The Difference Between an Action Figure and a Barbie is a Name

In today's fight for gender equality, one of the most focused pieces is getting little girls introduced to the sciences and sports early on. This is incredibly important because, due to toys being assigned to certain genders and things like toy construction sets being typically aimed for boys, parents can be less willing to give them to their daughters. These days, it is common to see girls with more typically masculine toys; however, in this fight, people seem to lose sight that gender equality is not just fought for little girls, but little boys too. Sure, more little girls are getting action figures and soccer balls, but there is still a lot of hesitation in parents giving their sons dolls. Growing up, my parents were great at getting me a wide variety of toys; they got me Legos and action figures and they’d let me order the boy’s toy with my happy meal. They were also great at letting my older brother play with whatever he wanted- barbies and princess dress-ups were often played between him and my sister. I spoke with my dad about this as I was writing this article, feeling like getting an actual parent’s perspective was important.

He said that although he and my mom had the same idea of letting his children make their own decisions on the toy side, he had to admit he would not have as easily let my brother do ballet as my sister play baseball. He also mentioned how all parents seemed to follow the gender stereotypes to a large extent.

A big reason Brett, my brother, played barbies and the like to begin with was because he hung out with our older sister. My dad admitted he probably wouldn’t have ever given my brother a Barbie doll of his own.

This is exactly the point I am making: parents are all for not keeping their daughters in a box, but the idea of their sons exploring anything feminine is a no-go. If we don’t want to see being a girl as an insult, then we should stop seeing being feminine as toxic! In our move towards gender equality, we cannot leave boys behind.

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