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Development Topics
Why Boys Are So Different
Boys Play with Toys Differently
Almost every child knows it to be true: Boys play with toys differently than girls do. Until the 1970s, this idea wasn’t seriously questioned.
Then Marlo Thomas, Gloria Steinem and other feminists proposed the radical idea (without scientific support) that boys and girls are exactly the same except for their reproductive organs. This idea was espoused in their best-selling books and by Phil Donahue and other TV talk show hosts. It was also picked up by “professors and professionals who should have known better,” says Dr. James Dobson.
During the 1970s and 1980s, toy manufacturers and retailers were pressured to make toys “unisex” — that is, not specifically for boys or girls, but rather for both genders.
Like other companies, Toys “R” Us implemented this “gender-neutral” approach to marketing toys, without success. After studying more than 10,000 customer surveys, Toys “R” Us discovered what we should have always known: Boys and girls are interested in different kinds of toys!
Even when boys do play with girl toys, they play with them differently. Let a couple of boys play with a dollhouse, for instance, and they’ll be catapulting the baby carriage and furniture off the roof in no time. Hasbro Toys discovered this while trying to design a “unisex” dollhouse years ago.
Boys will take just about any toy — or object — and turn it into a weapon of war in no time. This is true even if their parents try to shield them from movies, TV shows or books that mention weapons.
— Dr. James C. Dobson
Adapted from Bringing Up Boys by Dr. James C. Dobson. Copyright © 2001 Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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