Popular Culture Review Vol. 4, No. 2, June 1993 | Page 25

Toys for Girls: The New Sexism,
”We Girls Can Do Anything,
Right Barbie?"
For a culture so sanctimonious as to its ostensible concern over
what its children may be exposed to on television, on the movie
screen, and in musical lyrics, there has been shockingly little
attention given to the values implicit in the toys with which
children actively play. Twenty to twenty-five years ago we saw
critical attention paid to child-culture in the form of Action for
Children’s Television, which as of 1993 is to be considered defunct,
and in careful analysis of children's popular culture—consideration
not just of television, but of literature, coloring books, and more (see,
Rachlin and Vogt, Levinson, Key, Weitzman). We saw specific
concern for gender stereotyping and the recognition that
the creators of child-culture play a key role in
shaping the behaviors and attitudes developed by
children.
Thus, rather than simply reflecting
existing societal structures, the media function
critically in the determination of society's future, by
providing the basic models from which children form
their ideas about themselves and others. Popular
culture, then, serves as a vehicle that can be used
either to perpetuate existing stereotypes or to
encourage their abandonment. (Rachlin 549)
These days, however, except for an occasional flurry of tongueclucking at the lack of aesthetic appeal in Garbage-Pail Kids trading
cards or at Bart Simpson's attitude, all's quiet in toyland. And yet,
despite the efforts made over the last quarter century to narrow the
gap between toys for boys and toys for girls, most toys still fall into
clear, traditional gender categories. What was typical of children's
culture then is true now, and best expressed by the sociological adage:
"boys do, girls are" (Key 167). Toy shelves today still feature cars,
trucks, erector sets, military action figures, and tools for boys, and