One of the first things you learn as a child is to play. At first, of course, it's things like peekaboo and exploring shapes, but as we grow older, we are often introduced to games and toys pushed on us because of our gender. Even though the two aren't related, video games tend to be marketed toward boys and dolls toward girls, but what do these simple childhood things say about the society we live in?
As video games became more popular with the rise of modern technology, marketers targeted them at boys because many believed competitive, action-packed games appealed only to boys; as a result, developers made games more aggressive and violent. This is clear in some of the most popular video games to date, such as Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Grand Theft Auto. All games that involve things like shooting, stealing, and killing other “people.” Young kids and adults alike are given an environment where they are taught that actions that would break the law in real life have no consequences.
On the other hand, young girls are handed dolls at a young age to dress up, feed, and play house with. Even though the message behind dolls has evolved, and companies like Barbie use dolls to show that girls can be anything- doctors, astronauts, engineers, or entrepreneurs- the doll's foundational nature remains controlled. From its physical movement and appearance to its careers and friends, the doll presents itself as a reflection of a woman whose every element can be controlled. Hey, I owned a Barbie doll or two when I was younger, and I fully agree that playing with those dolls built my imagination, but at the same time, I can’t stop wondering whether the mere act of playing with a doll reflects the role of a woman in society.
So, you can either grow up thinking that there are places where you can be violent and reap no consequences, or you can grow up thinking that every part of you can be controlled or catered to. This implicit understanding, though, stays with people in groups for different lengths of time. By the time they become teenagers, girls play with dolls or toys less often. On the other hand, boys tend to spend more hours video-gaming because they face less regulation of screen time and have more agency. So, the biases developed through each experience differ; understanding the world through dolls can fade as more experiences make childhood play a thing of the past, whereas that developed through video games only expands.
Though I can’t go and conduct a behavioral study at the moment to prove this, it is interesting to wonder if there is a relationship between countless hours of your life from childhood being spent acting violently in an environment that blurs the lines between fiction and reality and the state of the world we live in being violent. If nothing grounds you in reality, like a strong support system, what will stop the two worlds from eventually blurring?
More than that, it is also bizarre how normalized play is for one gender over the other; the older they get, girls are given more responsibility and expected to carry themselves a certain way once they’re no longer children, but no one bats an eye if a 32-year-old father of two spends the day playing Call of Duty. As we continue to move toward a more equitable world, these societal norms still hold us back. In my senior year of high school, I remember mentioning to someone that I had played Grand Theft Auto growing up, and he was shocked and couldn’t believe that I could play such a thing, but when I said, “Yeah, my brother was obsessed with it, so I would play sometimes,” their demeanor changed; they told me, in that case, that makes sense. As if playing an action video game is something only boys can do.
Even before we figure out who we are, maybe even what our favorite color is, we are given things that put us in a box, confining us to specific actions tied to a specific gender. Over time, as with everything in this world, these things influence us: our decisions, who we become, and what we put out into the world. Something so invisible to us can reinforce an agenda that's been around since we were kids.
Maybe video games and dolls are purely there for entertainment, but it’s hard not to notice how much they show us about what’s “normal.” We grow up surrounded by these things, and even if we don’t realize it, it’s like we’re soaking up ideas about who we are supposed to be. I’m not saying it’s all bad or that it all leads to negative effects, but it makes me think about how much of what we do comes from what we were handed as kids. So maybe next time you see a toy or a game, whether for yourself, your siblings, or someone else, just take a moment to reflect on why it’s meant for that person. Sometimes when we can question the little things, we can make big changes.
