Sex Roles, Vol. 53, Nos.

9/10, November 2005 (

C 2005)

DOI: 10.1007/s11199-005-7729-0

Characteristics of Boys’ and Girls’ Toys

Judith E. Owen Blakemore1,2 and Renee E. Centers1

In Study 1, 292 undergraduates rated 126 toys as to whether they were suitable for boys, girls,
or both. From these ratings, we established five categories of toys: strongly masculine, moder-
ately masculine, neutral, moderately feminine, and strongly feminine. Using these categories,
we constructed four toysets; each consisted of 15 toys, three from each category. In Study
2, 706 undergraduates individually rated the toys from one of the toysets on 26 scales that
measured the toys’ characteristics. We found that girls’ toys were associated with physical
attractiveness, nurturance, and domestic skill, whereas boys’ toys were rated as violent, com-
petitive, exciting, and somewhat dangerous. The toys rated as most likely to be educational
and to develop children’s physical, cognitive, artistic, and other skills were typically rated as
neutral or moderately masculine. We conclude that strongly gender-typed toys appear to be
less supportive of optimal development than neutral or moderately gender-typed toys.

KEY WORDS: toys; gender; masculine; feminine.

Toys play important roles in the lives of young Boys had more “spatial–temporal” toys (e.g., shape-
children. They stimulate pretend play, the develop- sorting toys, clocks, magnets, outer-space toys); they
ment of cognitive skills, and social play with other also had more sports equipment (e.g., balls, skates,
children. Toys are also highly gendered. Boys and kites), toy animals, garages or depots, machines, mil-
girls generally have different toys, and it is important itary toys, and educational and art materials (despite
to know how those toys impact their development. the fact that these may be seen as gender-neutral).
More than 30 years ago, Rheingold and Cook Girls’ rooms contained more dolls, doll houses,
(1975) observed the toys and other objects present and domestic items (e.g., sinks, dishes, stoves). Boys
in 1- to 6-year-old boys’ and girls’ bedrooms. They almost never had domestic toys. Although dolls were
found that boys and girls had the same number of more common for girls, it depended on the kind of
books, musical items, stuffed animals, and the same doll. Girls had six times as many female dolls and
amount of furniture. However, boys had a greater va- nine times as many baby dolls as boys did, but boys
riety of toys, and they tended to have more toys over- and girls had about the same number of male dolls.
all. There were also differences in the kinds of toys In the boys’ rooms, however, “dolls” were usually
that boys and girls possessed. in such categories as cowboys and soldiers, probably
Boys had more vehicles (e.g., toy cars and comparable to today’s action figures.
trucks, and also larger items such as wagons). There Since Rheingold and Cook’s study, other re-
were 375 vehicles in the boys’ rooms and 17 in the searchers have reported on the kinds of toys boys
girls.’ Not one girl had a wagon, bus, boat, kiddie and girls request (e.g., in their letters to Santa Claus),
car, motorcycle, snowmobile, or trailer in her room. or what toys are purchased for boys and girls. Such
studies have consistently shown that girls request and
receive more clothing and jewelry, dolls, and domes-
1 Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, tic and musical items, whereas boys request and re-
Indiana.
2 To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department of ceive more sports equipment, vehicles, military toys
Psychology, Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne, and guns, and more spatial and temporal items such
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46805; e-mail: [email protected]. as clocks (Almqvist, 1989; Bradbard, 1985; Bradbard

619 0360-0025/05/1100-0619/0

C 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.
620 Blakemore and Centers

& Parkman, 1984; Downs, 1983; Etaugh & Liss, 1992; sions (e.g., Can the toy be manipulated? Is it used
Richardson & Simpson, 1982). It is interesting that for symbolic or fantasy versus reality play? Can it
children apparently ask for more stereotyped toys be used to express nurturance? Does it encourage
than the ones parents spontaneously choose, which aggression? Can it be used to construct something
tend more often to be educational or artistic materi- new?). She also had the toys rated by the undergrad-
als suitable for either gender (Robinson & Morris, uates as more suited to boys or to girls.
1986; Robinson, Watson, & Morris, 1984). Never- Miller found that 41 of the 50 toys were rated as
theless, it is clear that both parents and nonpar- either boys’ or girls’ toys. Although most of the toys
ents purchase gender-stereotyped toys for children were rated as more appropriate for one gender or the
(Fisher-Thompson, 1993; Fisher-Thompson, Sausa, other, there were also a few neutral toys (e.g., a rock-
& Wright, 1995), especially for boys. Some studies ing horse, a bank, an Etch-A-Sketch, Play-Doh, and
have also shown that salespeople steer customers some painting and drawing materials). The girls’ toys
in the direction of gender-typical toys for children included dolls, stuffed animals, and domestic items.
(Kutner & Levinson, 1978; Reynolds, 1994; Ungar, The boys’ toys included vehicles, balls, guns, and con-
1982). struction toys. Beyond these broad categories, Miller
There is evidence of some change over the years also found that the boys’ and girls’ toys had strik-
in children’s toy requests. A recent study of chil- ingly different characteristics. Boys’ toys encouraged
dren’s letters to Santa showed that girls were as likely more fantasy play that was symbolic or removed from
as boys to ask for real vehicles, sports equipment, daily domestic life, whereas girls’ toys encouraged
and male dolls, and boys were as likely as girls to re- fantasy play that was centered on domestic life. In
quest clothing and educational or art toys (Marcon & other words, boys could use their toys to build some-
Freeman, 1996). However, girls continued to be more thing new or to imagine flying off to outer space,
likely to ask for dolls and domestic items, and boys whereas girls could use theirs to pretend to iron
were more likely to ask for toy vehicles, military and clothes and wash dishes. Boys’ toys were also rated
outer space toys, action figures, and spatial toys. higher on sociability (permitting play with others as
There are also many studies in which children opposed to solitary play), competitiveness, aggres-
were specifically asked about what toys they like, as siveness, and constructiveness. Girls’ toys were rated
well as observational studies of the toys with which higher on creativity, manipulability, nurturance, and
children play (e.g., Blakemore, LaRue, & Olejnik, attractiveness.
1979; Campbell, Shirley, Heywood, & Crook, 2000; Although Miller did not rate toys on this di-
Carter & Levy, 1988; Martin, 1989; Martin, Eisenbud, mension, Block (1983) once suggested that boys’ toys
& Rose, 1995; Serbin, Poulin-Dubois, Colburne, Sen, are more likely to provide feedback to children than
& Eichstedt, 2001; Servin, Bohlin, & Berlin, 1999). are girls’ toys. Toys such as slot car racers, radio-
Although there are individual differences, the fact controlled cars, or electric trains, which respond to
that boys and girls prefer and play with different toys a child’s manipulations of the controls, are good
is one of the most well-established features of gen- examples of Block’s point. Video games are another
der development in children’s early years. In fact, example. There is, however, no solid research that
some recent research has shown differences in pref- demonstrates that boys’ toys are on the whole more
erences for stereotyped masculine and feminine toys, responsive to children than are girls’ toys.
even among young nonhuman primates (Alexander There are also some content analyses that have
& Hines, 2002). focused on the differences between dolls or other
As boys and girls play with different kinds of human-like figures that are marketed to boys and
toys, we certainly are interested in the impact of these girls. Klugman (1999) examined the characteristics
differences in their play experiences. To understand of Barbie dolls versus action figures such as G.
the implications of boys’ and girls’ play with toys, we I. Joe and WWF figures. Action figure play often
need to know how boys’ and girls’ toys are differ- involves bad guys fighting with good guys. They
ent. Some of the differences between boys’ and girls’ also frequently come with weapons and instructions
toys are obvious, but others are subtler. Some years about how the action figures can use them. Fash-
ago, Miller (1987) examined several characteristics of ion dolls such as Barbie, and the many variations
boys’ and girls’ toys. With the assistance of preschool of this type, usually have appearance-related acces-
teachers, Miller selected 50 toys for young children sories like combs and hair dryers that are used to act
to be rated by undergraduates on 12 different dimen- on the doll rather than for the doll to use. Klugman
Boys’ and Girls’ Toys 621

