Should the World of Toys be Gender-Free

Everyone can remember their childhood days, and as we remember boys and girls played very differently. From my experiences, boys liked to build things and use action figures to crush and destroy their structures. On the other hand, girls pretty much stuck to dolls and role-playing with dozens of different voices for each figure. If this is true, than why is Hamley's, a popular London toy store, taking away their blue and pink toy figurines for ones that are red and white, what they say will be more "gender-neutral" as they pose it. Meanwhile, Lego has been making changes as well, however their's are on the other side of the spectrum. Lego has realized these differences in the ways that the different genders play, and have acted in a way that will support their idea that lego's are "for boys and for girls" (NYTimes.com). This argument poses a question however, and it is one that seemingly must be answered. Should genders be removed from the toy industry altogether. In my opinion, this argument is proposterous; when I was younger I wanted Bionicles not Barbies, and I certainly didn't want a plain red and white figurine that is so plain that a two year old could have designed it.

Peggy Orenstein seems to address all of the necessary points in her article. While there is seemingly no bias by Orenstein in this article, she does use many statistics that seem to support the idea of Lego's leaders over those of Hamley. In fact, when talking of Lego's point of how sex's play differently, Orenstein includes a logos appeal, by stating things such as, "As any developmental psychologist will tell you," which backs up her points with proof from masters on the subject. She also includes statistics and quotes to support the different sides of the argument, and by doing so is truly able to illustrate both sides of the argument accurately.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/opinion/does-stripping-gender-from-toys-really-make-sense.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss