomboy and love Hot Wheels or a "girly" boy and love dolls. Just because YOU fit gender stereotypes/don't care/never had a problem with them as a kid doesn't mean such huge and obvious divides between "girl" and "boy" toys doesn't damage kids.

And the fact that people do not want (and seem upset/offended?!) by gender neutral toy aisles is astounding to me. And the amount of people saying its up to a child's parents and only their parents to teach gender equality. That's just insane. Children DO NOT live in a bubble. Unless you're not allowing your child out of your home (which, by the way, is BAD) they WILL have contact with other people. Some of those people WILL enforce gender stereotypes and make little girls feel bad for playing with swords in the mud and little boys feel bad for playing dress up tea party with My Little Ponies. It is literally impossible to keep your child away from gender stereotypes, and while some kids may not really be affected by them, others will be. That's already been proven in this very thread. And the attitude of "its the parents' responsibility to make the child understand genders are equal, not society's! STFU!" is absolutely ridiculous. Yes parents should teach equality, but when society doesn't they can't do a damn thing about it but try and change how society views things like gender equality and stereotypes. But apparently that's terrible and bad and awful?

I'm absolutely stunned by some of these posts. I don't care if its just a stunt or the store isn't serious or "it won't change anything" or whatever. Its the fact that people are literally UPSET about a store making gender neutral toy aisles that blows me away.

As a child, I didn't even notice if aisles were different colors (seriously I've tried to remember so many times, but I can't). I HATED pink and dresses because it was what I was supposed to like. My favorite color alternated between blue and green for many years. I played with Barbies because they were bought for me, but I really wanted Hot Wheels (which I wasn't allowed to have). These days I still don't really like pink, I love pretty dresses/skirts and getting dolled up, my favorite color is yellow, and my room is overflowing with MLPs and dolls. But the memory of being denied those Hot Wheels still hurts a bit when I remember it.

As a mother, (&^(#@ gender stereotypes! #*@#)$ gender separation like that! If my son wants to play with Barbies, My Little Ponies, baby dolls, etc when he's old enough to actually have an opinion about that, good for him! If my future daughter loves sports and hates Barbies, good for her! If one of my future kids likes whatever toys are "for" their gender, good for them! I'll buy my kid what they like, and I won't try and force-feed pink aisle toys to a girl or blue aisle toys to a boy. If they don't like those toys, I will not buy them those toys. When I was a kid it made me feel so unloved and unimportant when I was given a toy I hated for Christmas while my cousins all got the same toy I actually wanted. I will never contribute to my children feeling that way, to the best of my ability, because I know what an awful feeling it is.

All "you"s are general and directed at no one in particular.