also pointed out that boys’ action figures are much STUDY 1
more mobile and jointed in several places, whereas
Barbie dolls have joints only at the shoulders and The purpose of Study 1 was to identify systemat-
the hip. The boxes that contain the toys also dif- ically a large and representative group of contempo-
fer. Action figures rarely have pictures of boys on rary boys’ and girls’ toys. We wanted to know what
the packages. Instead, the packages show the fig- kinds of toys are considered to be for boys and girls
ures themselves, often more human-like than the ac- today, as compared to research findings from previ-
tual doll, acting in various complex and highly col- ous decades. We expected that some toys that have
ored illustrations. Language on the packages includes been seen as appropriate for one gender in the past
terms such as “kill” and “destroy.” The packages might now be seen as appropriate for both genders,
for girls’ dolls use pastel colors, and show real girls but that many toys would continue to be associated
playing with, holding, grooming, or gazing at the with a specific gender in predictable ways.
dolls. We can see here a contrast between an em-
phasis on violence and aggression in toys for boys
and an emphasis on appearance, grooming, clothing,
and hairstyles in toys for girls. Of course, in addi- Method
tion to fashion dolls, their clothing, and other acces-
sories, there are numerous other appearance-related Participants
toys for girls. One can purchase such items as pre-
tend makeup, perfume, jewelry, “dress-up” clothes, The participants were 292 (191 women; 101
and plastic, high-heeled shoes as toys for young men) introductory psychology students who re-
girls. ceived partial credit in return for their participa-
Klugman’s analysis is recent, but it focuses on tion. They ranged in age from 18 to 53 years (M =
only two categories of toys—action figures and fash- 21.17; SD = 4.80). The majority of the participants
ion dolls. Much of the research on the types and char- were European American (85.3%); others were
acteristics of boys’ and girls’ toys was done many African American (5.8%), Hispanic (2.7%), Asian
years ago (e.g., Miller, 1987; Rheingold & Cook, (2.4%), Native American (.7%), Biracial (1%),
1975). Since Miller’s (1987) study, there has been lit- and others (1%). Sixteen (5.5%) participants were
tle systematic or quantitative analysis of character- parents.
istics of toys that are associated with boys and girls.
The purpose of the present research was to under-
take such an examination. Materials
In this article, we present the results of two stud-
ies. In the first study, we selected more than 100 Using the Internet, toy catalogs, and advertise-
contemporary children’s toys chosen as representa- ments, the authors and four research assistants es-
tive of several different categories of toys. We at- tablished a pool of 275 color pictures of contempo-
tempted to include every imaginable type of contem- rary children’s toys. We were guided by one general
porary toy, except for electronic toys such as video principle: to locate as many different kinds of toys as
games, because extensive research has been done possible. The toys were then categorized into 27 gen-
and continues to be done on the characteristics and eral classes or categories of toys (see Table I) based
impact of video and computer games (e.g., Anderson on the toys’ obvious qualities (e.g., were they vehicles
& Bushman, 2001; Cassell & Jenkins, 1998; De Lisi or dolls?). We generated these categories in order to
& Wolford, 2002). represent as many possible classes of toys (other than
The toys we selected were rated by undergrad- electronic toys such as video games) that exist for to-
uates as to whether the toys were suited for boys, day’s children.
girls, or for both. The responses led to an iden- At least one toy from each category was selected
tification of five gender-related categories of toys: for use in Study 1. Because some categories were
strongly masculine, moderately masculine, neutral, larger and/or more complex than others, the num-
moderately feminine, and strongly feminine. In the ber of toys selected per category varied from 1 to 11
second study, toys from each of these categories were (M = 4.67; SD = 2.42), with a median of 5 toys per
rated on 26 different scales that measured the toys’ category, for a total of 126 toys. All of the toys are
characteristics. listed in Table II.
622 Blakemore and Centers

Table I. Categories of Toys Used in Study 1 Table II. Ratings of Toys Used in Study 1
Examples of toys Category M SD
Category in the category
Strongly feminine toys
Action figures G. I. Joe; Spiderman; WWF wrestler Ballerina costume 1.40 1.47
Action figure Miniature guns and weapons; WWF Large Barbie head and accessories 1.40 1.14
accessories ring Barbie jeep 1.44 1.18
Small human figures Cowboys and Indians; Polly Pocket Doll accessory pack 1.46 1.29
figures Barbie bicycle 1.48 1.12
Plastic animals Dinosaur; My Little Pony; zoo Barbie clothes 1.48 1.19
animals Barbie doll 1.50 1.32
Stuffed animals Beanie Baby bear; Blue’s Clue; Elmo Lipstick and play makeup 1.50 1.35
Accessories for figures Barn; tree house American girl doll 1.51 1.29
and animals Bratz doll 1.53 1.40
Fashion dolls American girl doll; Barbie doll Jewelry 1.57 1.34
Baby dolls Baby doll Princess costume 1.62 1.48
Doll and accessories Baby doll stroller; Barbie clothes; Toy shoes 1.72 1.57
dollhouse My Little Pony 1.84 1.43
Makeup Large Barbie head and accessories; Baby doll 1.86 1.53
vanity set Polly Pocket figures 1.86 1.40
Dress up clothing Ballerina costume; cowboy costume Vanity set 1.98 1.81
Arts and crafts Etch-a-Sketch; crayons; Play-Doh Tea set 2.10 1.54
Games and puzzles Candy Land; memory Beads 2.11 1.45
Learning skills or LeapPad; magnetic time teacher Dollhouse 2.12 1.68
school materials Easy Bake oven 2.16 1.55
Occupations Doctor kit; firefighter gear Iron and ironing board 2.27 1.61
Science Bug collection set; gears; microscope Baby doll stroller 2.32 1.77
Building or Erector set; Legos; Lincoln Logs Sewing machine 2.33 1.49
construction Pink ice skates 2.97 1.92
Musical instruments Drum; guitar; xylophone Moderately feminine toys
Vehicles Bus; small matchbox cars; helicopter Ken doll 3.13 2.08
Vehicle accessories Airport; police station; slot car Toy kitchen 3.15 1.71
racetrack Ello Creation Systems 3.27 1.87
Ride-on vehicles Foot-powered car; tricycle; wagon Toy food basket 3.53 1.66
Large motor play Swingset; trampoline Brooms/mops 3.66 1.66
Sports Plastic baseball player; basketball Beanie Baby bear 3.94 1.60
hoop; football Vacuum cleaner 3.97 1.50
Weapons Sword Toy store 4.27 1.47
Domestic items Brooms/mops; Easy bake oven; Horses 4.29 1.43
sewing machine Veterinarian costume 4.29 1.63
Playhouses Castle tent Veterinarian kit 4.44 1.43
Other Mr. Potato Head; Slinky; Viewmaster Hamtaro 4.47 1.47
Neutral toys
Candy Land 4.57 1.27
Lite Brite 4.61 1.03
Procedure Cash register 4.73 1.13
Winnie-the-Pooh 4.75 .97
Participants were told that they would be shown Karaoke machine 4.81 1.12
pictures of children’s toys and asked to indicate Elmo 4.89 .75
whether the toys were for boys, girls, or for both. Little people 4.91 .86
Gardening tools 4.93 1.77
Each participant was given a questionnaire that con- Crayons 4.94 .85
sisted of demographic questions (age, gender, ethnic- Doctor kit 5.00 1.01
ity, and how many children the participant had), and Xylophone 5.01 .88
126 color pictures of toys arranged randomly, four Blue’s Clue 5.02 .90
per page. At the top of each page of toy pictures a 9- Magnetic time teacher 5.03 .57
Tricycle 5.03 .72
point scale was provided. The 1, 5, and 9 points were Play-Doh 5.03 .82
labeled as follows: 1 = toy is only for girls; 5 = toy is LeapPad 5.04 .73
for both boys and girls; and 9 = toy is only for boys. Queasy Bake oven 5.04 2.31
Participants took part in small groups (maxi- Etch-a-Sketch 5.05 .88
mum size 15), which were coordinated by one of Trampoline 5.07 .70
Boys’ and Girls’ Toys 623

