Toy Preferences Essay

426 Words2 Pages
Toy preferences help indicate gender roles. Each gender has a different toy preference, for example, boys usually like toys with dark colors like blue or green while girls usually like warm and bright colors, like pink or red. Besides, boys are mostly interested in many masculine toys such as robots, cars, and video games, while girls are attracted by dolls and dresses. From these examples, we see that there are many factors that decide toy preferences for boys and girls, such as colors and types of toys. Color has shown boys and girls’ toy preferences. “Compared to boys, girls are also more likely to use a greater number of colors and to prefer warmer colors (i.e., pink and red) to cooler colors (i.e., blue and green)” (Alexander, 9). This statement is true because it is difficult for us to see girls with toys with dark colors. When we go and buy toys at the shop, we see that almost all of the toys for girls have pink color. Girls may lean to pink because they usually play with toys that have the color of pink. Pink is for girls, and blue is for boys. That’s the rule because if you try to purchase toys or clothing for a child, it is extremely difficult to find something that is not highly gendered. Besides color, types of toys also have an important role in toy preferences. Boys and girls have opposite choices of toys. “In toy choices and free drawing, then, boys appear to assign greater attention or interest to object movement and location, whereas girls appear to assign greater attention or interest to form and color” (Alexander, 9). Boys mostly prefer toys such as vehicles, robots, or any kind of toys with movement while girls just care about cute and colorful toys like Barbie dolls. From this example, we see that a specific type of toy is matched with a gender. Both color and gendered toys are strong visual factors that affect boys and girls
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