The Lavender Aisle

This week mega-retailer Target announced that it will be doing away with gender signage in the children toy,entertainment, and home goods department.  The move comes after parents complained about the pink aisle, a pink fluffy princess zone full of all things sugar and spice and everything nice.  How do you grow up to love math, or science, or reading, or adventure if the only toys and goodies you see are focused on looking pretty and dressing up?  You can’t.

I grew up with three brothers and I never wanted to be left behind because I was a girl.  Seeing my older brothers as role models meant I saw worlds of possibility blocked from the view of the pink isle.  Now all girls, with brothers or not will see a world of play more like the real world that they will grow into.  Boys likewise will be freed from early training in hyper masculinity and have new opportunities for play and imagination–like this sweet easy bake oven.

Let’s hope target is just the first of many stores that open up the traditionally binding boundaries of gender in boys and girls play and products.  Here’s to more lavender!

Author: Susan X Jane

Susan X Jane is a diversity educator, speaker, and trainer and coach. A former professor and media literacy activist, she now consults with organizations looking to make sense of our current cultural shift. She thinks a lot about media and race…a lot...and writes and speaks about media…and race... and encourages everyone she meets to think about the way our identity shapes our experiences, ideas, and beliefs about the world. If you're reading this, she wants you to think about it too. Want to talk about it? Let's go. View all posts by Susan X Jane