Thursday, December 20, 2012

Finally! Some "progress" in gender-neutrality of toys??

Hasbro to unveil gender-neutral Easy-Bake Oven

According to the Geena Davis Institute of Gender in the Media, "Hasbro has announced plans to begin selling gender-neutral versions of its long-successful Easy-Bake Oven. A teenage New Jersey girl launched a campaign, including a petition that quickly attracted over 40,000 signatures, against the company after she was unable to find an Easy-Bake Oven in a color other than pink or purple."

I give props to McKenna Pope, of Garfield, N.J., the young woman who took action against our overly-gendered culture of toys in the U.S. She's an example of how one person acting on her dissatisfaction with the status quo can positively change the culture we consume.  

At the same time, I find it disheartening that she had to do anything at all. When I was a girl in the seventies, the Easy Bake oven came in a variety of colors (among them turquoise, avocado green, harvest gold, white, and black) and its ad featured boys as well as girls. Why are we regressing?

No comments:

Post a Comment