Children, Gender, and Social Structure: An Analysis of the Contents of Letters to Santa Claus

Richardson, John G.; Simpson, Carl H.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1982.tb01333.x

Cited by 17 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…These patterns most frequently relate to gender. They show that girls and boys prefer and choose toys according to traditionally feminine and masculine traits, i.e., toys that represent a private and a public sphere, respectively (e.g., Richardson & Simpson, 1982). This pattern is also evident in studies of toys found in children's bedrooms.…”

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confidence: 80%

“…Virtually none of the previous researchers reported any gender differences between the total Nelson amount of toys in girls' and boys' toy collections (e.g., Nash & Fraleigh, 1993;Pomerleau et al, 1990;Rheingold & Cook, 1975) or in the amount of requests in girls' and boys' letters to Santa Claus (e.g., Bradbard & Parkman, 1983;Marcon et al, 1994;Richardson & Simpson, 1982). Those studies were carried out in the United States and Canada.…”

mentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Toys that represent the private sphere (including dolls' houses, kitchen appliances, utensils, furniture, clothing accessories, doll paraphernalia, and jewelry), are more frequently owned by, preferred by, and wished for by girls. Toys that represent the public sphere (such as tools, transportations, garages, machines, and military equipment) are more frequently owned by, preferred by, and wished for by boys (e.g., Nash & Fraleigh, 1993;Pomerleau et al, 1990;Richardson & Simpson, 1982;van der Kooij & de Groot, 1977). Those studies were conducted in the United States, Canada, and The Netherlands.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Children?s Toy Collections in Sweden?A Less Gender-Typed Country?

Nelson

2005

Sex Roles

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The aim of this study was to describe and analyze differences between girls' and boys' toy collections in a country that strongly emphasizes gender equality (Sweden). The study was based on the assumptions that toy collections reflect social values in the society where they are found and that Sweden has less gendered values than do many other countries. The toy collections of 152 3-and 5-year old Swedish children were inventoried, and the results were analyzed and discussed in relation to previous research on children's toy collections and toy preferences in North America and Western Europe. The Swedish toy collections were found to be gender-typed in ways similar to those reported in previous research in other countries.

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confidence: 80%

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confidence: 93%

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confidence: 99%

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Children?s Toy Collections in Sweden?A Less Gender-Typed Country?

Nelson

2005

Sex Roles

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“…Richardson and Simpson (1982) link children's exposure to and play with toys to the cognitive development process, which posits that across cultures, children are active in seeking and organizing information about gender identity, constancy, and valuing (Arliss 1991). Scheibe (2007) explains that as children develop, their understanding of the world is "qualitatively different," explaining how children interpret and make sense of media as they mature (p. 65).…”

Section: Toys and Gender-role Expectanciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As toys represent ideologies of our culture and are instrumental to children's play, we wanted to determine how toys were marketed to children in relation to gender-roles. Consequently, future research studies could accurately ascertain how exposure to toy commercials may influence children's imaginations, play, fantasy beliefs, and aspired social roles (Richardson and Simpson 1982;SuttonSmith 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Progression on Nickelodeon? Gender-Role Stereotypes in Toy Commercials

Kahlenberg

Hein

2009

Sex Roles

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A content analysis was conducted to examine gender-role stereotypes in toy commercials airing during the after-school hours in October, 2004, on the U.S. Nickelodeon network. The sample included 455 toy commercials, which were analyzed for the type of toy, number of identifiable boys and girls, gender portrayal, gender orientation, age of children, type of interaction, setting, and color of setting. The majority of girl and boy characters were featured in gender-specific toy commercials, and there were more identifiable girls than boys. Almost onehalf of the characters were children (6-to-10-years old) who predominantly played indoors, in mixed colored settings, and engaged in cooperative play. Boys were more likely than girls to be shown outdoors and playing competitively.

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Who Likes Bratz? The Impact of Girls’ Age and Gender Role Orientation on Preferences for Barbie Versus Bratz

Karniol

Stuemler-Cohen

Lahav-Gur

2012

Psychology and Marketing

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Why did Bratz dolls appeal to young girls? To answer this question, sixty Israeli girls, 6–11 years old, completed Boldizar's (1989) Children's Sex Role Inventory (CSRI) and were later asked how many Barbies and Bratz dolls they have. After being shown pictures of a Barbie and a Bratz doll, they were asked as to their preference, justified their preference, and explained why girls in general like the dolls. Feminine girls indicated having a larger number of dolls of both types and all girls reported having more Barbies; yet nearly all girls reported preferring to play with Bratz. Feminine girls were least likely to offer positive descriptors of Bratz dolls. The dolls’ beauty was more often cited as reasons for younger girls’ liking both dolls, and such explanations were independent of girls’ gender role orientation. Gender role orientation did not impact any of the categories of preference justification for Barbie, but it did impact justifications for liking Bratz, with androgynous and undifferentiated girls more often citing Bratz's clothes as justifications for liking the doll. The data indicate that Bratz's appearance and clothing appealed primarily to girls with nontraditional gender role orientations.

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Children, Gender, and Social Structure: An Analysis of the Contents of Letters to Santa Claus

Cited by 17 publications

References 5 publications

Children?s Toy Collections in Sweden?A Less Gender-Typed Country?

Children?s Toy Collections in Sweden?A Less Gender-Typed Country?

Progression on Nickelodeon? Gender-Role Stereotypes in Toy Commercials

Who Likes Bratz? The Impact of Girls’ Age and Gender Role Orientation on Preferences for Barbie Versus Bratz

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