For many years, Target has divided its bedding and toys by boys and girls. Pinks and purples adorned the aisles of the girls section; blues and greens filled the boys section, but this all changed when Target
made the decision to remove the gender labels last week, and the reactions to this decision have been both good and bad.Growing up, I remember learning from societal norms that there are different toys for boys and girls, and that I shouldn't cross the line if I wanted to be "normal." While there are girls that chose to torture their siblings with a Nerf gun and boys who had a blast playing with Barbies, the message that these toys are explicitly for one gender is a dangerous idea to plant in a young and growing mind. What does a young boy think when he wants a princess bedspread but doesn't want to be laughed at while he browses the girls' aisle? Or a girl who wants a G.I. Joe doll but is too scared she will be teased? What will a child do when they look in the toy aisle and see that there aren't any defining labels guiding them where to go?! They will pick a toy based on what they like rather than what is being fed to them. It's that simple.
While many folks against this decision are promoting the idea that getting rid of the gender labels means we're moving toward an era of being "neutral" rather than having binary genders, that is simply not the case. Target is not doing away with gender and promoting the idea that all genders are neutral. Target is simply moving toward the idea that toys and the way a child decides to decorate their room do not need to be defined by what society considers normal for their gender. By removing the label of girls and boys from the toys section, this gives the children an opportunity to pick from any toy they want.
Of course parents have the ultimate decision on what they want their child to play with, but it is my hope that this will encourage parents to allow their children to play with toys that aren't necessarily for their gender. Just because a boy likes girly toys doesn't mean he is going to be gay. I played with almost all toys that are deemed normal for a girl and I still turned out gay. Having a child play with a toy outside of the norm for their gender won't turn them into someone else, it will give them an opportunity to have fun and express themselves the way they want to. Perhaps parents should understand the message that you should love the bundle of life you created more than worrying about how the toys they play with will affect how they identify with their gender or sexual orientation.
For parents Branden Mann and Jami Favig, this was an opportunity for good humor, and also an education in the binary roles of boys and girls in today's society. After the decision to remove the gendered aisle labels, they took a trip to Target and made satirical jokes about what their children picked out from the aisles. What if their son likes a hat with the ponytail of Elsa from Frozen? While he adoringly looks at a rainbow cat purse, they wonder how will he turn out if he is able to play with this typically girly toy. The answer is, he will turn out exactly the way he wants to, and his parents fully support him.
Perhaps the most comical turn of events came from an Internet troll
that decided to reply to the angry posts on Target's Facebook page. Using the pseudonym "Target Customer Service," someone has fired back at the slew of angry posts.
