Advertising an its Effects on Children

My older sister is currently pregnant and is due at the beginning of September and I can’t help but be scared about the amount of gender based children’s toys. You can’t turn on the TV to a youth centered channel without seeing an overabundance of Barbies putting on makeup, cleaning house, cooking dinner, or even being pregnant themselves, on the opposite side you see boys playing with racecars, G.I Joe’s, Dinosaurs, etc. Children are subjected to thousands of different toy commercials each day but the companies trying to sell these toys aren’t only advertising the toys themselves but are also advertising the way boys and girls should behave. Young girls are pushed at a young age to do all of the things a woman should do; they must learn how to cook, clean, and take care of the children. While younger boys learn that to be a man they must be tough and never show emotion. The toy companies are instilling values in the minds of children that make it hard for them to be who they feel comfortable being. Boys are being ridiculed for enjoying things that other would consider feminine or “girly” and it’s the same for girls. Children should be able to freely choose their interests but because of the toy companies and their marketing strategies, it makes it hard for boys and girls to be individuals when they also must fit into either the masculine or feminine category. I don’t want my sister’s child or even my own to be ridiculed or judged because they like something that is only supposed to be liked by the opposite sex. If my son wants to be a baker or if my daughter wants to play football in the future I think they have every right to, feminine and masculine characteristics should not be limited to the sex that it is appropriate for.