It’s 2015, and unnecessary gendering of children’s toys are still not a thing of the past.
Blogger and mom Abi Bechtel of Green, Ohio noticed some peculiar qualifiers being used in her local Target. While shopping in its children’s toy aisle, Bechtel noticed the signs for the play building sets were separated as “Building Sets” and “Girls’ Building Sets.”
Don’t do this, @Target pic.twitter.com/cfh3cp5Nqa
— Abi Bechtel (@abianne) June 1, 2015
“The signage struck me as problematic on a couple of levels — first, because the way it’s written sets up boys’ building sets (and boys in general) as normative/generic and girls’ as specialized/other; and second, because it’s such an encapsulation of how Target (and many other retailers) persistently genders toys that don’t need to be gendered,” Bechtel told The Daily Dot.
Bechtel tweeted the sign and other Internet users were quick to comment on the issue. While some supported Bechtel’s sentiment about unnecessary gender marketing, others also attacked or trolled Bechtel for her views.
STRANGERS ARE SO NICE https://t.co/3MJa1BEe5e
— Abi Bechtel (@abianne) June 9, 2015
What a nice man, just looking out for us girls’s pic.twitter.com/aySOVeqqdo
— Abi Bechtel (@abianne) June 9, 2015
No one tell them that some feminists are also retailers https://t.co/LzHle1mshy
— Abi Bechtel (@abianne) June 10, 2015
Target has responded to Bechtel’s criticism, first by tweeting back at her and also by releasing a statement to The Daily Dot that said, “our goal is to provide our guests with choices…We know families are tight on time and looking for inspiration. Therefore, we continually explore how to organize our stores and website in ways that will be convenient, appealing and helpful to our guests.”
@abianne Thanks for getting back to us! We’ve made sure to share this with the right teams for further review.
— AskTarget (@AskTarget) June 2, 2015
Target is one of many retailers that separates otherwise unisex toys by gender, and there is currently no plans to remove the offending signs.
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