Student Opinion Column: Target Controversy
It was the week before Christmas, 2014. Aiden and his mother, Jane, were strolling through the aisles of Target. “You can pick out any three toys that you want,” said Jane.
Aiden ran off squealing with joy. He snaked up and down the aisles surveying his options. He came back to his mom waiting for him by the cart. In his arms were a Nerf gun, an art set, and… a Barbie doll.
His mother, slightly taken aback, stuttered to find the right thing to say. “Aiden, honey, that’s a girls toy. Are you sure you want it?” she questioned.
“Yeah I have a whole lot of action figures and G.I. Joes, but I don’t have any girl dolls,” he responded.
“I don’t know, I think you would like this toy dinosaur better. Look! it even walks and roars. Isn’t that cool?” Jane offered.
“Okay, I guess so. Maybe I’ll get the girl doll some other time then?”
Now Aiden begins to think something is wrong with him. He’s a boy. Why would he want a girl’s toy. That’s just wrong right? If this was your son, what would your reaction be? If the roles were reversed and your daughter wanted to get the toy dinosaur, would your reaction be any different?
I believe that there shouldn’t be any reaction at all. If a boy wants to play with a Barbie, so what? Let him have his fun and let him explore other things besides only the toys that fall into the “boy” category. And the same goes for young girls. Let children explore their individuality before they reach the adolescent stage when they are too afraid to.
Target has recently affirmed my views on this controversial topic by making the decision to remove gender labeling. This means that there will be no more “boys bedding” or “girls toys.” It’s now just “bedding” and just “toys”. What’s the point of this? you may be asking. Well, now boys and girls who feel different and weird will no longer have to feel that way when shopping in Target. Yeah, it’s just one store, but this is a great step in the direction of eliminating gender roles.
Target’s move has created a lot of hostility, with organizations such as Fox News loudly putting in their two cents. “I think you’d agree with me that, boys and girls are different,” says Tammy Bruce, political commentator. “And that there are naturally different interests.”
The only reason to relentlessly gender everything is to teach and enforce gender roles, which you would not have to do if gender preferences were as “natural” as people like Tammy would like to believe. Strangely enough, many of the people who are so angry about Target’s decision grew up in the era when toy gendering wasn’t much of a thing, such as the 70s-80s.
In summation, I believe that Target was definitely doing the right thing in wiping out their gender labels. I hope more companies begin to follow Target’s lead. I want to see a world where every parent will let their kids decide how they want to dress and what toys they want to play with instead of just assuming these things because of the child’s gender. This is a step towards a world where children can express their identity and individuality instead of being shoved into the two categories of “Boy” and “Girl.”