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5 'Girl Toys' That Are Totally For Boys

Earlier this month, the White House convened a day-long conference[1] on breaking down gender stereotypes in media and in toys. Sponsored by the White House Council on Women and Girls, the Department of Education and the Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative at the University of Southern California, the conference focused on exposing children to "diverse role models and … a variety of skills so they can develop their talents and pursue their passions without limits, and so that we as a nation can meet the needs of our economy in the coming years."

It's a welcome goal in an era when we still have to deal with the cultural reality of gendered toys.

RELATED: The Sexism of Kids Chores[2]

Young girls, in particular, stand to thrive under the central ideas discussed during the White House conference. Instead of delimiting girls' realities to kitchen sets and doll babies—or to terrible messaging about how they're "too pretty to do homework[3]"—we should broaden their horizons to include toys that stimulate interest in STEM fields. This seems like a painfully obvious goal.

But what might not be so obvious is that boys stand to benefit just as much from all this breaking down of gender stereotypes[4]. It's not only girls who have a lot to gain from playing with traditionally gendered "boy toys." Boys stand to gain a lot from playing with traditionally-gendered "girl toys," too.

Dismantling gender stereotypes isn't simply about exposing children to diverse role models.

1. Fairy gardens

Perhaps hipster twee-worship had something to do with the rising popularity of fairy gardens. But outdated gender stereotypes have everything to do with the relegation of many fairy garden toys to the "girl aisle."

Fairy gardens, however, are a perfect toy for any child, regardless of their reproductive organs. In fact, one of my sons spent an entire summer creating over a half-dozen fairy gardens, each one composed of a blend of succulent plants and whimsical little fairy objects.

"Really?" someone asked me at the time. "Fairy gardens? For boys?"

Yes, really. Fairy gardens are for boys. Fairy gardens are for girls. They're for all people. They're part horticulture, part design: part botany, part beauty.

And who doesn't love a toy that blends science and art?

2. Dolls

Dismantling gender stereotypes isn't simply about exposing children to diverse role models. It's also about giving children the space to model different types of work and behavior.

Dolls give boys[5] the opportunity to do just that. They can practice tenderness, infant care[6] and all acts of parenting, broadly speaking.

In fact, giving boys dolls might be one important step in dismantling the stereotype of the incompetent, bumbling father who's too dumb to change a diaper[7].

3. Rey action figures

This very specific toy faced a very specific problem following the release of "The Force Awakens[8]": It didn't exist. Or at least it seemed that way.

The assumptions that fed into toy companies' decisions to leave Rey out of their games and action figure collections were as diverse as they were disappointing: Little boys don't want to play with female action figures. Girls don't play with action figures. Boys and girls won't notice or care if Rey is missing.

The toy companies were wrong, of course. "Where's Rey?" became a sort of battle cry among parents and children alike, even prompting a popular #wheresrey hashtag.

Ameliorating these inequalities shouldn't just start with people who already have children. It can, and should, start with children themselves.

But beyond Rey—a toy that represents a woman who is strong, fierce and wickedly smart— children deserve an even wider range of action figures, including but not limited to more women, more disabled people and more people of color.

When marginalized people are represented in the toys that we make available to our children, we expand our children's imaginations and broaden their conceptions of what it means to be powerful, and what it means to be worthy of admiration.

RELATED: Hasbro, Your Lack of Rey Is Beyond Disturbing[9]

4. Domestic chore toys

According to a 2015 Pew Research Report[10], mothers in two-parent households are more likely to report an unequal division of household labor than fathers are. The disparity is especially striking when it comes to two-parent households where both parents work. For example, though nearly half of families with working mothers and fathers report that they share household chores equally, approximately 31 percent of working mothers report that they take on the majority of these chores, while only 9 percent of working fathers do.

Ameliorating these inequalities shouldn't just start with people who already have children. It can, and should, start with children themselves.

So give a boy a toy vacuum cleaner and a toy kitchen. Give him a small feather duster and put him to work.

If he becomes a parent someday—or even if he doesn't—his partner might thank you for it.

5. All toys whose marketing or toy aisle placement arbitrarily identifies them as "girl toys"

So long as a toy is actually for children, it should be available to and marketed to all children.

And this goes to the very crux of the White House conference goals: when we break down all gender stereotypes in media and toys, we don't just demonstrate that we value girls and boys equally. We show that we value all forms of gendered work and gender expression equally, too.

Sounds like fun, right?

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Photograph by: Kristen Oganowski


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