Table II. Continued Table II. Continued

Category M SD Category M SD
Slinky 5.07 .85 Sports cards 7.75 1.52
Foam board puzzle 5.09 .70 Tool kit 7.76 1.39
Viewmaster 5.10 .61 Spiderman 7.76 1.49
Memory 5.12 .73 Plastic baseball player 7.80 1.68
Crystal growing set 5.14 1.34 Sword 7.80 1.50
Swingset 5.15 .77 Cowboy costume 7.85 1.73
Scooby Doo 5.15 .77 WWF accessories 7.95 1.57
Zoo animals 5.15 .82 Miniature guns and weapons 8.05 1.53
Mr. Potato Head 5.16 .88 G. I. Joe 8.07 1.40
Sponge Bob Square Pants 5.19 .84 Transformer 8.10 1.34
Math flash cards 5.20 .85 Toy soldiers 8.15 1.31
Wagon 5.25 .93 WWF wrestler 8.30 1.26
Bus 5.27 1.00 WWF ring 8.30 1.24
Tree house 5.40 1.28
Wooden blocks 5.47 1.10
Harry Potter 5.50 1.21
Legos 5.51 1.00 five female undergraduates or by the first author.
Scooter 5.52 1.10
After they completed an informed consent form,
Drum 5.56 1.05
Moderately masculine toys the participants answered the demographic items
Guitar 5.61 1.14 and rated the toys using computer-scored answer
Castle tent 5.63 1.21 sheets.
Microscope 5.64 1.14
Foot-powered car 5.65 1.21
Weather forecasting toy 5.71 1.22
Bug collection set 5.71 1.28 Results and Discussion
Barn 5.72 1.36
Grill 5.73 1.54 The ratings of the 126 toys on the 9-point scale
Tee ball 5.97 1.34 can be seen in Table II. We used these ratings to con-
Dinosaur 6.07 1.31
Big wheel 6.08 1.41
struct five gender-related categories of toys: strongly
Volcano creator 6.12 1.34 masculine (>7.0); moderately masculine (5.6–7.0);
Pokemon cards 6.18 1.75 neutral (4.5–5.5); moderately feminine (3.0–4.4); and
Power wheels car 6.21 1.54 strongly feminine (<3.0). The toys in each category
Basketball hoop 6.23 1.43 are identified in Table II.
Space station 6.25 1.52
Wheelbarrow 6.29 1.45
We then used t-tests to examine gender differ-
Gears 6.30 1.86 ences in the rating of each of the toys. Because of
Airport 6.32 1.60 the large number of comparisons, we examined only
Lincoln Logs 6.35 1.45 those differences in the ratings of men and women in
Garage 6.49 1.46 which p < .001 (all ts > 3.33). Men and women dif-
Police station 6.58 1.48
Train set 6.59 1.53
fered in their ratings of only 9 of the 126 toys (7%).
Toy Story figures 6.60 1.60 In all cases, men’s ratings were more gender stereo-
Police officer gear 6.95 1.51 typed, and women’s were more toward the neutral
Strongly masculine toys midpoint of the scale. However, none of these dif-
DragonballZ 7.08 1.60 ferences in men’s and women’s ratings were very
Small matchbox cars 7.13 1.48
Firefighter gear 7.18 1.52
large. The largest difference, for the wheelbarrow
Superhero costume 7.22 1.95 (men’s rating 7.07; women’s rating 5.91), was rated as
Helicopter 7.29 1.65 strongly masculine by men and as moderately mas-
Erector set 7.33 1.51 culine by women. In the other eight cases, the dif-
Slot car racetrack 7.41 1.47 ference between men’s and women’s ratings ranged
Remote-control car 7.46 1.50
Tool bench 7.55 1.49
between .50 and .76 of a rating point. In four cases
Hockey goal, stick, and puck 7.58 1.43 (Lincoln Logs, tee-ball, tool set, and blocks), the
Tonka truck 7.65 1.59 difference in ratings did not change the toy’s cat-
Cowboys and Indians 7.69 1.53 egory; in two cases (Legos and foot-powered car),
Football 7.73 1.37 men rated the toy as moderately masculine, whereas
624 Blakemore and Centers

