the importance of sexist free toys part two

One GIANT STEP. 

Target Will Stop Separating ‘Girls’ Toys From ‘Boys’ Toys in Stores. 

“Over the past year, guests have raised important questions about a handful of signs in our stores that offer product suggestions based on gender,” the company said in a press release. “Right now, our teams are working across the store to identify areas where we can phase out gender-based signage to help strike a better balance.” According to Time. 

I remember as a child I never was limited to any toy.  I felt like I could select from both sections of the division.  I grew up playing with Lego's, Lincoln Logs, trains, match box cars but I also had Barbie dolls that married Ninja Turtles.  My mother thankfully never purchased "pretend adult gender specific things"  I didn't have a little kitchen or a pretend vacuum cleaner.  We were encouraged to build things- or draw.  

While I do believe that with the action of playing children learn rules and real life applications. But I think that a child should be allowed to explore and create rule and gender free. I have noticed that the gender specific toys allow for little girls and boys to start taking on the attributes of things they think are socially acceptable.  We need to change the fundamental play in order to have a glimmer of hope of helping change the gender inequality that we are experiencing in 2015. 

When I started designing Construct. a building toy.  I wanted to modernize Lego's and bring the concept of construction and building to a new dimension.  Which is why the concept that you can build off a circle became so appealing.  It defies logic.  How on earth can a structure be constructed out of circles- and why?  I wanted to give both boys and girls the foundation to start constructing something new and different.  It is also mathematically based as well each circle is approx. 3" in diameter so it allows children the opportunity to have a measurable end product.  

Today I went to Target to check out the building aisles- and noticed this:

I am very offended as a woman- I honestly never want to play with toys that are pastel pink and encourage shopping- I want to build adventures.

When I soft launched the product at the Detroit Design Festival what I noticed that actually shocked me was the gender gap with the toy.  Boys were more willing to build and play girls tended to try it for a bit and then leave.  The linger time for boys was hours.  

When this article (link here) was shared with me- it really inspired the internal thought about Construct. a building toy and the barriers it is trying to rip down.  When I created the color ways I did not want to just have a girl and boy version but rather have dynamic colors that both genders could enjoy.

Thank you Target for finally putting a line in the sand- and saying the end to gender specific labels.  Let's let our children decide what they want to play with- instead of gender and color. 

Please let me know your thoughts.