Target’s decision to stop gendering toys is making some people angry

posted by Letha Dawson Scanzoni

August 17, 2015

In an article for Slate, Amanda Marcotte points out the contradictions in the strong reaction some people are having to Target’s decision to stop promoting certain children’s products as being  gender-specific.  Franklin Graham has even called for a boycott of Target.  Apparently, some conservative Christians think that by removing signs specifying items for girls and items for boys  is some sort of plot against nature  and contrary to what God intended.  Marcotte argues that “ if gender preferences are inborn and natural, then they should sort themselves out, even if Target has fewer signs that say “boys” and “girls.” The only reason to relentlessly gender everything is to teach and enforce gender roles, which you would not have to do if gender preferences were as “natural” as these folks would like to think.”

Read  Marcotte’s post, “Gendering Toys Isn’t about Nature or Tradition. It’s about Ideology.”

Related Reading:

Target’s Press Release

“Yes, Target, I do want my daughter to conform to her gender” (Matt Walsh, The Blaze)

10 Questions for Target Critics Regarding “Boys’ Toys” and “Girls’ Toys “ (Rachel Held Evans)

What Franklin Graham Is Wrong About Today (Vol. 1): Gendering Toys (Benjamin Corey, “Formerly Fundie,” blog on Patheos)

Letha Dawson Scanzoni is an independent scholar, writer, and editor, and is the author or coauthor of nine books. In 1978, she and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott wrote Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?, one of the earliest books urging evangelical Christians to rethink their views on homosexuality (updated edition, 1994, HarperOne). More recently, Letha coauthored (with social psychologist David G. Myers) What God Has Joined Together: The Christian Case for Gay Marriage (HarperOne, 2005 and 2006). Another of Letha’s most well-known books is All We’re Meant to Be: Biblical Feminism for Today, coauthored with Nancy A. Hardesty (Word Books, 1974; revised edition, Abingdon, 1986; updated and expanded edition, Eerdmans, 1992). Letha served as editor of Christian Feminism Today in both its former print edition (EEWC Update) and its website for 19 years until her retirement in December 2013.

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