Toys For All On Amazon
Last week, an interesting news story came out about Amazon, as highlighted by Caroline Bologna with The Huffington Post. Amazon, the undisputed king of online retail, made the decision to no longer sort toys by gender. Or, as Jack Danger pointed out on Twitter, “there are no more 'boys' and 'girls' sections.”
This development is an intriguing step forward when it comes to the gender role debate. It states that we are no longer to assume that G.I. Joe's (or whatever the character of the moment is) are for boys and Barbies are for girls. Organizations like ThinkProgress, Planned Parenthood, and Teaching Tolerance, clearly now have an impact on commerce.
But wherever your personal politics lie on gender roles, it is important to remember that toys are an important part of one's childhood. For me personally, the action figures I was fortunate to have of WWF wrestlers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters were integral to the development of my creativity. To my parents, maybe those figures were little more than hunks of plastic, but to me, they were my entertainment. And all these years later, I still remember the fun I had with them.
So even if a particular action figure or doll seems “too girlie” at first glance, remember that someone out there would love to have it.
Author: Darren Paltrowitz, Music & Media Licensing at Viacom
