New Playmobil Magazine

[Birdie]

It's so depressing that they bother to aim these magazines to either boys or girls.
The only magazine I bought weekly as a kid was a dinosaurs magazine (it was the Jurassic Park period  ) and wanted to be a paleontologist when I grew up.

Are they afraid that if they don't gender-brand their magazines, kids won't know what to pick? Or is it that they want to influence the parents or something?

And in the meantime, politicians complain that there aren't enough women in typically male jobs and visa versa. I wonder...

[tahra]

It's so depressing that they bother to aim these magazines to either boys or girls.

Completely agree.

The "girls" one is downright offensive.

[GrahamB]

Why do you say it's "aimed exclusively at boys?"

(btw, the "girls mag" is insulting - without really understanding german!)

I was quoting the publisher's website, but I added the word 'exclusively'.

My 8 year old daughter took the magazine to school today (Dad has 'retained' the baby T Rex  ). She probably won't get teased about it because one of her friends (a boy) likes dinosaurs. But what if a boy took a "girl's" comic to school- would they get away with it? Unfortunately I think not.

[tahra]

Saw this today (bbc.co.uk link):

Aiming toys at just boys or girls hurts economy

[Birdie]

Great article, thanks for the link.

[Playmo_80]

In france there are two edition

Playmo_80

[Baron Marshall]

Speaking of playmobil magazine, is there someone out there willing to start a co-op for it? Wink wink...    but seriously I could use 2 copies of the "next" issue... preferably in German.

[Pynedor]

Saw this today (bbc.co.uk link):

Aiming toys at just boys or girls hurts economy

I'd have to disagree with most of that article. They definitely do use a lot of blue and pink to differentiate packages for toys aimed at boys or girls, but some toys are neutrally labeled. Maybe other things are causing children (and parents) to only choose those toys. They make it seem as if the toy market is solely responsible for what they claim is happening though. They also make it seem as if this is a modern thing. Boys and girls have always played with (and done throughout their lives) different things than one another. They've also played and done a lot of the same things.

I most certainly do not mean to say that girls wouldn't like to play with building toys or other toys usually aimed at boy markets. I know girls that like those kinds of things (and aren't ashamed of it or anything). But I also don't find anything offensive about girls who like "girly" things. If everything from dolls to toy cars to playhouses to knights to building toys came in plain or totally neutral packaging, I'm not sure what would happen. It'd probably be more difficult to find what you're looking for in a store. But I suppose it does make sense for companies to package and market the items in ways that they believe will lead to the most interest in them. And I think, for the most part, the way different sorts of toys are organised works in that regard.

I don't mean to make anything of this, haha. I reckon I agree with all of you with the main point. As far as Playmobil goes, just adding some more girl figures to the "boy theme" sets and some more boy figures to the "girl theme" sets could go a long way for this! And GrahamB's daughter has the right idea. I don't think it'd work the other way around though. Dinosaurs (and even knights and pirates) are a lot more neutral than dress-up dolls.

[Pippa]

Great article.

I think gender separation of toys has gotten much worse. 

At least in the US at major toy retailers they ALL seems to be separated by gender these days.  TRU, Target, etc. all seem to have almost everything divided up into "blue" and "pink" aisles. 

The manufacturers now make pink/purple versions of so many traditionally gender neutral toys - not just lego and playmobil but everything from basic toddler toys by Playskool and FP, to FP and Little Tikes sports stuff, to Leap Frog & Vtech electronic.

When I was a kid my sister and I had an electric train and dollhouse and the whole family spent hours working on both.  Probably our favorite toys were plastic animals and plain wooden blocks - very gender neutral.  Really the only toys I remember thinking of as "girl" toys were baby dolls and Barbie and as "boys" toys were GI Joe (I actually played with both.)  Playmobil and Lego were completely gender neutral and everyone I knew played with and seemed to collect Star Wars figures.

I would have expected more progress toward gender neutrality over the past few decades.  (Oh and don't even get me started on cultural/ethnic diversty - Playmobil is awful about this too.)

My best friend and I both have preschoolers, she a girl and I a boy, and we discuss this all the time - it can be a real struggle as a parent.

[Rasputin]

I do not think it is the toy companies setting the example but them reacting to the market. In my opinion boys used to be in the drivers seat of life. Then for a brief moment there was a shift were half the drivers were boys and Girls. Today I think Girls are more and more in the drivers seat. Soon most toys will be geared to girls and boys will want to play with them to be accepted. It has more to do with the shift from patriarchal to matriarchal as societies shift from agriculture to information based economies. Just my 1/2 cent

What I find really interesting is the history of pink and blue

example article
http://forgottenhistoryblog.com/pink-wasnt-always-considered-a-feminine-color-and-blue-wasnt-always-masculine/