Gender-neutral Easy Bake Oven due in 2013

[SuperMillionaire]

Gender-Neutral Easy-Bake Oven? Hasbro Responds to 13-year-old Petitioner with New Design | Team Mom - Yahoo! Shine (http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/gender-neutral-easy-bake-oven-hasbro-responds-13-024200950.html)

After a 13-year-old New Jersey girl named McKenna Pope asked for a gender-neutral Easy Bake Oven for her little brother, Hasbro has announced that it will make one that will be due in 2013.

Typically, such toys are considered "feminine" and "girly," but if we see girls playing with boys' toys, then why can't boys play with girls' toys? Interestingly enough, while home cooking is mainly associated with women, restaurant cooking is associated with men, many of whom are quite masculine and manly, I must add.

If your little boy asked for an Easy Bake Oven, would you give one to him?

[krissy]

yes

[Jowy]

i got one when i was eighteen, it was totally awesome.

[Pike]

Queasy Bake Oven is superior

[Goldenboko]

I have a real oven in my apartment. :p

[Pumpkin]

I've always wanted an easy bake oven :(.

[Jinx]

No I wouldn't, because Easy Bake Ovens are shit.

[kotora]

Re-designing a product to make it "look gender neutral" doesn't seem very gender neutral to me.

[Goldenboko]

Re-designing a product to make it "look gender neutral" doesn't seem very gender neutral to me.

It is if it is entirely grey.

[Faris]

If your little boy asked for an Easy Bake Oven, would you give one to him?

Hmm, that can go either way...
Yes so that I don't have to do all the baking.
No because get out of my kitchen or I'll hit you with a hot spoon >:O

[Shoeberto]

My nephew got one (or found my sister's old one, idk) and he loves the thing. They have to keep buying new mixes for him to bake. It's only weird if you make it weird.

[kotora]

Re-designing a product to make it "look gender neutral" doesn't seem very gender neutral to me.

It is if it is entirely grey.

They're still conforming to ideas of what constitutes gender (in this case, design choices such as the color schema) and removing them in order to make the product more appealing to men. What part about it is gender neutral?
I guess at least it helps in getting rid of the (incredibly retarded) idea that boys aren't supposed to have easy bake ovens.

[Goldenboko]

Re-designing a product to make it "look gender neutral" doesn't seem very gender neutral to me.

It is if it is entirely grey.

They're still conforming to ideas of what constitutes gender (in this case, design choices such as the color schema) and removing them in order to make the product more appealing to men. What part about it is gender neutral?
I guess at least it helps in getting rid of the (incredibly retarded) idea that boys aren't supposed to have easy bake ovens.

If it's entirely grey, then it's neither boy-ish or girl-ish. >:0

[Jinx]

I think if they put penises all over it, it'd appeal to the little boys AND the little girls.

[Old Manus]

If black and silver are the only colours I'm allowed then I don't want to be gender neutral. I learned that during my Linkin Park phase.

[Laddy]

My sister had an Easy Bake Oven. I tore that trout up. :cool:

[Balzac]

I just used sticks set on fire in a circle of rocks.

[Sephex]

Or, you can teach your boy to cook straight up. Have all the ladies in da crib--literally.

[Yar]

My nephew got one (or found my sister's old one, idk) and he loves the thing. They have to keep buying new mixes for him to bake. It's only weird if you make it weird.

Pretty much, yeah. I know there are "girl toys" and "boy toys", but why is cooking considered a feminine thing? Many celebrity chefs are male.

[Mirage]

What's gender un-neutral about that Easy Bake Oven? The colors most certainly are not.

[krissy]

purple is a great color
http://www.radaronline.com/sites/radaronline.com/files/photos/image_20110115/wenn3167357.jpg

http://cdn.windows7themes.net/wallpaper/saints-row-the-third-wallpaper-1.jpg

[Mirage]

I love purple.

If you couldn't tell by my custom title. Although that's more lavender than purple.

[DMKA]

I wasn't aware toy appliances were "gender specific" to begin with.

[krissy]

http://memearchive.net/memerial.net/4965/i-gave-my-daughter-dolls-and-toy-cars.jpg

[Mirage]

Whatever was supposed to be in that post doesn't seem to show up for me.

[krissy]

To avoid perpetuating gender stereotypes, I gave my daughter a mix of dolls and toy cars to play with. This is what happened. - Imgur (http://imgur.com/gallery/AT2Ak)

[*Laurelindo*]

It seems like absolutely everything has to be extremely gender-neutral these days.
It's getting kind of ridiculous, tbqh.

[Shlup]

Even when I was a kid I was appalled by this attempt to make a boy-friendly Easy Bake Oven:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljyxvdHCCK1qhpzp8o1_500.jpg

It's nice to see them just make a regular damn oven.


It seems like absolutely everything has to be extremely gender-neutral these days.
It's getting kind of ridiculous, tbqh.

Yeah, next they'll be making a Barbie that thinks she's a doctor! Gender roles are there for a reason!

[blackmage_nuke]

Even when I was a kid I was appalled by this attempt to make a boy-friendly Easy Bake Oven:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljyxvdHCCK1qhpzp8o1_500.jpg

It's nice to see them just make a regular damn oven.


Dammit I came here to post about this device but Im one post too late

Frankly Im surprised they havent made creepy crawlers for girls with butterflies instead of centipedes

[kotora]

It seems like absolutely everything has to be extremely gender-neutral these days.
It's getting kind of ridiculous, tbqh.

