RETH
EDUCAT
E D I T E D BY A N N P E L 0
Contents
Introduction: Embracing Social Justice in Early Clzildhood Education
by Ant2 Pelo
Language Matters
by Atzn Pelo
Part One: Prioritize anti-bias, culturally sensitive teaching and learning.
What Color Is Beautiful?
by Alejandro Segura-Mora
Why an Anti-Bias Curriculum?
by Louise Derman-Sparks
Develop~nentalThemes, Tasks, and Goals in Anti-Bias Work
by Margie Carter and Deb Curtis
Raising Issues of Race with Young Children
by Rita Tenorio
Using Persona Dolls to Help Children Develop Anti-Bias Attitudes
by Trisha Whitney
Miles of Aisles of Sexism: Helping Students Investigate Toy Stores
by Sudie Hofinann
Where Are the Game Girls?
by A n n Pelo
Rethinking 'The Three Little Pigs'
by Ellen Wolpert
What If All the Kids Are White?:
Anti-Bias Themes for Teaching Young Children
by Louise Del-nzan-Sparks and Patricia Ramsey
Unwrappiilg the Holidays: Reflectioils on a Difficult First Year
by Dale Weiss
Part Two: Make ample time forplay and exploration.
The Scripted Prescription: A Cure for Childhood
by Peter Campbell
Miles o
Sexism
Helping Students Investigate Toy Stores
'ou sure wouldn't know our society has
experienced almost 40 years of significant
changes in the area of gender equity in
education after a trip to the mall.
Toy stores are stubbornly resistant to change
and remain entrenched in sex-role stereotypes
and the unabashed glorification of war. Boys are
still blasting, crushing, striking, and pulverizing
their way through playtime. And girls are cleaning, diapering, and primping through theirs.
Unfortunately, toy stores continue to support
levels of male and female gender bias not unlike
what we saw before Title IX was passed in 1972.
The aisles of girl toys are designated with pale
pink letters and the names of the girl toys are in
oval signs framed in purple or pink. The boys'
aisles are marked with green letters or blue
frames-even today in Toys 'R' Us, one of the
nation's leading toy stores. And in many stores,
child-sized Dirt Devils and Easy Bake Ovens
crowd the girls' department and plastic power
tools fill the boys'.
Some say corporations are just giving consumers what they want by providing friends and
family with the products that will put smiles on
kids' faces at weekend birthday parties. Yes,
trendy toys and gadgets reflect societal values,
habits, and the quest for stimulation. But let's
look at the long-term messages that are sent to
kids. Are toys providing innocent fun, or are children being socialized in ways that could ultimately influence career and life choices? Are boys
encouraged to demonstrate power and control
during playti~neby simulating violence and war?
In 2005, I attempted to answer these questions.
I started by talung a look around Wal-Mart, Target,
Kaybee Toys, and Toys 'K' Us to consider the possible effects of gender-based toys. I came up with severa1 areas of concentration such as gender
segregation, career-related toys, militarisn~,arld
themes in packagi~lgsuch as color usage and
marketing language. After completing my investigation, 1 designed an exercise that
reqiiired my students in a universi
gender issues course to explore a local
toy store and report back to the class.
Investigating Stores
A visit to several chain toy stores at
the Mall of h l ~ e r i c aand suburban
shopping centers in the Minneapolis1
St. Paul metro area taught me a powerful
lesson about how toy manufacturers
operate. 1 began by recording the categories of toys in the girls' and boys' sections. The boys' section was dominated
by weaponry. Using Myriam Miedzian's powerfill criticlue included in
her 1991 book Boys Will Re Boys: Breaking the Link
13etweel.l M~zsclrlinity and Violence, I observed that
boys' toys have become even more "lethal" since
1991. But nluch of the language used on the packaging now justifies the use of force or violence in
the name of being a "peace keeper," conlpleting a
"mission," or beillg a "superior defender.'' The
text used on the war toys Miedzian observed was
honest about being the aggressors. The Rambo 81
min Mortar Thunder-Tube Assault, on the other
hand, declares the "army will stop at nothing to
co~itrolthe world" and the motto for the Rampage Transformer is "those who conquer act;
those who are corlquered think." Madison Avenue
now encourages violence during playtime in the
name of peace and justice.
The colors comn~onlyused o n the packaging
are black, red, and deep yellow to provide images
of flames. Jagged letters suggest Iightning, the icon
for speed and power.
30
RETHINICIVG EAIILY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Words such as "bashing," "lucking," "deadly,"
and "assauilt" are standard fare used to prolnote
these children's toys. Toys such as Power Brutes, Battle Arena, and Big Brother (whose box states, "Get
Ready for the Real Conti-ontation") can be purchased at just ahout any discount or toy store.