women rated it as neutral; in two cases (toy hamsters cluded scales to measure several additional qualities
and horses), men rated the toy as moderately fem- (e.g., educational, or focused on occupational devel-
inine, whereas women rated it as neutral. To con- opment) of the toys or skills (e.g., artistic or musical
clude, in general, men’s and women’s ratings were skill) that a child might reasonably be expected to de-
highly similar. velop by playing with them, and which had not been
Study 1 had two purposes. One was to examine used by previous researchers.
how contemporary adults judge the gendered nature
of toys. The results indicate some change over the
past several decades. Some toys previously judged Hypotheses
(Bradbard, 1985; Miller, 1987; Rheingold & Cook,
1975) as being predominantly for boys (e.g., science We hypothesized that girls’ toys would be associ-
toys, Legos, blocks, large vehicles) were often rated ated with appearance and attractiveness, nurturance,
near the neutral point of the scale, as were some (al- and domestic skills. Based on Miller’s (1987) addi-
though apparently fewer) traditional girls’ household tional findings, we predicted that girls’ toys would be
items (e.g., vacuum cleaner). However, it is clear that rated higher on manipulability and creativity. Several
for the most part, toys remain very much associated previous researchers have noted the association be-
with one gender or the other. Toys seen as almost tween boys’ toys and gun play or violence (Goldstein,
exclusively for girls were predominantly associated 1995; Hellendoorn & Harinck, 1997; Klugman, 1999;
with appearance, whereas those seen as almost ex- Watson & Peng, 1992). Therefore, we hypothesized
clusively for boys were associated with aggression or that boys’ toys would be associated with aggression
violence. However, other characteristics of boys’ and and violence. Miller (1987) reported that boys’ toys
girls’ toys need further study. Thus, we used these were more likely to be associated with competition,
ratings to select toys for further study, in order to ex- construction, and sociability, therefore we hypothe-
amine the specific characteristics of boys’ and girls’ sized the same. Based on Block’s (1983) conjecture
toys in more detail. that boys’ toys are more likely to respond to the
child’s input or provide feedback, we predicted that
boys’ toys would provide more feedback in response
to the child’s input. Finally, based on the work with
STUDY 2 nonhuman primates (Alexander, 2003; Alexander &
Hines, 2002), we hypothesized that boys’ toys would
The purpose of Study 2 was to examine in be more likely to involve motion (e.g., cars or balls
more detail the characteristics of boys’ and girls’ that roll along on their own after being pushed), a
toys. As discussed earlier, some years ago, Miller characteristic that may also be related to the devel-
(1987) selected 50 toys for young children and had opment of visuospatial skills. Other characteristics of
them rated by undergraduates on 12 different di- toys were examined, but specific hypotheses about
mensions: manipulability, symbolic play, creativity, the toys were not generated.
sociability, competition, handling, nurturance, con-
structiveness, aggressiveness, attractiveness, appro-
priateness for boys, and appropriateness for girls. In Method
the present research, we selected the boys’ and girls’
toys in advance (in Study 1), and in Study 2, under- Participants
graduates rated them on a variety of different di-
mensions, including several used by Miller. In addi- There were 706 (475 women; 231 men) par-
tion to the scales similar to those used by Miller, we ticipants who took part in the study as an Intro-
added scales to measure qualities that might be asso- ductory Psychology course requirement. They were
ciated with toys (e.g., exciting, fun, requires adult su- drawn from the “subject pool” of the semester af-
pervision, dangerous or risky). We generated some ter that of Study 1’s participants, and therefore it
of the additional scales based on previous research, is very unlikely that they could also have partici-
such as Block’s (1983) suggestion that some toys pro- pated in Study 1. Participants ranged in age from
vide feedback, and Alexander’s (Alexander, 2003; 18 to 54 years (M = 22.48; SD = 6.74), and 176
Alexander & Hines, 2002) suggestion that boys’ toys (24.9%) were parents. Participants’ ethnicities were
are appealing to boys because they move. We also in- European American (85.7%), African American
Boys’ and Girls’ Toys 625

(5.1%), Asian (2.4%), Hispanic (1.6%), Biracial possible, rather than have the ratings of the cate-
(.8%), and Native American (.6%). Participants gories affected by one or two particular toys. The
were asked on a 5-point scale (1 = not at all; 5 = very four different toysets made it possible to have each
frequently) how frequently they interacted with chil- participant rate toys from each gendered category on
dren. The majority (88.5%) interacted with children several scales, yet also to have each category repre-
moderately or more (3 or higher on the scale), and sented by 12 different toys.
34% did so very frequently (M = 3.89; SD = 1.05). Participants were asked to complete the five de-
mographic items (age, gender, ethnicity, parental sta-
tus, and frequency of interaction with children) and
Materials ratings of each of the 15 toys from one of the four toy-
sets. Toys were rated on 26 5-point scales that mea-
Based on the ratings of the toys in Study 1, we sured various qualities that the toys might possess.
constructed four sets of 15 toys, three from each The 5-point scales were anchored by 1= “not at all”
gender category (i.e., strongly masculine, moder- to 5 = “very much.” A color photograph of each toy
ately masculine, neutral, moderately feminine, and and the toy’s name were on a single page accompa-
strongly feminine). The four toysets, and the means nied by the 5-point scale depicted at the top of the
and standard deviations of the ratings for each cate- page, and each of the qualities to be used to rate the
gory of toy, are listed in Table III. toy, numbered in order. The toys were presented in
We developed four different toysets in order to a semi-random order, such that two toys of the same
study the gender categories of toys as generally as gender type were never presented immediately after

Table III. The Four Toysets Constructed in Study 1 for Use in Study 2
Toyset
1 2 3 4
Strongly masculine toysa
Sword WWF wrestler G. I. Joe Toy soldiers
Spiderman Miniature weapons Cowboy costume Remote control trucks
Toolbench Football Slot car racetrack Matchbox cars
M (SD) = 7.70 (.13) 8.03 (.29) 7.78 (.34) 7.58 (.52)
Moderately masculine toysb
Police station Garage Lincoln Logs Space station
Volcano creator Gears Wheelbarrow Basketball hoop
Big wheel Power wheels car Microscope Bug collection set
M (SD) = 6.26 (.28) 6.33 (.14) 6.09 (.39) 6.06 (.31)
Neutral toysc
Wagon Play-Doh Etch-a-Sketch Wooden blocks
Crayons Xylophone Magnetic time teacher Trampoline
Garden tools Doctor kit Tricycle Cash register
M (SD) = 5.04 (.18) 5.01 (.02) 5.04 (.01) 5.09 (.37)
Moderately feminine toysd
Toy store Hamtaro sete Veterinarian costume Veterinarian kit
Brooms and mops Vacuum cleaner Beanie baby bear Horses
Toy kitchen Ken doll Ello creation systems Toy food basket
M (SD) = 3.69 (.56) 3.86 (.68) 3.83 (.52) 4.09 (.49)
Strongly feminine toysf
Tea set Iron and ironing board Baby doll stroller Sewing machine
American Girl doll Baby doll Easy Bake oven Vanity set
Ballerina costume Large Barbie head Barbie doll My Little Pony
M (SD) = 1.67 (.38) 1.84 (.44) 1.99 (.43) 2.05 (.25)
a >7.0 on 9-point scale.
b5.6–7.0 on 9-point scale.
c 4.5–5.5 on 9-point scale.
d 3.0–4.4 on 9-point scale.
e Small plastic hamsters and accessories.
f <3.0 on 9-point scale.
626 Blakemore and Centers

