this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2023
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With my kids, we tend to stick to more gender-neutral toys, wood blocks, that sort of thing. Get a lot of toys from Hapé, that sort of thing.

Went to a kid's birthday party today. Family has 2 boys. Played with the toys in the basement. And jfc, damn near every toys was heavily masc-coded. i swear to god, there was a toy fire engine that had literal muscles on it. Every vehicle had big chunky wheels and seemed to be designed with a certain masculine aesthetic. There was this cop car designed like a tank that shot out discs. Every toy just seemed overly aggressive and bought specifically to signal MY SON IS NOT GAAAAYYY!

Like, I was raised with "boy toys" like Tonka trucks. But those just seemed more like realistic representations of real thing. Even something silly like Transformers, their vehicle forms were like boring-ass sedans and shit. So many toys today seem like they have to crank up the gender coding to 11 (boys and girls); while at the same time there are a ton of toys that aren't problematic at all.

I feel like this says a lot about the social reproduction of gender and capitalism.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

If a TV show for kids does better with a different demo then intended (like a barbie show catches on with boys 6-11 or whatever). They just cancel the show, they don't embrace it. This is from tumblr but its just screenshots, I dunno its market segmentation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Another point to show that capitalism can also be illogical quite frequently, also jesus fuck I hate toy and cartoon companies so much

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

There was this cop car designed like a tank that shot out discs.

Far inferior to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles car that shot pizzas

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

street sharks was rad as hell

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Rumor has it that the Street Sharks were supposed to be the weak first sales pitch for the publisher to shoot down before the writers shared their high-concept ideas, but the publisher just said yes immediately…

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I'd pick up one of the cars and say "These toys are fascistic. Sorry to spoil your 'fun'." But I don't have kids so can't do that joke yet without getting ostracized.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Every toy just seemed overly aggressive and bought specifically to signal MY SON IS NOT GAAAAYYY!

swear to god, there was a toy fire engine that had literal muscles on it

Jokes on them, their gay son is gonna commission some truly weird fire engine art in about twenty years

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

How are conservatives still this oblivious to gay gym rat and bear culture? Big, beefy dudes getting it on is the most maculine thing there is :shrug-outta-hecks:

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yup, toys are weird, parents are freaks, doctors delivering babies that are obsessed with their genitalia are freaks. I was in the bluey section of target with my daughter. Another dad and daughter were there shopping for the daughter's friend's birthday. She was like, "oh, we can get her a bluey toy." and the dad said no that's a boy's toy. The daughter went on to explain that both Bluey and Bingo are girls, and still the dad said it was a boys show.

Sorry for the anecdote, but it was recent and very weird. Still thinking about it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Rectangular character = boy, I guess?!?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Pondering the inherent masculinity of the rectangle

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

So many toys today seem like they have to crank up the gender coding to 11

had literal muscles on it

I find this kind of hilarious because I grew up with He-Man muscled everything, and all of our boomer dads feared that it WOULD turn us all gay.

hehe ........ wait

:thinking-about-it:

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

That's the beauty of original Thomas, it was a bunch of bitchy male trains