Kaybee Toys coml~~itted
more than one third of
one aisle to Power Team Elite, mailufactured by
Hong Kong-based M&C Toy Centre; featured were
about two dozen action figures with guns, scopes,
grenades, Hurnvees, and an A-F Con~bat
Helicopter. These toys offer children a
particular perspective: Patriotism and
superiority are the ultimate goals, and
aggression and training for war are justified through a si~nplisticlens of "us"
versus "them."
In addition to the war toys, the
inale area offers word games, chess,
and other challenging board games. Boysand presumably their dads -are proininently featured on the boxes of l'avilion's
Backgammon and Chess 'reacher. Planetariurns, globes, interactive world maps,
atlases, 3-D Dino Adventure, Legos, science kits, and GeoGenii~s fill the
shelves.
I tried to find one female-child or adult-on
any of the many science kits at Toys 'K' Us. I thought
my research results would look a bit questionable
if, in 2005, I clainled that nor one female appeared
on any of the science kits. I was deternlined to find
at least one. I found a srnall plastic chair and
attempted to reach the top shelf to see if that very
last science l i t would. have a female on it. A friendly
-albeit skeptical-store
clerk aslied if 1 needed
assistance. I told him about 11ly research and he
brought the box down. For one joyous nionlellt I
thought I had found a female. Alas, it was not to be.
The boy on the back panel just had long hair.
The girls' area, or should we say fantasyland, is
well-stocked with vanity mirrors, combs, brushes,
nail kits, makeup, and polyester hair extensions.
The focus is on being popular with boys. The
shelves are overflowing with Mattel Barbies and
endless paraphernalia, i~lcludingBarbie's scalr, set
at one weight: 110 pounds.
Shopping is a focus of many of the girl toys such
as Lil Bratz Fashion Mall, which warns girls, "Don't
forget to stop at the malzeup shop." Packages provide fashion advice and tips about how to be trendy
and get noticed. Crowns, pompoms, and phones in
lavender and pink hang on the separate carousels
near the small, upholstered furniture. Juinp ropes,
umbrellas, tea sets, and sticker books are in abundance. Unlike the colors used on the panels of the
boys' toys, pastels reign here. The edges of the letters
are smooth and an i or a t is dotted or crossed with
a heart, butterfly, or star. Glitter is on everythingfi-om the pacl<aging to the product itself. The copy
usually includes words such as "lutten," "princess,"
"fairy," "precious," "wish," "dream," and "wonder."
The girls' section does not have many board
games that stimulate creative thinlung or require
higher-order reasoning. It has bingo and simple
activities such as coloring boolts and car or travel
games. Although the female area appears to be a
pinlc fantasyland, the dream soon ends. After getting the guy, by playing Milton Bradley's Mystery
Date or through sheer vanity and competition,
the girls get the brooms, mops, vacuums,
diapers, and plastic food. And they are smiling in every packaging photo.
Boys are iloticeably absent fro111any of the
advertisements, promotions, store posters, or
packaging for toy household cleaning products, kitchen items, or d~ildcaretoys such as
baby dolls and strollers. The product lines do
not model social acceptance for boys to play
homemalung or parenting.
When young boys engage in dress up, pile on
the necldaces, enjoy painting their nails, or select
other girl toys, cultural norms or homophobia
often correct the behavior immediately. In fact, in
Fisher Price Playlab studies where staff members
observed children behind one-way glass, they
fouild that boys will play with "girl" toys if they
tllink they are in a safe environment.
My students frequently offer supporting evideilce about boys crossing these gender lines, from
their part-time jobs at after-school programs. They
believe that young boys relish the chance to get their
nails painted and have their hair styled when girls
are doing it as a special activity. As one student told
my class recently, "I think boys just like the closeness
of being with a staff member, being touched while
we paint their nails, and talking with us." Perhaps it
is the tactile, calming aspect of this activity that
draws boys and girls to it. However, sex roles are
reinforced very early in boys' lives, and toys play a
part in that socialization.
Jackson Katz in TougI7 Guise: Violerice, Media
and tlze Crisis it1 Masculinity, a Media Education
Foundation video, explores the ways boys are taught
to be tough and how they're eilcouraged to define
manhood in ways that hurt themselves and others.
Katz provides an insightful analysis about how boys
are socialized to be solitary, independent, and often
violent through toys, video games, and Holly~vood
movies. According to Katz, the cultural message is
that emotional connections are for sissies. Beyond
the obvious problems of violeilce and aggression
that many of the toys engender, even the sciencebased toys are solitary and don't present opportunities for verbal or social development.
Packaging hints at being the best or creating and buildiilg superior inodels or
designs. There is little evidence that toys
help boys in social and enlotioilal development or in Katz's words, help boys to be
"better men" some day.
Toys for girls implicitly urge thein to
find husbands in order to get their dream
lives. Girls are taught to compete with
each other for male validation. One
makeup kit states, "Wait 'ti1 they see you."
