Excelsior College Ethical Issues in Toys Paper

In September 2010, Robert Gottlieb and Associates and Women in Toys co-hosted the “Building Our Future: Girls and Toys Conference” (Links to an external site.) in New York City. Attended by representatives from the toy manufacturing and marketing industries, media, parenting experts, gender researchers, celebrities, and experts in children’s television programming, the conference discussed how, despite awareness of gender issues, there is still much gender-skewing of the types of toys being made for boys and girls and how those toys are marketed.

Participants of the conference focused on the lack of toys for boys that teach nurturance and the dearth of toys for girls that teach skills in math and science. The overall conclusion of the participants was a need to further neutralize the toy market in creating and effectively marketing toys that teach math, science, and nurturance to all children.

For example, a toy made and marketed to boys is the Beyblade Metal Fusion Super Vortex Battle set. The toy is based on Japanese manga (comic book series) and its related anime (animation series), which tells the story of a group of young warriors who use powerful spinning tops as weapons in their quest to win a championship. The tops have creatures embedded in them that come out to do battle when the blades are used. The toy mentioned above appears to be marketed to boys, given the focus on its battle and weapon-based imagery and description, even though there are female characters in the manga and anime that could appeal to girls.

A toy made and marketed to girls is the ever-popular Barbie Doll from Mattel. First introduced in 1959, Barbie has evolved into a cultural toy icon, bought and sold all over the world. Mattel has risen to the challenge of addressing issues of race and gender-stereotypes by manufacturing Barbie collections that depict Barbie from different countries, cultures, and races. The gender stereotype issues are addressed through Barbie donning the outfits of various occupations, both traditional and non-traditional (for example, Barbie as astronaut, paleontologist, Army medic, etc.). However, the doll is still criticized for its voluptuous shape that exaggerates female physical features.

The ethics involved in these toys centers around the message sent to boys and girls about their gender identity as well as, in the case of Barbie, their body image. Boys do battle and girls dress up. Boys master skills of physical strength, and girls focus on their physical appearance. (Even Barbie Surgeon, Barbie Computer Engineer, and Barbie Pilot have to look sexy and fashionable.) The underlying message for both genders can be misleading—boys’ toys, such as Beyblade, involve violence while dolls like Barbie emphasize physical beauty.

A 2011 research paper by McCabe, Fairchild, Grauerholz, Pescosolido and Tope examined gender disparity in the representation of males and females in titles and central characters within a sample of 5,618 children’s books published in the U.S. throughout the 20th century. Since books have a significant impact on helping children understand gender roles and their own gender identity, the findings demonstrate patterns of inequality that differ with respect to time period, the type of children’s book, and type of character (human versus animal).

Given this information, along with Powell’s (2011) discussion in Chapter 3 of the textbook (section on children’s interests and activities), do the following:

1. Consider toy stores you have visited or a toy section of a department store.
2. What types of toys….
3. Or, consider book stores you’ve visited or viewed online.
4. Select either toys or books or one of each, and discuss the ethical issues involved in what these products communicate about gender stereotypes and gender roles.

Write a summary and analysis of the ethical issues involved. Organize your paper into the following sections:

1. Title page
2. Table of Contents
3. Introduction (1–2 paragraphs, briefly identifying the products you have selected)
4. Background (brief description of the products and the way they are marketed to be gender-specific)
5. Analysis (brief analysis of the ethical issues you uncovered and how they relate specifically to the course material with regard to gender awareness and identity development)
6. Conclusion (1–2 paragraph review of your findings)
7. References

List of suggested children’s books

Below is a suggested list of classic and present-day children’s books that may be used as the basis for this assignment. You may find more suggestions by searching the Caldecott Medal Winners (lists titles from 1938–2010) as well as popular series, such as the Little Golden Books (1942–2010). In addition, perusing any bookstore will provide a wide variety of newer titles.

1. Abraham Lincoln (1940)
2. Are You My Mother? (1960)
3. Big Snow, The (1949)
4. Biggest Bear, The (1953)
5. Doctor Dan, the Bandage Man (1951)
6. Frog Went A-Courtin’ (1956)
7. Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, The (1979)
8. Hop on Pop (1963)
9. Invention of Hugo Cabret, The (2008)
10. Just Like Daddy/Just Like Mommy (1952)
11. Lion & the Mouse, The (2010)
12. Little House, The (1943)
13. Little Island, The (1947)
14. Little Red Hen, The (1942)
15. Man Who Walked Between the Towers, The (2004)
16. Many Moons (1944)
17. Mei Li (1939)
18. Mirette on the High Wire (1993)
19. Oh, the Places You’ll Go (1990)
20. One Fine Day (1972)
21. Pokey Little Puppy, The (1942)
22. Polar Express, The (1986)
23. Rainbow Fish, The (1992)
24. Rapunzel (1998)
25. Rooster Crows, The (1946)
26. Saint George and the Dragon (1985)
27. Sam, Bangs & Moonshine (1967)
28. They Were Strong and Good (1941)
29. Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974)
30. Where the Wild Things Are (1964)

List of suggested toys

Below is a suggested list of classic and current children’s toys that may be used as the basis for this assignment. You may find more suggestions by searching the internet for top toys by a particular year or searching for all-time top-selling toys for girls or boys or both.

1. My Little Pony
2. Care Bears
3. Barbie
4. Transformers
5. Legos
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Action Figures
7. Power Rangers
8. Bob the Builder
9. Bratz Dolls
10. Thomas the Train
11. Beyblade
12. Hot Wheels
13. G.I. Joe
14. Slinky
15. Mr. Potato Head
16. Chatty Cathy
17. Easy-Bake Oven
18. Lite-Brite
19. Cabbage Patch Kids
20. Zhu Zhu Pets

Your work should be submitted in a Word document, 2–3 pages in length (excluding the title, the table of contents and the references pages), typed double-space in 10- or 12-point Arial or Times New Roman font. The page margins on the top, bottom, left side, and right side should be 1 inch each. Use APAguidelines for citing and reference sources.

See the Course Calendar for due dates.

Keep the following points in mind:

The toy products or books are described as to their apparent market target (male or female child).

Answers are well developed and supported by proper reasons, research information, and examples.