Who remembers the adorable video of the ranting little girl, who took on the marketing of children's toys by saying that it's not fair that they only show photos of girls playing with pink and dolls while boys get to play with action figures and other colors? It was a hysterical video but a point well made. Why can't little girls play with action figures, anyway? Now a toy catalog in Sweden has taken her advice to heart and released new marketing pages that show girls playing with trucks in the boy's section and boys playing with doll's in the girl's section.
Read more ¿Qué más? Hide the kids! The 6 most obnoxious toys on the planet.
I'm really impressed by the pages that show a boy dressed up as Spiderman and posing with a baby carriage on predominantly pink pages of girls playing with dolls while the green boy pages show lots of tractors, skateboards and boys digging with a girl also riding one of the toy cars. I'm impressed because it's not easy to bend gender stereotypes in today's society. I mean, you only have to read about "man waxing" to see how we're still not used to going far from our traditional definitions of man and woman.
But as the little girl's rant pointed out, what is WRONG with a little girl enjoying playing with action figures? Why do girls only get to play with pink dolls? If a child wants to play with a toy, they want to play with that toy.
It's hard to go against gender stereotypes in our traditional Latino households, though. I know my dad would blow a fuse if I let my (future) son play with a doll. It will be hard to make him understand why my (not-yet-conceived) little girl is allowed to play with monster trucks. But it's a conversation that I know I will have to have because I applaud anyone who realizes that gender stereotypes are just that: stereotypes. I don't need my daughter only playing with pink toys any more than I need my husband to be hairy to prove their gender to me. I'll let my kids play with any toy that they want—even if it's not the way kids have played with those toys in the past. And in the meantime, I'll have my father watch this video.
Embedded content: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srnaXW9ZgZc
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Would you ever let your son play with dolls or your daughter play with action figures?
Image via Leklust Toy Cataloge