Female rivalries, jealousies, and other negative behaviors such as bullying and llarassnlent
pose a host of problems for girls. Yet girls' toys
promote unattainable physical perfection and
materialistic values. Mary Pipher, author of
Reviving Oplzelia, a groundbreaking book about
the emotional lives of adolescent girls, including
depression, eating disorders, and declining selfconfidence, refers to contemporary society as a "girl
poisoning culture" and offers many empowering
approaches for addressing issues of self-esteem. The
toys available to girls typically strengthen the cultural messages of inferiority and second.-class status
that have influenced and continue to affect selfimage and academic performance for lllaily girls.
Most women work because they have to, and
girls should be aware of this fact early on in their
lives. According to the Ms. Foundation for Women,
woinen make on average 77 cents to a man's dollar,
and the disparity is worse for African American
women, who earl1 62 cents, and Latinas, who earn
53 cents. Nearly 10.5 million women are single parents (as conlpared with 2.5 million single fathers).
Economic self-sufl?ciency and a sound understanding of nloney are essential for girls and boys. But it's
hard to get even a glimpse of that reality in the fantasyland of toy stores.
Action Research for Students
After completing my own toy store research, I
designed an exercise for my students where they
navigated a store of their choice, aisle by aisle. The
students were enrolled in a gender issues course 111
the College of Education at St. Cloud State University. I had originally intended the course to be an
elective for teacher education students but the
course has filled with non-licensure students every
time I have offered it. In the first few weeks of the
course, we examine a wide range of common gender socializatioil practices for young children, from
parental biases in decorating the nursery, to the
clothes and toys selected for children, to the verbal
messages given to then1 regarding their gender roles.
In most of my classes I favor projects that send
students out into the real world and these assignments frequently send the students into retail stores.
For example, I send my students to seasonal stores
in the fall to determine which Halloween costumes
perpetuate racism, and in the spring I ask students
to analyze the colors and fabrics used in children's
spring jackets. We begin the action research project
in my gender issues course by reviewing class material on gender socialization. Students generate a list
of things to loolc for in a toy store such as messages
about gender expectations and general issues such
as cost, quality, and amount of toys in the boys' section versus the girls' section. The students can use
the list of questions the class formulated together to
complete their research or they can use their own.
Part of the action research assignment is a
written and oral report to the class summarizing
32 RETHINKING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
their findings. Some students have aslced if they
can give their report as a group and I have found
these presentations to be lively and interactive.
One group somehow came up with the funds-or
credit card-to
buy many of the toys they
researched. They provided the class with an array
of war toys, Barbies, and GI Joes. The inen in the
group were the most vociferous in their critique of
the messages sent to children, particularly boys,
who play with war toys. One of the students had
been in the military and said he felt angry about
the socialization he had absorbed from toys, like
assunlptions that men nlake war, war is exciting,
and new weapons are fun to use. The students took
their show on the road and shared their research
with classes in the College of Education, and they
also provided a session at a student-sponsored
conference on nonviolence on campus.
Each class has found different things to review
in their research. For example, one student found
that there were, "twice as many toys for boys than
girls." She went on to write that the sinaller girls'
section was located in the front of the store and
shared space with seasonal toys.
Another student noticed the facial expressions
on the packaging of toys. She observed this in one
item in particular, a bean-bag chair. She wrote the
following:
The girls' bean-bag pacltage displayed huo
pictures of girls sitting back in their chairs,
snliling and looking very relaxed. One girl
was talking on the phone and the other girl
was talking to ailother girl. The boys' beanbag package showed two pictures of boys
leaning forward in their chairs. Both boys
were gritting their teeth as the one played an
electronic game while the other raised his fist
and cheered for a sports team.
Other packages portray girls taking iilstrucLion
or baffled by some accomplishment. A student
noticed that the cover of Marvin's Magic Mind
Blowing Card shows four boys in the front row and
two girls in the back row watching a card trick being
performed. The facial expressions of the two girls
make them look fluminoxed by the trick, while the
boys seem to be studying it. In addition to these
observations, alillost all students reported that
wonlen were highly sexualized in many marketing
promotions. One student reported that Toys 'R' Us
had 126 covers of video games displayed on a wall
and the only women shown were in "compromising
positions" with "major cleavage." The only nonsexualized female was a furry yellow "Sonic Hero."
Toy Segregation
The effect of toys and playtime may not be as
benign as some parents and educators think.
Although great strides have been made in many
social areas, boys are still pushed toward higher
levels of unhealthy competition and stoicism during playtime while many girls are reinforced in
their unrealistic beliefs that they will always be
taken care of or that employment outside the
home is optional. The segregation under those
neon lights is a fairly good predictor for what is to
come, both in terms of earning power and career
choice. The power and labor inequities in homes
and work places-and the damaging messages sent
to boys about their roles in society-are often
shaped and defined in the types of toys that are
mindlessly thrown in the shopping cart. H
,
Sudie Hofmann is a professor of human relations and
multicultural education at St. Cloud State University
in Minnesota. Hofmann teaches courses on gender
bias and other related issues of oppression in educational settings.