to find the latest ELC catalogue offensive.

[nannyn]

Got the lastest ELC catalogue through the door yesterday. Was really shocked by the gender stereotyping, it's totally ott.

Since when did a garage have to be pink for a girl to play with it? Why is the lovely play house which used to be wooden now bright pink?

I know some girls at a certain age go through 'pink' phases but these are toys for younger children. I would quite happily buy pink for a boy but would everyone?

There are so many colours that are neutral why can't they use these.

Pink sells.

Don't see it as a problem. Why do we have to be so politically correct when it comes to children's toys? Lots of girls (including my own) love pink. How, exactly will that affect them in later life? It won't.

Toys are just toys - things that children will play with and enjoy. They're not political statements.

Riven - I haven't seen toys for disabled children or disabled models in any catalogues - so what do you do - boycott all of them?

Pink only sells because shops tell parents and children that girls only like pink. It is a vicious circle.

Riven I totally agree!

TiggyD I know that but isn't it a bit sad that we are forcing girls into defined roles at such a young age. We should be encouraging them to do & be anything they want.
I'm not suggesting getting rid of all pink toys but it's gone too far!

I've boycotted ELC for a while now, ever since they joined forces with Mothercare. I won't buy from Mothercare because of their poor customer service.

ELC, on the other hand, irritates me because of the gender stereotyping and also because it is all so overpriced.

I don't so much have a problem with eg a pink ballerina or even something where the colour is decoration, like a pink chair or something, but it is when there is a lovely bright coloured one for boys and a pink one for girls.

In a way it would be better to have a blue one for boys and a pink one for girls, but having the "normal" one for boys and the "special pink" one for girls just send the message that maleness is normal, and to be female is odd.

Plus, doesn't it make you sick, just a little bit, in your mouth? When you see a little girl's room that is entirely sickly pick and signs saying "princess" and "Daddy's pretty little girl", and tiny tiny little high heels for the child to practise thrusting her pelvis forward and making her legs look longer?

Pink sells- to my DS!
He has a pink toothbrush, his choice.
He always chooses the mermaid matey bubble bath too.
And if he was in the market for a new garage, I guarantee he'd choose the pink one.

I don't like elc though, because it's stupid expensive, so YANBU

I hate ELC with every fibre of my being....after the shittest customer service ever from them!

But this pink crap they have IS ridiculous! It's true toys ARE just toys....so why have them in either "boys" or "girls"? just have them as one colour!

I bought a steering wheel toy thing that atatches to the buggy, in "boys" colours, gave it to charge (girl) when the cashier said "Oh is it for her? we have it in pink over there"

ffs!

Oh can we not talk about heels for little kids...THAT makes me sick, just a little bit, in my mouth!

just wrong

Exactly, it is almost as if girls can't cope with the world, and if they are allowed cars, globes, etc, they can only have them if they are protected by having them in a special pink version so it isn't too scary for the little girly.

ELC dressing up

Glad I'm not alone in this!
Someone brought my dd pink mega blocks, I put them up the loft can't bring myself to get them out. Have brought some lovely brightly coloured duplo off ebay instead. I'm sure she'll love playing with them, even if she is a girl! (apparently construction is a 'boys' toy)

have you ever read the descriptions of the characters in the Happyland play sets? The boys all like jumping and action, the girls are completely passive. ELC are so dodgy, they produce half their stuff in primary/genderless colours and then do pink versions, like their washing machine...grrr, just as lego have started producing pink sets, scrabble a pink version and so on.
check out the pinkstinks campaign
www.pinkstinks.co.uk/

I object to all the plastic - there is almost no room for children to make their own or use their imaginations.

I really hate the play irons, play kettles and all the 'play' baby stuff for dolls.

Lego, generic wooden track and duplo all the way ..

Go on Riven!!

I have 2 dds - one has decided pink is her favourite colour, the other prefers blue. It's just a colour. I choose presents for my dds based on what I think they might like, not what statement it makes.

Why do they do so much pink? The same reason every other retailer does pink.

Because they do get asked for it! I don't work for ELC, but where I work, the number of times I get told "oh I'd buy it if it was in pink" for certain toys.

Stop blaming the fecking shops and beat up the parents who ask for pink.

It's just another fucking colour fgs.

It's a shame because ELC used to be really anti gender stereotyping.

I wish someone would open a shop that just sold toys, just nice normal toys in primary colours with no sections for girls or boys.

I ended up with 2 very girly girls, no indoctrination there I'm very outdoorsy and sporty. But neither of mine would entertain anything unless it was in PINK, or lavender at a push. Blue was a 'boys' colour and, in their minds, banned.

I can only conclude that some children are hotwired to naturally like pink. Once you take the associations away from it, really it is a nice colour. And that really is it, just a colour like every other colour.

YANBU.

My DS wanted some musical instuments for his birthday. Drum kits came only in blue and keyboard/mic set thing he wanted only in pink. He asked me why they did drums for boys and keyboards for girls as they both like to play both. It was his 6th birthday .

I have noticed tho many items come in red or pink - whats that about?? I would suggest red and yellow perhaps, both primary and both acceptable.

Riven as ever you make a valid point. I nearly passed out when looking through the SN toys mag at school yesterday and saw the toy with cogs that turn and plays music. £15 pounds highstreet, £115 with switch access - WTF is that all about??

Its not even so much the pink, its the concept ELC have about "Girls" toys and "Boys" toys

I'm expecting baby #1 and was amazed at the newborn clothes/ nursery decor in the Next Directory when it arrived yesterday. Wow.

Despite my MN name, I'm not very into pink (I work in breast cancer, hence the 'pink' sprung to mind when I registered). I was hoping that this pink/blue thing stopped once children were beyond six months!

Incidentally I went into the ELC for the first time last week. Wow- what a lot of rubbish. Seemed expensive and I failed to see the 'L' element of most of the stuff.

agree with notso