If you go to any high street shop now days, or even search on the internet for girls toys, you will inevitably be inundated with prams, babies, cookery items, beauty products and the like.
I have recently had a discussion on Facebook about girls toys and how they promote being 3 things; a mother, a house wife or a whore. Every time this “issue” gets mentioned, almost everyone literally jumps at the chance to call me a dick and tell me that I am wrong, but lets take a few minutes to have a look.
Lets look at the definition of a whore. To quote dictionary.com “a woman who engages in promiscuous sexual intercourse, usually for money; prostitute; harlot; strumpet”. Now we know the definition of a whore, lets think about what the modern day whore might wear. At a rough guess she would wear a very short skirt and a revealing top. If you really need a visual helper check the photo below.
Photo from http://www.inquisitr.com/25563/man-calls-a-prostitute-his-own-daughter-shows-up-dbp/
We have established above the definition of a whore and what a whore dresses like. If we now apply what we have learnt to a Mattel product, Bling Barbie, would you consider her to be promoting “whorishness” (not that I think that’s a real word, but lets pretend for now that it is!)? I certainly would, and I would deny my daughter, Chloe, any access to such a product, simply because of that reason.
Image from - http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B000A7S596/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_all
Lets look at another word; Housewife. Again to quote dictionary.com “a woman, typically a married woman, who keeps house, usually without having paid employment”. If we break apart the quote and explain it some more it will easier to understand the meaning of “housewife”.
“A married woman, who keeps house.” If you look at that sentence alone, it literally tells us that, first it must be a woman and secondly they tidy up, they clean up, they make the house nice and presentable for the rest of the family, be it a husband and or kids.
“Usually with out having paid employment.” This tells us that it is the general norm for a “housewife” to be at home, keeping the house, without any financial contribution to the household. O.K. fair enough, if the husband doesn’t mind it, then why not? Well there’s the problem, why would a woman want to give up their life and dedicate it to cleaning or making their house pleasant? Where is the satisfaction in that? Going out and getting a job is a much more satisfying thing to be doing. It also makes you a productive member of society who actually contributes towards it!
“So?”, I hear you ask, “What’s that got to do with toys?”. Again, take a look at my first paragraph. Girls are inundated with toys that represent cooking, cleaning and the like.
My original point is that girls toys are all about promoting those 3 things; mothering, a house wife or a whore. I’m not going to bother to go into “mothering” as dolls and mechanical babies really infuriate me and by this point you are probably thinking that I have been talking for quite a long time! Well you’re right.
I am sick and tired of living a society where girls toys promote being a mother, a housewife or a whore. Why isn’t there a telescope with a picture of a girl looking through it? Why isn’t there an RC car with a girl playing it? Why is the astronaut costume got a boy in it? Why cant there be a photo of a girl shooting a boy with a Nerf gun in the advertisement? I want to inspire my daughter to be more than a mother, more than a housewife and more than a whore. Yes it’s her life and ultimately its up to her what she does when she leaves this home, but for now, I will not be letting her have any toys that reinforce an outdated concept about women, how they should act or what they should look like.
People think that toys do not influence our decisions later in life. There are countless stories in the papers, on tv and on the internet about people being inspired as children by their toys and later in life becoming a huge success and fair play to them too. This is the reason why I am careful with what toys I let my children play with. Toys are designed to stimulate and teach the child, to help them prepare to be accepted into society as they get older. To make a brighter and better society, we need to think about how our children are brought up and with with influences in their life.
If you think that I am wrong and that these toys that I have mentioned do not in any way promote what I have suggested, then please enlighten me in the comments below.
