In today’s weekly podcast discussion, I will be evaluating Jennifer Shewmaker’s podcast entitled “Gender and Media Talk” in which her guest speaker Dr. Elizabeth Sweet of the University of California, Davis discusses her doctoral dissertation so-called “Boy Builders and Pink Princesses.” Primarily, Dr. Sweet’s dissertation deals with the topic of gendered toys and inequality of the 20^th century. In Dr. Sweet’s opinion, an opinion further supported by Shewmaker, there is a discrepancy in the way that toys are packaged among boys and girls and this discrepancy works to effect and reflect gender roles in society. In part, the packaging of toys largely influences what boys and girls gravitate towards as items of personal interest. As she raised her daughter through the years, Dr. Sweet began to take notice of the way toy stores arranged the toy sections of their departments; namely, a good majority of such stores would clearly delineate the boy’s section blue and the girl’s section pink. Although there are companies out there, such as the LEGO franchise, that initially wished to create a product that was gender-neutral, within a matter of years the company became synonymous with boys and excluded girls almost entirely. In that LEGOs are meant to inspire children to be creative and use their imagination, this is problematic. While there is nothing wrong with the fact that girls, by default, often gravitate towards fairies and princesses as toys, such toys do little to engage their critical thinking skills and may at least in part hinder their mental development. Still, because the product is so geared towards boys, the larger issue at hand may be that girls whom do wish to play with LEGOs may feel unwelcome to do so and consequently may feel outcasted among their peers. It is the opinion of Dr. Sweet and Shewmaker, one with which I agree, that we must begin to take steps as a society to make toys more gender-neutral to benefit both sexes as fully as possible. 

http://jennifershewmaker.com/2015/04/11/podcast-gender-and-media-talk-boy-builders-and-pink-princesses/