each other, and all gender types were presented in The mean ratings of each type of toy, averaged
each third (i.e., five toys) of the toyset. The order across the four toysets, on each rating scale can be
of presentation was constant across all participants found in Table IV. Each of the 26 rating scales was
and was matched for the four toysets. The order of analyzed with a 5 (gender type of toy—repeated
the scales was the same for all 15 toys, and for all measure) by 2 (gender of participant) mixed-design
four toysets, and was as presented below. Partici- ANOVA. Because of the large number of possi-
pants completed their ratings on a computer-scoring ble significant results, we present here only findings
sheet. The 26 scales were: (1) able to be manipu- in which p < .001. Post-hoc tests were done using
lated; (2) encourages creativity; (3) encourages social repeated measures ANOVAs to compare pairs of
play with other children; (4) encourages nurturance; means, with p set to <.001, and all Fs (1, 699) > 10.00.
(5) involves construction; (6) aggressive or violent;
(7) attractive; (8) fun for a child aged between 4
and 8 years; (9) requires adult supervision; (10) artis- Hypotheses About Girls’ Toys
tic; (11) scientific; (12) focuses on appearance or at-
tractiveness; (13) expensive; (14) musical; (15) edu- Our first hypothesis was that girls’ toys would be
cational; (16) exciting; (17) moves on its own; (18) associated with appearance and attractiveness (Scale
encourages cooperation with others; (19) encourages 12). As can be seen from the means in Table IV, and
competition; (20) sustains attention; (21) develops confirmed by post-hoc comparisons, strongly femi-
physical skills; (22) encourages domestic or house- nine toys were rated higher on this scale than were all
hold skills; (23) provides an actual response to child’s other categories of toys, including moderately femi-
input (e.g., moves when pushed or has a controller); nine toys. Moderately feminine toys were also rated
(24) develops occupational skills; (25) dangerous or higher than the other three categories. Therefore,
risky; (26) develops cognitive or intellectual ability. this hypothesis was confirmed.
Related to this characteristic were the ratings of
the toy’s attractiveness (Scale 7). To us, this meant
Procedure that the toy itself was attractive to look at, not that it
encouraged a focus on the child’s own appearance, as
Participants took part in small groups (maxi- did Scale 12. Although we did not hypothesize that
mum size 15), which were coordinated by one of five feminine toys would be more attractive than other
undergraduate research assistants (3 men; 2 women) toys, strongly feminine toys were rated as more at-
or one of the authors. Participants were randomly as- tractive than all other categories of toys, including
signed to complete a questionnaire associated with moderately feminine toys. Moderately feminine toys,
one of the four toysets. Toyset 1 was rated by 182 however, were rated as more attractive than strongly
participants (125 women; 57 men); toyset 2 by 177 masculine toys only. Therefore, this finding indicates
participants (117 women; 60 men); toyset 3 by 172 that strongly feminine toys were seen as more attrac-
participants (117 women; 55 men); and toyset 4 by tive than other toys, but moderately feminine toys
174 participants (116 women; 58 men). were seen as only somewhat so.
We predicted that girls’ toys would be rated
higher on nurturance (Scale 4). Strongly feminine
Results and Discussion toys were rated higher on this scale than were toys in
every other category, and moderately feminine toys
Ratings of Masculine, Feminine, and Neutral were rated higher than all remaining categories. It is
Toys on the 26 Scales interesting to note that neutral toys were also rated as
more nurturant than both masculine categories, and
We used four different toysets so as to repre- moderately masculine toys were rated as more nur-
sent the five gendered categories of toys by as many turant than strongly masculine toys. In other words,
toys as possible. However, we were not especially in- as the means in Table IV demonstrate, toys were
terested in any differences among the four toysets, rated from high to low on nurturance following ex-
but rather in the consistent findings about each cate- actly their degree of association with girls’ toys. The
gory (e.g., strongly feminine toys) across all toysets. less the toy category was associated with girls, the
Therefore, we present our findings collapsed across less nurturant the toys were rated. Therefore, this hy-
the four toysets. pothesis was strongly and consistently supported.
Boys’ and Girls’ Toys 627

Table IV. Ratings of Gender Categories of Toys on Rating Scales in Study 2

Gender category of toy
Scalea SF MF N MM SMb
Scale 1: Able to be manipulatedc 3.13 (1.04) 3.18 (1.04) 3.26 (.95) 3.35 (.98) 3.36 (.94)
Scale 2: Encourages creativity 3.42 (.85) 3.31 (.90) 3.59 (.79) 3.33 (.75) 3.10 (.95)
Scale 3: Encourages social play with other children 3.27 (.92) 3.39 (.87) 3.20 (.91) 3.27 (.86) 3.64 (.80)
Scale 4: Encourages nurturance 3.06 (.92) 2.93 (.93) 2.14 (.81) 1.98 (.82) 1.74 (.78)
Scale 5: Involves construction 1.90 (.77) 1.93 (.77) 2.61 (.74) 2.95 (.83) 2.23 (.80)
Scale 6: Aggressive or violent 1.26 (.51) 1.32 (.52) 1.49 (.59) 1.98 (.75) 3.42 (.84)
Scale 7: Attractive 3.56 (.79) 3.06 (.85) 3.09 (.81) 3.01 (.87) 2.93 (.94)
Scale 8: Fun (for a child between 4 and 8 years) 3.59 (.79) 3.37 (.79) 3.77 (.69) 3.63 (.77) 3.72 (.78)
Scale 9: Requires adult supervision 1.96 (.75) 1.72 (.73) 2.46 (.78) 2.75 (.83) 2.42 (.87)
Scale 10: Artistic 2.44 (.87) 1.94 (.84) 2.79 (.72) 2.21 (.81) 1.76 (.80)
Scale 11: Scientific 1.48 (.63) 1.73 (.67) 2.11 (.80) 2.64 (.71) 1.57 (.63)
Scale 12: Focuses on appearance or attractiveness 3.51 (.79) 2.68 (.97) 2.44 (.87) 2.34 (.97) 2.39 (.99)
Scale 13: Expensive 2.87 (.76) 2.34 (.74) 2.32 (.65) 2.82 (.68) 2.34 (.75)
Scale 14: Musical 1.29 (.53) 1.24 (.48) 1.57 (.73) 1.23 (.49) 1.17 (.44)
Scale 15: Educational 2.18 (.77) 2.52 (.91) 2.93 (.76) 2.81 (.69) 1.73 (.68)
Scale 16: Exciting 2.83 (.89) 2.67 (.84) 3.23 (.77) 3.41 (.80) 3.44 (.79)
Scale 17: Moves on its own 1.33 (.53) 1.23 (.47) 1.35 (.54) 1.64 (.77) 1.52 (.69)
Scale 18: Encourages cooperation with others 2.42 (.90) 2.66 (.91) 2.60 (.89) 2.70 (.88) 2.69 (.89)
Scale 19: Encourages competition 1.68 (.68) 1.66 (.71) 2.12 (.82) 2.38 (.82) 3.30 (.97)
Scale 20: Sustains attention 2.94 (.78) 2.71 (.80) 3.10 (.73) 3.21 (.76) 3.24 (.80)
Scale 21: Develops physical skills 2.15 (.90) 2.06 (.92) 2.97 (.87) 2.68 (.79) 2.39 (.92)
Scale 22: Encourages domestic or household skills 3.43 (.87) 3.17 (.99) 2.21 (.75) 1.93 (.77) 1.66 (.71)
Scale 23: Provides an actual response to child’s input 2.60 (1.11) 2.40 (1.14) 3.17 (1.07) 3.21 (1.10) 2.93 (1.07)
Scale 24: Develops occupational skills 2.49 (.83) 2.64 (.97) 2.59 (.80) 2.63 (.89) 2.05 (.80)
Scale 25: Dangerous or risky 1.60 (.64) 1.44 (.60) 2.01 (.67) 2.32 (.76) 2.47 (.93)
Scale 26: Develops cognitive or intellectual ability 2.38 (.83) 2.51 (.86) 3.00 (.78) 2.89 (.76) 2.17 (.80)

Note: SF = strongly feminine; MF = moderately feminine; N = neutral; MM = moderately masculine; SM = strongly masculine.
aA 5-point scale ranging from 1 = not at all to 5 = very much.
bAll Fs (4, 165) > 40, p < .001.
c Mean rating averaged across all four toysets; standard deviation in parentheses.

