So there's an argument about something you may know about, but never really knew there was a label to. The "Pink Aisle" in toy stores. Oh yeah, there is a controversy to an entire aisle being pink. People feel that this enforces a stereotype that girls should be girls and boys should be boys. Girls play with dolls, and boy play with tools. Of course this way of thinking is stupid and outdated, everyone wants to fight for the complete equality of people. We want to live in a society that is accepting of every kind of person, no matter what toys they like to play with. But... i don't know if i accept this.
Well sure, of course we have to be accepting of every type of person, and i'm not saying that if i had a son who liked playing with barbies i would hate him, but is gender stereotyping really so bad? I grew up in a world where girls liked to play with dolls, and boys liked to play with cars. I kind of liked that. Going to a toy store, it's interesting to see what girls are supposed to play with, and what guys are supposed to play with. I mean, in the end i usually just got whatever my parents bought me. But i played with whatever toys i had at my disposal. Yes i even played with the barbies. Of course, i used them as the token women in my toy stories, but that's a whole other topic. The point is, i found use for every toy i had. My sister played with barbies and i considered her one of the toughest people i knew, Where as i played with Super heroes and movie characters and i was a huge wimp.
Gender stereotyping never changed the way i thought, it just showed me organization. That's all it was to me. I mean, by contrast, if i walked into a clothing store, i'd like to know the difference between the men's section and the women's section. I wouldn't want them to be all shuffled in one spot. Plus, nowadays it is a bit difficult to tell the difference between a small men's shirt and a large women's shirt....
That is a bit of an extreme example, but you get my point. I want things organized, simply because i want to be able to know where to go when i want specific things. There's no way we can organize toys so that there is no pink aisle. You'd have to make all the boxes a single color. This whole pink aisle, blue aisle discussion is complete nonsense, but what about other stereotypes? The damsel in distress, the action hero, sexy girls, rugged guys, men have muscles, women have curves.
My blog is called chasing cliche's, you already know where i stand. I love stereotypes. To change them, would be like changing the bible, it just wouldn't work. All of our lives stem from our past, we can't change it. I have completely embraced stereotypes. You know what? The best stories come from stereotypes. It's not even that the stories are reiterations, but they are reworked stereotypes. I love seeing people having fun with stereotypes. Authors who make women tough, men sensitive, the military men gay, and the housewife an action hero. Stereotypes are some of the best things we have in our society. It just all depends on how we choose to use them. And in my opinion, that is where we can really tell if we are sexist or not.
