Tag: toys

California Wages War on . . . Gendered Toy Aisles

Beginning on January 1, 2024, any large retailer in California that fails to provide “a reasonable selection” of products in a “gender neutral section . . . regardless of whether they have been traditionally marketed for either girls or boys” will be fined $250. Subsequent violations of the new gender-neutrality mandate — which will still allow gender-specific toys and aisles at stores — will cost them $500. Assembly Bill 1084 was signed into law by California governor Gavin Newsom this past Saturday, purportedly justified by the fact that gender-segregating “clothing and toys sections of department stores . . . incorrectly implies that their use by one gender is appropriate,” according the bill’s author, Assemblyman Evan Low (D., Silicon Valley). Here’s what Low wrote in a judiciary committee statement on AB 1084, per the Washington Post:

“Traditionally children’s toys and products have been categorized by a child’s gender. In retail this has led to the proliferation of [science, technology, engineering and mathematics]-geared toys in a ‘boys’ section and toys that direct girls to pursuits such as caring for a baby, fashion, and domestic life,” the lawmaker wrote. “The segregation of toys by a social construct of what is appropriate for which gender is the antithesis of modern thinking.”

“Modern thinking,” of course, means progressive ideology. Actual science has decades of serious, peer-reviewed research showing that there are innate and biologically determined differences between men and women that begin to surface at a very early age. Understandably, those differences horrify legislators like Evan Low: The possibility of natural differences between groups undermines the idea that disparate outcomes necessarily result from unjust social conditions, which is the entire basis of the modern social-justice project. But the difference between men and women is actually one of the greatest miracles of the human condition. We fit together — right down to the very structure of our bodies, our complimentary natures make us capable of mutual love, and point us toward our place in a rationally designed cosmic order. We are fearfully and wonderfully made for each other. Why would we ever want to destroy that?

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UPDATE: Hasbro Keeps ‘Mr.’ Potato Head, The ‘Modern Makeover’ Of ‘Gender-Neutral’ Name Will Not Happen

Hasbro revealed Thursday that it was renaming Mr. Potato head toy a ‘gender-neutral’ name and the Mr./Mrs. ‘pronouns’ will be dropped from the toy’s characters. This change was set to appear in the fall and Hasbro thought after 70 years it needed a ‘modern makeover’

Now Hasbro has decided to announce again that the ‘Mr. Potato Head’ will not be going anywhere as well as Mr. and Mrs. will remain as their own characters. It is more obvious now when the first announcement happened, the company wanted to test the waters as to how the internet would react.

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Mr. Potato Head to Become “Gender Neutral” to Allow Kids to Create “Same-Sex Families”

Toy giant Hasbro has announced that Mr. Potato Head will become gender neutral ‘Potato Head’ in order to encourage kids to create “same sex families.”

Yes, really.

The company is dropping “Mr.” from the name in a move “designed to break away from traditional gender norms, particularly when it comes to creating Potato Head families,” according to Fast Company.

The change will help children “create same-sex families or single-parent families” as Hasbro seeks to lean away from representing the “traditional family structure.”

“Culture has evolved,” said Kimberly Boyd, an SVP and GM at Hasbro. “Kids want to be able to represent their own experiences. The way the brand currently exists—with the “Mr.” and “Mrs.”—is limiting when it comes to both gender identity and family structure.”

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California Bill Requires ‘Gender Neutral’ Stores, Fines Retailers $1000 For Having Separate ‘Boy’ And ‘Girl’ Toy Departments

California’s Assembly is slated to consider a new bill requiring department store childrens’ sections to be largely “gender-neutral” in order to combat “prejudice” and “judgment” against gender non-conforming children.

“Large retailers that sell toys, clothes, and other children’s items in California would have to devote floor space to merchandise marketed to both boys and girls under a new bill,” Politico reported earlier this week. “Stores would be able to sell the same products they do now as long as they maintain some areas where shoppers can find all toys or clothes, regardless of gender-based marketing, under CA AB2826 (19R) from Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell). It would apply to department stores with 500 or more employees beginning in 2023.”

Lowe told Politico that the idea for the bill, which he also introduced last year to little effect, came from one of his staffers, who claims her daughter wanted an item in the “boys” section but felt slighted because she felt the toy was designated for a male child.

“This is an issue of children being able to express themselves without bias,” Lowe told the outlet.

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Hasbro Recalls Toy With Secret Button on ‘Private Area’ That Makes Doll ‘Gasp and Giggle’

A “Troll” doll made by Hasbro was revealed to carry a secret button on its “private parts” that made the children’s doll “gasp and giggle” when pressed. The revelation of the button and its inappropriate sexual connotations sparked a social media firestorm and a Change.org petition that has amassed nearly half a million e-signatures.

The “Trolls World Tour Giggle and Sing Poppy” doll was exposed across social media, accumulating tens of thousands of engagements. The question “Is @Hasbro normalizing grooming & facilitating child abuse?” was asked in one tweet that showed a video of a disgruntled mother showcasing the doll.

The narrator to the video exposing the doll’s button began by saying: “I wanted to do a quick video because I find this disturbing, and I find it something that needs to be shared.

“As you all know, stuff that has been going on in the world about the sex trafficking in kids and the stuff that is thrown in our kids’ faces to kinda groom them, and make them kind of a little bit more oblivious to things that are really happening.”

The narrator goes onto explain: “It was my daughter’s birthday a couple of days ago and she turned two. And she was given this gift: a little Poppy doll–it is adorable.”

She then goes onto outline the features of the doll, including the 10 phrases and sounds that the doll makes when a button on its belly is pressed, but no mention of the button in the doll’s intimate parts under her skirt.

The woman filming touches the doll’s belly to demonstrate the promised feature on the box, causing the doll to sing. She then reveals a button on the doll’s “private” area that makes a “gasping sound” when pressed, before reiterating the lack of any mention of the “private” button on the box.

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