Via various people I have discovered this post in which the words used to describe toys marketed to boys are compared to the words used to describe toys marketed to girls. (For those of you immediately asking questions, “marketed to” is defined as being in the “boys’ section” or “girls’ section” of the Toys R Us catalog — see the original post for more details on the methodology.) The data is presented as wordles. Here are the results.
Words used to describe toys marketed to boys. See full size at Wordle.
Words used to describe toys marketed to girls. See full size at Wordle.
And this, of course, is why people think it is entirely natural and right to schedule program items about military SF against program items about feminism.
Perfect example of how gender social roles are hammered in early.
Thanks for posting!
So frustrating. As is shopping with a child of each gender!
That’s just appalling.
That’s the first time I’ve ever seen something useful done with Wordle.
*snort* Oddly enough, when they’re older those boys will be bombarded with ads that use the words “girl”, “party”, “talk, “fun” and “friendship”.
How exactly like the 50s. My gender-role-anxious parents refused to allow me to play with trains (later denying chemistry sets) lest I become confused about my inner frilliness, insisting on dolls only. What happened? I punched holes in the ends of the doll boxes and tied them together with string, seated the dolls upright in the boxes and dragged the whole thing around the house, playing the role of engine myself. A train! Full of people! Going places!
When I was ten, a male friend distressed both sets of parents by wishing to play with my Barbie dolls. Why? I had the convertible. A car! Full of people! Going places!
Tourism apparently trumps gender marketing. Or perhaps our mutant brains only picked out the words “adventure,” “pleasure,” “rapid,” “transit.”
I had hoped that things would be different by now, however.