Toys R Us sued for gender discrimination

[netrox]

Hear this... Toy R Us is being sued by *kids* saying that their advertisement promotes gender discrimination! Honestly, what is wrong with traditional gender roles!?!?!

"US-based toy retailer Toys"R"Us has been reprimanded for gender discrimination following a complaint filed by a group of Swedish sixth graders about the store’s 2008 Christmas catalogue.

Last winter, a sixth grade class at Gustavslund school in Växjö in south central Sweden reported Toys"R"Us to the Reklamombudsmannen (Ro), a self-regulatory agency which polices marketing and advertising communications in Sweden to ensure they are in line with guidelines set out by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)."

Toys"R"Us scolded for gender discrimination - The Local

 

[sallylou]

Gender roles are stifling. I was lucky enough to grow up with a brother and have plenty of access to "boy" stuff. Kids who have access to all kinds of toys and activities are better adjusted. It's also better for kids to play in coed groups instead of gender segregated groups. At least until adolescence when hormones are raging.

 

[deafskeptic]

Gender roles are stifling. I was lucky enough to grow up with a brother and have plenty of access to "boy" stuff. Kids who have access to all kinds of toys and activities are better adjusted. It's also better for kids to play in coed groups instead of gender segregated groups. At least until adolescence when hormones are raging.

Speaking for me, I've never owned a barbie doll. I was into Batman and Robin - not Barbie. When Emergency! was poplar, I got action figures and a fire truck for xmas. I've owned a Six Million Dollar Man figure.

I also loved stuffed animals as well.

 

[Loghead]

My parents never did the "that's for girls" thing when it came to toys. When I was 4 or 5, I wanted a play kitchen for Christmas. And I got one. When I was around 7, I wanted one of those stupid robotic dogs that barely worked (it was more for girls). I got one.

My mom is an ECE, and she always gets mad when she hears about parents not letting their 2 year old boy continue playing with a doll. As she says, "It won't make them gay."

 

[sallylou]

Loghead, my boys got to play with whatever they wanted, too. When they were young, they loved to take their doll into the bath with them. I had them bath the doll while I bathed them. It's hard to wash squiggily boys!

 

[CJB]

Hear this... Toy R Us is being sued by *kids* saying that their advertisement promotes gender discrimination! Honestly, what is wrong with traditional gender roles!?!?!

Children are forced to limit their likes and dislikes. Transgendered people (like me, for example) are forced to be someone they're not.

 

[jillio]

Gender roles are stifling. I was lucky enough to grow up with a brother and have plenty of access to "boy" stuff. Kids who have access to all kinds of toys and activities are better adjusted. It's also better for kids to play in coed groups instead of gender segregated groups. At least until adolescence when hormones are raging.

Agreed. And earlier exposure to co-ed groups will moderate some of the behavior that goes with the "raging hormones" by providing a degree of empathy.

 

[netrox]

Children are forced to limit their likes and dislikes. Transgendered people (like me, for example) are forced to be someone they're not.

I was never forced to like or dislike toys. My parents were open and I never liked Barbie anyway but I did held Lamby Pie stuffed animal for a couple of years. Boy, I loved Lamby Pie! Here's a pic of my lamby pies (the smaller one was my favorite)

CJB, the reality is that you are NOT the norm. You are not like most boys. If you are upset that you were "forced", your parents should be the one to be blamed. After all, you called yourself "transgendered" which is a deviation of a traditional gender role.

 

[CJB]

I was never forced to like or dislike toys. My parents were open and I never liked Barbie anyway but I did held Lamby Pie stuffed animal for a couple of years. Boy, I loved Lamby Pie! Here's a pic of my lamby pies (the smaller one was my favorite)

If your parents didn't force you one way or the other, then they didn't raise you with traditional gender roles. Toy stores are a prime example of gender policing. The first thing the store person asks you is "Is it a boy or a girl?" before proceeding to bring you to "relevant" sections.

CJB, the reality is that you are NOT the norm. You are not like most boys. If you are upset that you were "forced", your parents should be the one to be blamed. After all, you called yourself "transgendered" which is a deviation of a traditional gender role.

I know I'm not the norm, but I'm just one of the people who doesn't fit in by "a lot". Most people aren't 100% masculine or 100% feminine, so there are who knows how many people out there who don't fit in by "a little". Even your average girly girl or macho guy likes a few things on the other end of the spectrum. Why suppress that?

As for my parents, they are like so many other parents that constantly send messages, whether subtle or blatant, to their children on how to act like a boy or a girl, and consequently represent a much larger cultural phenomenon.

 

[netrox]

As for my parents, they are like so many other parents that constantly send messages, whether subtle or blatant, to their children on how to act like a boy or a girl, and consequently represent a much larger cultural phenomenon.

Hahaha, you know, conservatives already complain that companies are being forced to be "neutral" and be politically correct when it comes to gender because they want the stores to enforce the traditional gender roles. And they say that people like you are ruining this country by confusing their gender roles.

 

[CJB]

Hahaha, you know, conservatives already complain that companies are being forced to be "neutral" and be politically correct when it comes to gender because they want the stores to enforce the traditional gender roles. And they say that people like you are ruining this country by confusing their gender roles.

Yep, I'm ruining this country! Tearing happy heterosexual gender-role-abiding couples apart! Fear the CJB!

 

[Steel X]

Well Toys R Us is going bankrupt, aren't they?

 

[DURAY]

Most of the staff at Toys R Us I went to are female. Those Swedish kids needs to go to their own stores and see toys break down by gender, class, race and disability.

 

[shel90]

This is silly. It is the parents' responsibility to teach gender identity or expose their children to both kinds of toys not the store.

 

[Reba]

I was a child of the 50's and 60's. I had baby dolls, stuffed animals, Barbies, toy pistols and rifles, doll house, science stuff from Radio Shack, art supplies, games, penknife, etc. My brother had GI Joes but I played with them, too. I got all the "girly" toys but I got plenty of the "boy" stuff, too. My parents got me things that I was interested in, regardless of the "label." It didn't require a law suit.

 

[Foxrac]

I was a child of the 50's and 60's. I had baby dolls, stuffed animals, Barbies, toy pistols and rifles, doll house, science stuff from Radio Shack, art supplies, games, penknife, etc. My brother had GI Joes but I played with them, too. I got all the "girly" toys but I got plenty of the "boy" stuff, too. My parents got me things that I was interested in, regardless of the "label." It didn't require a law suit.

Did you found any soviet toys, cold war era?

 

[Foxrac]

I did played Barbie dolls in late 1980's until early 2000's, along with Hot Wheel, Playmobil and some Lego.

Gender isn't matters when come with toys.

 

[Reba]

Did you found any soviet toys, cold war era?

What do you mean? Toys that were made in USSR? Or American toys that depicted USSR things?

 

[Foxrac]

What do you mean? Toys that were made in USSR? Or American toys that depicted USSR things?

I was just messing, I just means if you have any soviet toys.

 

[KarissaMann05]

... According to the youngsters, the Toys"R"Us Christmas catalogue featured “outdated gender roles because boys and girls were shown playing with different types of toys, whereby the boys were portrayed as active and the girls as passive”, ...

I disagreed. Traditional gender roles don't have to be knight and/or princess. I remember I was a child and I had various Barbies; tomboys, karate, singers, action stuff, motherhood, cookers, and etc etc. I had some boy-like toys, too. Like, water-guns, a few soldier stuff, dinosaurs, and others that I don't remember. I used to have lion king toys when I was a huge fan of the Lion King. Hell, I once got a Barbie-like Mulan doll and, she's not even a passive woman because she is a soldier and tough one!