Gender and Sexuality 16

Toys for boys are mostly active, and involve some sort of “doing” – trains, cars – and toys for girls are mostly ‘passive’ and are overwhelmingly dolls. I was struck by how early our culture starts to form the ideas of what a boy should be and what a girl should be.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2017): Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (born 1977) is a Nigerian-US-American writer.

People are divided into two genders as early as infancy. It is not only parents who shape gender-specific upbringings, but also capitalist economic production, which is divided into products for "boys" and "girls" through what is termed "gender marketing". These are designed and marketed in such a way that children learn how they “have to” be at an early age. This sales strategy primarily serves the company because it generates more sales: a girl needs a pink bicycle with a princess, while her brother will definitely want a blue two-wheeler with a picture of a pirate. Uta Brandes from the University of Cologne researches this issue and says: “Take Lego. It used to be a neutral toy, back when there were only colourful blocks. Today there is the pink Lego Friends series for girls ”(Emma, 11/06/2008).

*Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2017): Dear Ijeawele or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. *The Guardian (11.10.2021): “Lego to remove gender bias from its toys after findings of child survey.”

2017