We predicted that girls’ toys would be rated the means in Table IV, all of the categories of toys
higher on “encourages domestic or household skills” tended to be rated near the midpoint on this scale
(Scale 22). Again, strongly feminine toys were rated (between 3.13 and 3.36 on the 5-point scale), but girls’
higher on this scale than were toys in every other toys were at the low end of these ratings.
category, and moderately feminine toys were rated For creativity (Scale 2), again the means ranged
higher than all remaining categories. Neutral toys between 3.10 (strongly masculine) and 3.59 (neutral),
were also rated as more domestic than were both which indicates that all categories were rated as mod-
masculine categories of toys, and moderately mascu- erately creative. The ranking was neutral toys as most
line toys were rated as more domestic than strongly creative, strongly feminine next, followed by moder-
masculine toys. As was the case with nurturance, and ately gender-typed toys of both types, and strongly
as can be seen in Table IV, toys were rated from high masculine toys being lowest, but there was little ab-
to low on the encouragement of domestic skills to the solute difference among any of the categories. This
extent that they were seen as girls’ toys. Therefore, provides little compelling evidence that girls’ toys are
there is also a strong and consistent support for this more creative than boys’ toys.
hypothesis.
The next two hypotheses about girls’ toys were
based on Miller’s (1987) findings. She reported that Hypotheses Associated With Boys’ Toys
girls’ toys were rated higher on manipulability and
creativity, and therefore we predicted these findings. We hypothesized that boys’ toys would be as-
With respect to manipulability (Scale 1), there was sociated with violence (Scale 6). Strongly masculine
no support for the hypothesis. As can be seen from toys were rated much higher than all other categories
628 Blakemore and Centers

of toys. Although the difference was not nearly as 2003), such as the toys roll or move along a tra-
striking as was the case with strongly masculine toys, jectory. Therefore, we examined responses to Scale
moderately masculine toys were rated as more vio- 17. None of the categories of toys were rated very
lent than all other categories, and neutral toys were high on this scale; all means were less than 2.0 on
rated as more violent than either category of fem- the 5-point scale. Nonetheless, masculine toys (both
inine toys, which did not differ from each other. categories) were rated more likely to move on their
Therefore, there is strong and consistent support for own than were neutral and feminine toys (both cate-
this hypothesis: strongly masculine toys are clearly gories). Perhaps the best conclusion is that, although
more violent than all other categories, and feminine most boys’ toys do not move on their own, more toys
toys are seen as less violent than neutral and moder- that do move on their own or roll across the floor
ately masculine toys. (cars, trucks, balls, etc.) are found among boys’ toys
We also hypothesized that boys’ toys would be than among neutral or feminine toys.
rated higher on competitiveness (Scale 19). Strongly Miller reported that boys’ toys were more likely
masculine toys were rated as more likely to encour- to encourage social play (Scale 3), therefore we
age competition than were all other categories of tested that hypothesis. The ratings for all five cate-
toys, and moderately masculine toys were rated as gories of toys were between 3 and 4 on the 5-point
more so than the other three categories. Neutral toys scale, which suggests that our raters thought that
were rated higher than either category of girls’ toys, many of the toys could stimulate play with other chil-
which did not differ from each other in competitive- dren. Post-hoc tests showed that strongly masculine
ness (both quite low). Therefore, this hypothesis was toys were rated higher than all other categories, fol-
very clearly supported: boys’ toys are seen as more lowed by moderately feminine toys. Strongly femi-
competitive than girls’ toys. nine and moderately masculine toys were equal to
The next hypothesis was that boys’ toys would each other, and both were thought to be more stimu-
provide more feedback in response to the child’s in- lating of social play than were neutral toys. However,
put (Scale 23). The toys rated highest on this scale none of these differences were large, and even neu-
were neutral and moderately masculine toys, which tral toys were rated above the midpoint of the scale.
were rated equal to each other and higher than all This provides little compelling evidence that, in gen-
of the other categories. Strongly masculine toys were eral, boys’ toys are more likely to encourage social
rated next highest, higher than both categories of play than are girls’ toys.
feminine toys. This pattern of findings provides some
support for the hypothesis that boys’ toys provide
more feedback; however, the most reasonable con- Scales for Which No Predictions Were Made
clusion is that neutral and moderately masculine toys
are somewhat more responsive to the child’s input We included several other scales for which we
than are other categories of toys. did not make specific predictions about the out-
The next hypothesis was that boys’ toys are comes. The means for each of these rating scales can
more likely to encourage the development of spa- be found in Table IV. Here we will simply summarize
tial skills. The scale most relevant to this question is the general trends.
Scale 5—“involves construction.” Moderately mascu- With respect to excitement, danger, and the
line toys were rated highest on this scale, higher than need for supervision, boys’ toys were rated higher.
all other categories. Neutral toys were next in line, as On the excitement scale, boys’ toys were at the top
they were rated higher than the remaining three cat- and girls’ at the bottom of the ratings. Similarly, boys’
egories. Strongly masculine toys were thought to in- toys were rated as more dangerous than girls’, and
volve construction more than either category of girls’ more in need of adult supervision (although, so were
toys, which did not differ from each other on this neutral toys on that scale). Somewhat related, boys’
scale. Therefore, feminine toys were rated lower on toys were also thought to be more likely to sustain a
the scale, and the pattern of moderately masculine child’s attention.
and neutral toys being rated higher than other toys Several of the scales measured characteristics of
can again be seen. toys that were related to the development of vari-
Another feature of the toys that may be re- ous skills and cognitive capacities. These included:
lated to visuospatial skills is movement, especially artistic (Scale 10), musical (Scale 14), scientific (Scale
movement that requires visual tracking (Alexander, 11), educational (Scale 15), encouraged cooperation
Boys’ and Girls’ Toys 629

(Scale 18), developed physical skill (Scale 21), devel- Table V. Summary of Findings for Highest Rated Toys
oped occupational skills (Scale 24), and developed Strongly masculine
cognitive or intellectual ability (Scale 26). Toys were Aggressive or violent
also rated as to whether they were expensive (Scale Encourages competition
Dangerous or risky
13), and were fun (Scale 8).
For measures of whether the toy stimulated Strongly and moderately masculine
Moves on its own (SM > MM)
cognitive ability, was scientific, and/or educational, Exciting (SM = MM)
the consistent pattern was for neutral and moder- Sustains attention (MM = SM)
ately masculine toys to be rated higher than strongly Moderately masculine and neutral
masculine or any feminine toys (especially strongly Provides an actual response to child’s input (MM = N)
feminine). Sometimes, neutral and moderately mas- Involves construction (MM > N)
culine toys were rated equal, and sometimes one cat- Needs adult supervision (MM > [N = SM])
Scientific (MM > N)
egory (MM or N) was rated higher than the other,
Develops cognitive or intellectual ability (N > MM)
but they were always clustered together at the top of Educational (N > MM)
the ratings. The message is clear: neutral and mod- Develops physical skill (N > MM)
erately masculine toys (but not strongly masculine) Neutral
were rated as the most likely to stimulate intellec- Creative (N > others)
tual and scientific skills. Regarding the development Artistic (N > others)
of occupational skills, the strongly stereotyped (es- Musical (N > others)
Develops occupational skill (N = MM = MF)
pecially masculine) toys were rated lower than the Fun (N = SM)
moderately gender-typed and neutral toys.
Strongly feminine
On some of the other ratings, neutral toys were Focuses on appearance and attractiveness
rated highest. This pattern held for artistic skill as Toy is attractive
well as physical skill (although here, moderately mas- Nurturant
culine toys were a close second). Almost no toys were Encourages domestic or household skills
seen as musical, but neutral toys were rated highest No compelling or consistent differences
on that scale as well. All categories were rated above Expensive
Able to be manipulated
the midpoint on the “fun” scale, with small differ- Encourages cooperation with others (although SF < others)
ences among them, but again, neutral toys were at the Encourages social play (although SM > others)
top of the ratings (although equal to strongly mascu-
line toys).
Strongly feminine toys were rated as less likely Gender Differences and Interactions
to encourage cooperation than any other type of toy.
No category was rated as especially expensive; all As discussed above, each analysis of the scales
were below 3 on the 5-point scale, although the most was a 5 (gender category of toy—repeated measure)
expensive toys were strongly feminine and moder- by 2 (gender of participant) mixed-design ANOVA.
ately masculine toys. Again, because of the large number of potentially sig-
An overall recap of the toys’ ratings can be nificant findings, we report only findings that are sig-
found in Table V. In this table, the type of toy is pre- nificant at p < .001 (F > 10.00).
sented, followed by the rating scales with which that There were six main effects of participant gen-
toy category was associated. When the category of der that met these criteria. The scales were: encour-
toy (e.g., strongly masculine) was clearly associated aging creativity, sustaining attention, needing adult
with that scale (e.g., aggressive or violent), the scale is supervision, and being attractive, exciting, and fun.
listed as one associated with that toy category. When In all cases, women rated the toys higher on these
other categories were similarly rated, that is also indi- various scales. However, in all cases, there were also
cated in Table V. This table therefore provides a use- significant interactions between gender and the type
ful summary of the association between the various of toy. In the case of a seventh scale (nurturance),
scales and the gender-related toy categories. It is in- there was no main effect of participant gender, but
teresting to note that no characteristic defines moder- there was a significant interaction between toy cate-
ately feminine toys—they are similar to strongly fem- gory and participant gender.
inine toys in their characteristics, but typically with The interactions between participant gender and
somewhat lower ratings on the same scales. toy category demonstrate that women rated some
630 Blakemore and Centers

