Skip to main content

Toys, Clothes, and Gender

Yesterday was the birthday of our dog, Sunny. Our tradition with our dogs on their birthdays is to get them a cheeseburger and fries. We typically got this special treat from Runza, but with no Runza restaurant anywhere within at least a four hour drive, I settled for the fast food restaurant nearest our house. This was McDonalds.

I do not go to McDonalds very often. My taste buds just do not agree with it. I have gotten a Happy Meal for Jupiter from there before, however. The time that I did, they had two classifications of toys. When they asked me which sex my child was. I queried as to the strange nature of asking such a question before providing me with a lunch for my son. They responded by informing me that they needed to know if they should give me a girls toy or a boys toy. I stated that there is no such thing, but knowing that it was not the employees decision to attribute gender to toys, I also told them that Jupiter was a boy so that they could get on with the rest of the patrons behind me.

When I was in the drive-thru yesterday I did not order any food for human consumption, but I did notice that they had gender classifications for toys again. The reason that I paid any attention to it at all was specifically the two choices that were available. The boy choice appears to have been something called Bakugan. Neither I nor Jupiter have any idea where those characters come from. They seem to be some sort of robot. The girl choice was something we both recognize and that Jupiter loves. It was Hello Kitty. In fact, he is sitting next to me as I type this and when he saw me go to the Happy Meal page which shows both options on it, he said, "I want Hello Kitty!"

It is no secret that Hello Kitty merchandise is targeted mainly to girls. That does not help me understand why though. I suspect that Jupiter has fallen for Hello Kitty because of his broader love of cats in general. He wanted a Hello Kitty shirt that he saw when we were at the store one day, so I got him one. It was undoubtedly manufactured with the intent of a girl wearing it, but it is one of his favorite shirts to wear and it fits him just fine. I must say, I enjoy the show too. There is a Furry Tale Theater series that has parodies of tales such as Wizard of Oz (Wizard of Paws), Star Wars (Cat Wars), and Robin Hood (Robin Penguin) that we sometimes watch together available streaming on Netflix.

I see no reason to make any toys exclusive to one gender or another. Sure Jupiter likes to cars, motorcycles, robots, rockets, and pirates. He also likes baking, tea parties, Hello Kitty, and his favorite color is pink. I am sure that if someone told him he throws like a girl, he would not understand the derogatory intent. That is okay with me.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Poky Little Puppy

Sometimes Jupiter likes to read the classic Golden Book tale, The Poky Little Puppy before bed or nap time. This is another of many children's stories where the intended moral of the story seems to have been surpassed by a message that, I think, conveys the nearly the opposite message. The Poky Little Puppy is a story about five little puppies who dig a hole under the fence to go out for a walk in the wide, wide world. The fifth, poky, puppy is always behind the others. Eventually the poky little puppy smells the dessert that is prepared for the puppies each night. The four other puppies smell it too and hurry home while the poky puppy takes his time. The four puppies then eat their dinner and are scolded by their mother for digging a hole under the fence with the punishment being that they do not get dessert. Then along comes the poky puppy after everyone is asleep. He is met with no dinner but left over dessert, since the four puppies were not able to eat it. This scenario takes...
6 comments
Read more

Kid on a Leash

Has anyone seen these kid leash products around? Sometimes I see them at the zoo, farmers market, or other crowded areas. If a company can make a product that will make a parent feel a little bit safer, there will always be people out there to buy it. When I see one, it reminds me of that scene in Rise of the Planet of the Apes when a leashed Caesar sees a dog on a leash and turns to Will and signs, "Am I a pet?" The idea of the product is that it will keep the child safe and nearby. It is designed to subside the fear that a child will run off or get abducted. I think that if someone is out to abduct a child during the few seconds when a parent is looking away, a leash is a very small deterrent, and likely, not effective. All the abductor would need is a nice pair of scissors or simply their fingers. The latch cannot be that hard to work. If anything, having a leash might give a parent a false sense of security causing them to pay less attention to the child. In that case it...
3 comments
Read more

The Santa Lie

When I was young my parents followed a tradition which I imagine was passed down to them from their parents who received the tradition from their parents before them and so on for a generation or two before them. I am of course talking about the yearly tradition of deceiving their gullible offspring with myths of a jolly man who lives at the North Pole. I fell for it. They were fairly elaborate to the point of even having a man dressed up as a Santa come to the front door one year. This of course sparked my suspicion a little. Why the front door and not the chimney? Though I do not remember what it was, a satisfactory explanation was given and I continued to believe in it. Eventually I did finally figure it all out, mostly through ridicule from schoolmates and my 3rd grade teacher for still believing it. I did not take the news well. I did not understand that my parents, who regularly told me that lying is wrong and makes Jesus cry, would keep up such an elaborate and ultimately pointl...
6 comments
Read more