If you're heading to Hamleys in the run-up to Christmas, don't expect to find the Barbie off your daughter's wish list in the pretty, pink girl's section. After voicing her disgruntlement over the 'gender apartheid' present in the toy store, blogger Laura Nelson's campaign for unisex sections, has been put into action.
Instead of pink labelling for girls and blue for boys, Hamleys has introduced plain white signs with red lettering throughout the store. The toys have also had a switch around, and are now organised by type rather than the stereotypical gender expected to play with them.
Nelson maintained girls don't exclusively like 'domestic, caring and beauty activities', and boys shouldn't be limited to toys 'geared to action and war, with little scope for creativity'. Yet according to the basic principles of 'brain sex', we are ever-so-slightly born with a tilt of interest. Baby girls come into the world with a brain more concerned with social context, while boys immediately receive greater gratification from the physical world, exploring it and taking things apart, according to Dr Anne Moir, neuropsychologist and author of Brain Sex. A whole store change around thus seems like changing convention for the sake of changing convention.
Consumers concerned about navigating the store's new unisex friendly map shouldn't be too alarmed, however. Though the girl's section might not be highlighted in its girly glory on the sign, the dolls' dresses and Barbie memorabilia still gravitate together in a mass of pink and glitter. Call us crazy, but is it wrong to deny little girls the ultimate princess paradise? Like Santa's grotto is a treat at Christmas time, a toy shop is a treat in the run-up to birthdays and other present-giving times. And if a little girl skips towards the dolls surely parents, nurseries and brand advertising are to blame for this? A toy store merely sets out its levels to make the shopping experience easiest for its customers.
Hamleys, meanwhile, denied the changes were due to balking from bloggers, maintaing that the revisions were down to 'improving customer flow'. All in the name of festivity, eh?
Picture credit: vaniljapulla
