Thor and Superman's muscular figures that appear in the picture you can not find in my house. I do not know what would have happened if instead of girls I had children, but I would not like that disproportionate doll with the face of few friends and wielding a mallet was among his toys.
It is also unlikely that my daughters were attracted to those dolls: they do not know them or have seen advertisements in which they appear, especially those advertisements that most attract their attention and which are in which girls appear.
On TV, in catalogs, in stores ... kitchens for girls and cars for boys. The Christmas whirlpool of gifts has already passed, but this issue seems not to be perishable. On the contrary, it is increasing as the years go by: most ads about games and toys contain some sexist treatment.
Apart from the weight of tradition and social conventions in our families and in society in general, this issue is reinforced in many cases by advertising. Despite the years, the choice of fun for the little ones is still governed by gender stereotypes.
This is reflected in the last report of the Andalusian Observatory of Non-Sexist Advertising, where the aesthetics of pink continues to be imposed on girls and the tune of blue is closer to boys.
In the last Campaign of Advertising of Games and Toys in Andalusia, carried out by the Women's Institute (IAM), it is observed that 63.9% of the advertisements on games and toys studied in 2010 contained some sexist treatment and infringed some point of the decalogue for non-sexist advertising prepared by the Junta de Andalucía.
85% of the ads analyzed promoted models that consolidate patterns traditionally set for each of the genres.
According to these data, sexist advertising has increased almost five percentage points compared to 2009. For this reason the institution has presented a campaign with the objective of raising public awareness about the need to eliminate sexist and violent content from many games and toys.
In addition, 39.77% of advertising spots serve a stereotype aimed at girls, such as toys that refer to housewives or childcare. In the report of the Andalusian Observatory 2011, which will be published in an integrated manner in February, it is observed that advertising that contains the beauty of women as a synonym for success is also on the rise. C'est la vie.
We will be attentive to this report that speaks of toys for boys and toys for girls, how we sell them and how we buy them, falling without realizing (or not wanting to escape from it) in the perpetuation of roles and stereotypes.