categories of toys higher on these scales, and that than men did, but there were no differences between
there was no difference between men’s and women’s men and women in ratings of the neutral or boys’
ratings of other categories. ANOVA was used to toys. On the attractive scale, women rated the girls’
compare men’s and women’s ratings of each toy cat- toys higher, but men rated the strongly masculine
egory, with p set at <.001, as previously. The ratings (but not the moderately masculine) toys as more
and results of the ANOVAs can be seen in Table VI. attractive than women did. On the exciting scale,
For four of these interactions (nurturance, cre- women rated all of the categories as more exciting
ativity, attention, and fun), the pattern was the same: than men did, except for strongly masculine toys (no
women rated both categories of girls’ toys higher difference between men’s and women’s ratings).
It is reasonable to sum up the pattern of these six
Table VI. Interactions Between Participant Gender and Toy
interactions (with some exceptions) as demonstrating
Ratings
that women were more positive in their ratings (e.g.,
Women’s Men’s the toy is more attractive, more exciting, more fun) of
Scalea ratings ratings F (1, 692)b
girls’ toys than men were, whereas men and women
Toy encourages nurturance were more alike in their ratings of neutral and boys’
Strongly feminine 3.16 (.92) 2.87 (.87) 14.82
toys on these scales.
Moderately feminine 3.00 (.93) 2.76 (.93) 10.61
Neutral 2.14 (.82) 2.17 (.79) ns The final interaction produced a different pat-
Moderately masculine 1.95 (.82) 2.05 (.83) ns tern. Women rated neutral and moderately mascu-
Strongly masculine 1.72 (.78) 1.82 (.81) ns line toys as being in greater need of adult supervision
Toy encourages creativity than men did, and there were no differences between
Strongly feminine 3.55 (.87) 3.17 (.74) 33.08
men’s and women’s ratings on the need for supervi-
Moderately feminine 3.42 (.90) 3.09 (.88) 20.78
Neutral 3.63 (.79) 3.50 (.77) ns sion of toys in the other categories.
Moderately masculine 3.38 (.74) 3.24 (.77) ns
Strongly masculine 3.10 (.95) 3.13 (.97) ns
Toy sustains attention GENERAL DISCUSSION
Strongly feminine 3.06 (.80) 2.71 (.69) 33.54
Moderately feminine 2.83 (.81) 2.46 (.71) 34.92
Neutral 3.15 (.73) 3.03 (.74) ns This article describes two studies in which boys’
Moderately masculine 3.28 (.79) 3.10 (.71) ns and girls’ toys were rated on their gender-typicality
Strongly masculine 3.24 (.82) 3.28 (.77) ns (Study 1) and on their qualities and characteristics
Toy is fun (Study 2). Little research on this topic has been done
Strongly feminine 3.78 (.76) 3.17 (.70) 96.28
during the past two decades. There are two major
Moderately feminine 3.51 (.78) 3.04 (.71) 53.55
Neutral 3.80 (.70) 3.70 (.70) ns strengths to these findings. First, a large number of
Moderately masculine 3.66 (.79) 3.56 (.74) ns toys were systematically selected and rated as to their
Strongly masculine 3.67 (.79) 3.81 (.79) ns gender-typicality. These ratings should be useful to
Toy is attractive other researchers in order to select toys that are
Strongly feminine 3.75 (.73) 3.16 (.74) 96.24
roughly equivalent in their degree of gender typical-
Moderately feminine 3.19 (.84) 2.79 (.81) 34.30
Neutral 3.14 (.82) 2.99 (.78) ns ity for stimuli in their research. Such a set of ratings
Moderately masculine 3.03 (.89) 2.97 (.81) ns did not exist previously in the published literature,
Strongly masculine 2.85 (.96) 3.10 (.88) 11.39 and researchers have sometimes chosen a few toys
Toy is exciting as representative of boys’ and girls’ toys that are not
Strongly feminine 3.07 (.85) 2.33 (.75) 127.05
really equal in their degree of stereotyping. For ex-
Moderately feminine 2.86 (.80) 2.27 (.77) 81.69
Neutral 3.29 (.79) 3.09 (.69) 13.80 ample, in this set of ratings, most dolls were rated as
Moderately masculine 3.47 (.81) 3.27 (.80) 11.21 more strongly feminine than most toy cars were rated
Strongly masculine 3.40 (.80) 3.54 (.77) ns as masculine.
Toy needs adult supervision Second, four different toysets (15 toys each)
Strongly feminine 2.01 (.73) 1.88 (.77) ns
were constructed based on these ratings of gender-
Moderately feminine 1.74 (.73) 1.72 (.72) ns
Neutral 2.57 (.79) 2.25 (.73) 22.81 typicality, and the toys were subsequently rated on 26
Moderately masculine 2.85 (.83) 2.57 (.80) 19.35 different scales that measured various qualities and
Strongly masculine 2.49 (.88) 2.31 (.85) ns attributes of children’s toys. Because so many toys
aA 5-point scale ranging from 1 = not at all to 5 = very much.
were used as representative of each category, these
bDegrees of freedom varied slightly from analysis to analysis due ratings should not be affected by the specific ratings
to missing data; all p values <.001. of one or two toys from any of the toysets.
Boys’ and Girls’ Toys 631

