Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd
In 1998, Slovenian toy company Mehano designed a line of children's electronic typewriter toys with the ability to write secret messages.
Eventually, the company licensed the typewriter to another company, (none other than Barbie herself), that had something altogether different in mind for the toys. Slathered in pink, it was soon headed to market to appeal "to girls."
[...] The four encryption modes — each featuring a simple alphabet substitution cipher (or 1-to-1 encoding) — were left out of Mattel's instruction manuals and advertisements. Mattel is Barbie's parent company. Even the latest model, produced in 2015, omitted this novel feature.
[...] It's an all-too-common marketing assumption that continues to plague the "pink aisle" of girls' toys. They often fail to encourage little girls to grow up to be engineers and scientists. A December report by the Institution of Engineering and Technology showed that boys were almost three times more likely to receive a STEM-themed toy for Christmas.
"STEM toys are by default for boys," says Meryl Alper, professor of communication studies at Northeastern University. "We have to add 'for girls.'" With over a decade of experience working in children's media at Northeastern, Sesame Workshop and Nick Jr., Alper emphasizes the importance of representation and diversity in characters and storylines. Playtime matters.
"Children use the objects in their world to think through ideas," she says. "If you have objects that signal to a kid that it's not for them, either explicit or implicit, you reduce that opportunity to learn through manipulation."
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Sunday January 22 2017, @08:52AM
Back in the ark ages, when I grew up (60s/70s), you had dolls for girls and erector sets for boys, but there was also a huge pile of toys with no particular gender. Legos, for example.
So today, after decades of intense feminism, we have this [secondnexus.com]. WTF?
Can anyone explain this? Because, let's face it, this would not exist if all those "feminist" moms didn't buy the stuff...
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 22 2017, @02:04PM
Can anyone explain this?
Marketing... sell the same junk twice (one for boys, one for girls).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 22 2017, @10:00PM
Three or more times if you include trangendered children and other sexual dyslexics.