An Ohio mom’s recent tweet, containing a photo she snapped in a Cleveland-area Target store, has sparked a debate over gender bias in toy marketing
Abi Bechtel took a photo of a toy aisle sign that carried two markers — one read “Building Sets” and the other read “Girls’ Building Sets,” WPXI News reports.
Bechtel snapped the photo and posted the image to her Twitter account with the message “Don’t do this, @Target.”
In a videotaped interview with WPXI (shown below) she explained why.
“It makes it seem like it’s so normal for building sets to be for boys, and oh by the way, girls can build stuff too we guess,” Bechtel said.
Since posting the image earlier this month it has been retweeted over 2,000 times.
The tweet received a good deal of support from other Twitter users who agreed and thought the sign was sexist.
“Ugh. Come on. This is patriarchal kool aid at its worst. Talk about an implicit bias,” tweeted user @IdeasDoneDaily.
Since posting the image earlier this month it has been retweeted over 2,000 times.
The tweet received a good deal of support from other Twitter users who agreed and thought the sign was sexist.
“Ugh. Come on. This is patriarchal kool aid at its worst. Talk about an implicit bias,” tweeted user @IdeasDoneDaily.
“Boys are the default. Girls are the exception,” said @diannaeanderson.
In an interview with The Daily Dot, Bechtel said she wasn’t all that surprised by the response.
Read more at Opposing Views