Study 1 demonstrated that toys are still seen as developmental progression. Toy play is also an inte-
strongly gender stereotyped in very predictable ways. gral part of the process of children’s gender develop-
Dolls and toys focused on domestic activities were ment. This is so much the case that children’s pref-
consistently seen as being for girls; weapons, vehicles, erences for and their knowledge about the gendered
and action figures that represent aggression or vio- nature of toys have often been used as a measure of
lence were consistently seen as being for boys. How- their gender development.
ever, there were many toys that were seen as gener- We can see that toys do provide gendered expe-
ally appropriate for children of both genders. riences. Girls are likely to have experiences with their
In Study 2, we confirmed that girls’ toys were toys that emphasize the development of nurturance
more likely to be rated as focused on appearance and domestic skills. It is reasonable to assume that
and attractiveness, and were more likely to be seen such experiences would also benefit boys, because in
as attractive themselves. Girls’ toys were also rated the modern world the care of children and the home
as more nurturant and more likely to focus on the is increasingly being done by people of both genders
development of domestic skills. We did not confirm (Barnett & Hyde, 2001; Wood & Eagly, 2002).
the hypotheses based on previous research that girls’ Girls are also likely to have experiences that em-
toys would be higher on manipulability or creativity. phasize the importance of attractiveness and appear-
We confirmed that boys’ toys were more likely ance. This was found to be especially the case for
to be rated as violent than were girls’ toys. Also con- strongly feminine toys, and in many ways it was the
firmed was the finding that boys’ toys were more defining feature of this category. There has been par-
competitive. Although the previous research did not ticular concern about the impact of fashion dolls such
lead directly to these predictions, boys’ toys were also as Barbie on girls’ views of themselves. Clearly, these
rated as more sustaining of attention, more exciting, toys come with accessories and clothing that empha-
more fun, more dangerous or risky, and more in need size appearance and grooming, and girls do focus on
of adult supervision than were girls’ toys. the dolls’ physical attractiveness as what they like
We predicted that boys’ toys would be more about them (Markee, Pedersen, Murray, & Stacey,
likely to develop spatial skills through their use for 1994). It is certainly arguable that this is a problem-
construction, and through their ability to move on atic aspect of strongly feminine toys.
their own and hence stimulate visual tracking. Al- Boys are more likely to have experiences with
though boys’ toys were found to be more likely to toys that are violent and aggressive and that involve
move on their own, the overall ratings on this scale competition, danger, risk, and excitement. Indeed, vi-
were generally low. It is reasonable to conclude that olence in particular was one of the defining features
toys that move on their own (e.g., vehicles and balls) of strongly masculine toys. We suggest that this is
are more likely to be among boys’ toys, but that many possibly the most problematic aspect of boys’ toys.
boys’ toys do not move on their own, and some neu- Certainly there has been grave concern about vio-
tral and girls’ toys also do. lence in television and video games (Anderson &
Boys’ and neutral toys were rated higher on the Bushman, 2001; Bushman & Huesmann, 2001), both
“construction” scale, but it was the moderately mas- of which are more likely to be part of boys’ experi-
culine toys that topped the ratings, followed by neu- ences than girls.’ Most of the concern about violence
tral toys. We also predicted, based on a suggestion in boys’ toys has dealt with guns (Watson & Peng,
made some years ago by Block (1983) that boys’ 1992), although there has been some analysis of the
toys would provide more feedback in response to the extent to which the promotion of action figures cen-
child’s input. Again, the highest rated toys were the ters on aggression and violence (Klugman, 1999). To
moderately masculine and neutral toys. our knowledge, there has been no previous mention
We did not confirm a prediction that, in gen- of the extent to which boys’ toys are associated with
eral, boys’ toys would be more likely to encourage danger, risk, and excitement.
social play. All categories were generally thought to Boys may be more likely to have experiences
do so to a moderate degree, and some of both boys’ with their toys that stimulate the development of spa-
and girls’ categories (i.e., strongly masculine, mod- tial skills, although such features were more likely
erately feminine) were rated relatively higher than to be associated with moderately masculine and
other toys. neutral toys than with strongly masculine toys. In-
Young children spend many hours playing with deed, among the most compelling findings of the
toys, and these activities certainly contribute to their present research is the extent to which neutral and
632 Blakemore and Centers

moderately masculine toys were rated higher on sev- turies, there is little direct evidence that the doll play
eral scales related to developing various skills, espe- does increase the nurturance they show to younger
cially as compared to strongly stereotyped toys for ei- children. Also, the evidence that play with blocks
ther gender. Neutral and moderately masculine toys or other construction toys, or play with toy vehicles
were rated higher on their educational value, their whose movement can be tracked, increases spatial
scientific qualities, and their stimulation of physical skills, is hard to come by in the published literature.
and cognitive skills. In some cases, moderately fem- Our understanding of children’s development would
inine toys were rated higher than strongly feminine be served by an increase in such research.
and/or strongly masculine toys, and in other cases, For the moment, let us assume that the ratings
moderately feminine toys were rated equal to them of the toys in these studies are in fact related to the
in these generally desirable skills. Nonetheless, the skills that children develop. If so, then by playing
strongly stereotyped toys—boys’ and girls’—were al- with strongly stereotyped toys, girls can be expected
ways at the bottom of the ratings. to learn that appearance and attractiveness are cen-
In a couple of other instances, this general trend tral to their worth, and that nurturance and domes-
was held in a more limited way. Neutral toys were tic skills are important to be developed. Boys can be
also thought to be more artistic and musical. In expected to learn that aggression, violence, and com-
terms of the development of occupational skills, only petition are fun, and that their toys are exciting and
strongly masculine toys were consistently rated lower risky.
than other categories. However, another message is clear: strongly
There are obvious limitations in these studies. stereotyped toys appear to be less than desirable on
The ratings were done by undergraduates, although many fronts. We found that to be the case for both
approximately 25% of them were parents, and the strongly masculine and strongly feminine toys. In the
majority of them interacted with children on a reg- contemporary world, children’s development is prob-
ular basis. The major limitation, of course, is that we ably best served by exposure to moderately stereo-
did not examine the actual impact of the toys on chil- typed toys (especially moderately masculine toys, but
dren’s behavior, but only the ratings of adults as to to some extent moderately feminine toys also) and
their beliefs about the toys’ potential impact. gender-neutral toys, rather than to strongly gender-
There is research that does show that children’s stereotyped toys. Both boys’ and girls’ development
toys and games do impact their development. For could be enhanced by learning domestic skills, as
example, the presence of toys such as guns and ac- well as by learning to build with construction toys.
tion figures has been shown to increase the level Children of both genders would benefit from play
of aggressive play (Goldstein, 1995; Hellendoorn with toys that develop educational, scientific, phys-
& Harinck, 1997; Watson & Peng, 1992). In addi- ical, artistic, and musical skills. In terms of provid-
tion to increasing aggression (Anderson & Bushman, ing toys to enhance children’s development of a vari-
2001), video games have been shown to improve ety of skills, it seems probable that parents would be
certain cognitive and spatial skills (De Lisi & more willing to provide moderately stereotyped and
Wolford, 2002; Green & Bavelier, 2003; Greenfield, neutral toys for both boys and girls, than they would
deWinstanley, Kilpatrick, & Kaye, 1996). One re- be to provide strongly cross-gender-stereotyped toys
cent study (Cherney, Kelly-Vance, Glover, Ruane, & for either.
Ryalls, 2003) showed that preschool children played
at a more complex level with traditionally girls’ toys
than with any other type of toys. In that study, the ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
toys that elicited complex play were kitchen materi-
als, baby dolls, and associated materials. In our stud- The authors thank Meagan Grzanka, David
ies, these toys (except for the baby doll itself) were Hatcher, Nicole Kreider, Samantha Lauer, Joy
rated as moderately feminine rather than strongly Nagel, Josiah Nelson, Melinda Toliver, and Jonathan
feminine. Sholl for their assistance with data collection.
However, considering the extent to which toys
are a part of children’s lives, it is surprising that so
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