Except it's not and gender roles are reinforced pretty much in every piece of culture. Maybe less so in Sweden, but it doesn't help if people like you are holding these kinds of attitudes like yours.

[Madame Adequate]

Who has the first name "McKenna"? :eyebrow: That's just... that ain't right.

[Miriel]

It seems like absolutely everything has to be extremely gender-neutral these days.
It's getting kind of ridiculous, tbqh.

I know right?! How dare society try and neutralize harmful gender stereotypes. Why should boys be encouraged to cook? That's what girls are for.

[blackmage_nuke]

I disagree, we shouldnt alter objects to reflect gender neutrality, that only reinforces the thought that certain colours/things belong to certain genders. Humanity should try to change it's thought process such that we view the objects as gender neutral no matter how pink and flowery they are. That is the path to true gender neutrality. Though some people dont like flowers or the colour pink but if studies show there is a correlation between young cookery entusiasts and fans of flowers and pink or whatever, no one should stop them making thier stuff in those designs.

[Jiro]

I find it funny that when LEGO goes out of their way to do something it's like "oh wow good guy LEGO" but when Hasbro does the same it's like "I think this actually reinforces gender stereotypes rather than breaking them down as it purports to do."

Look at it this way. Some girl asked Hasbro to help her brother out. They're doing it, because it means good publicity. Fuck gender roles and whatever. LEGO didn't cop flak for failing to show that boy the harsh truth that life is not static and sometimes you will miss out.

[Miriel]

Ok here's the deal.

1) It is a good thing that Hasbro should widen their marketing/branding so that boys can feel more comfortable asking for things like the Easy Bake Oven which are traditionally heavily targeted to girls ONLY.
2) The fact that both children and adults are uncomfortable with boys playing with what are considered feminine toys is the real problem here. Somehow that little boy knew that being associated with girly things was wrong and shied away from it. THAT is the big underlying issue. Girls play with boy toys and it's totally fine. Some girls even brag about being tomboys. Characters like Arya Stark in Game of Thrones mocks other girls and how she's not like THEM, and people love her for it. Boy stuff = good for everybody! Yay! Girl stuff = ONLY for girls. If you are not girl and you engage with girly stuff, that is bad.
3) Offering "gender neutral" Easy Bakes that are blue, black and silver is not being gender neutral. It's reinforcing gender roles in color. Purple and Pink should not be reserved for girls only. Just like Blue and black shouldn't just be for boys. Real progress would be if there were a pink Easy Bake with a boy on the box and people didn't give a trout about it because why should colors have exclusivity?

I wish the complaint had focused less on the colors and more on the fact that it's ALWAYS girls on the boxes and in the commercials. Because I think that's the bigger issue.

In the end, everyone should know how to make cookies. Everyone. Then there will be more cookies for all.

[blackmage_nuke]

I find it funny that when LEGO goes out of their way to do something it's like "oh wow good guy LEGO" but when Hasbro does the same it's like "I think this actually reinforces gender stereotypes rather than breaking them down as it purports to do."

Look at it this way. Some girl asked Hasbro to help her brother out. They're doing it, because it means good publicity. Fuck gender roles and whatever. LEGO didn't cop flak for failing to show that boy the harsh truth that life is not static and sometimes you will miss out.

Theyre going through a lot of trouble for a problem which can be solved by the sister sticking some pokemon stickers on a normal easy bake oven.

[Jiro]

And yet the rationale behind it would be that it is an investment in their image, except apparently we're just ignoring the gesture in favour of a debate of gender roles. If Hasbro had said "fuck you he can play with pink things" then we probably would've been more angry at the fact they are disrespecting customers and less proud of their breaking down of gender stereotypes. It's a lose-lose situation for them apparently.

[blackmage_nuke]

What they shouldve said was "we will soon be releasing easy bake ovens in a variety of colours to make them feel more personal for the customers, the fact that our products have recently recieved intrest from males is purely coincidental"

[Pike]

Pink is a terrible color anyway, they should just never make anything in pink.

[Mirage]

No it is not!

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink? - The Smithsonian Mag (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-Did-Girls-Start-Wearing-Pink.html?c=y&page=1)

It would seem that the whole gendered colors thing is a more recent invention of the human fancy.

I find it funny how the stereotype of "women-in-the-kitchen" is so prevalent when the restaurant industry is traditionally and predominantly male. It is like this schism between the domestic and the industry.

[fire_of_avalon]

It is exactly a schism between domestic, homemaking behavior and industrial, professional behavior. Women aren't traditionally chefs because being a chef is hard and it's a profession and women can't have that because they have to make babies.

[Raistlin]

I disagree, we shouldnt alter objects to reflect gender neutrality, that only reinforces the thought that certain colours/things belong to certain genders. Humanity should try to change it's thought process such that we view the objects as gender neutral no matter how pink and flowery they are.

I agree with this and Miriel's comments; having to change something to make it "gender-neutral" is in itself a reinforcement of gender roles. But at least they've stopped marketing it exclusively for girls, which is a step in the right direction. Baby steps, I guess.


Boy stuff = good for everybody! Yay! Girl stuff = ONLY for girls. If you are not girl and you engage with girly stuff, that is bad.

Obviously girls have cooties and are icky.