Would anyone like to join in an effort to convince retailers to stop categorizing toys by gender?

[OneHandWavingFree]

Following on from this thread and similar ones, a few of us are interested in discussing ways to send a message to retailers that it is not acceptable to designate 'boys' and 'girls' toy aisles which reinforce the message that science and adventure are "boys stuff", while girls should be primarily occupied with looking 'sexy' or practicing for domestic drudgery.

The first steps might be to draft a letter and identify a few retailers to target for an email campaign. Other ideas of how to get the message across are very welcome too, though.

Would anyone like to join in?

OK Folks. I have made the final round of changes to the survey. I am going to launch it unless I hear any shouts of 'no' before 9pm!

Draft links:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/DF6NN2M
www.surveymonkey.com/s/6TWFRPK

STILL DONT FILL IN REAL ANSWERS HERE YET!

"One question - are we aiming the fb page at adults only?"

Facebook is meant to be for 13+ only so not really the right place for something aimed at children. But good question IMO - to do something aimed at children would be a really nice idea. How would we do that I wonder?

If Once it takes off, a blog aimed at kids, maybe? Or a website? Or something else ... ? Somewhere they could upload their own pics and there are some resources for them to use to get involved.

OK, I'm home now and not looking at it on a phone! I will try to stop rewording now I promise! But here's another go at putting our message into as few words as possible:

"Toys are for fun, for learning, for stoking imagination and encouraging creativity. Children should be free to play.

Isn't it time that shops stopped limiting our children's imagination by telling them that some toys are only suitable for girls and some for boys?

The answer is simple ? we?re asking retailers and manufacturers to sort toys by theme or function, rather than by gender, and let the children decide which toys interest them most.

Let toys be toys - for girls and boys."

That sounds good to me.

We have to remember that we can elaborate on the aims of our campaign in notes/wall posts

I like it.

One thing: I don't think you can say "we are asking" until we are actually asking I.e there is petition.

Until then I would keep it as "Why can't retailers and manifacturers etc..."

Last comments on the survey.

Are we accepting international entries (I don't see why not?! It's not our focus, but doesn't hurt to see what's going on abroad. Might be particularly interesting to see any differences in approach specific multinationals take in different regions).

If so, I think the open ended question "2. Where was it?" is a bit wooly. Some people might just write the town, but if there are several of them, we'll have no idea which on it is! If someone writes "Newscastle" how can we know for sure they mean Newcastle-on-Tyne, and not Newcastle-under-Lyme, Newcastle-Emlyn, Newcastle Washington or Newcastle California for example?

Suggest we change it to something like:

1. Where was it? (Please state location, and also county (if UK) and country).

That's good, aunfaniae :) I know I tend toward wordiness - thanks for helping me out.

Ok. Yes I think accepting international survey examples, but probably only including UK answers in the statistical analysis - I.e cover the biggest UK toy retailers so we can say 70% do XYZ.

Will make clarifying changed as suggested.

I actually like "we are asking" better. We are asking right now, by setting up the campaign - they're just going to become more aware of the ask once we get organised after the survey is done.

UK and Ireland please!

"UK and Ireland please!" Sorry

Ooh I like what you've done with question 5 :)

For most of the toys in question 5, there's an obvious gender bias (for those who are that way inclined!)

However the question "Nobility dress up (prince/princess)" covers both supposed "girls' and "boys' toys". So if the shop has a princess outfit in the girl's section and a prince outfit in the boys section, then there's no way to answer that question.

The same is true for the other questions too actually.

I think this could be solved be adding an answer along the following lines:

"Girls' version of toy in girls' section and boy's version of the toy in boys' section".

What do you think?

The only bit of the blurb I'm still not sure about is "Children should be free to play" now that we've (rightly) eliminated from the blurb a lot of the explanation about why we think they're not free at the moment.

I'm afraid it will sound too strong and invite comparisons that will lead to "what a first world problem" type responses. The fact is, we're not talking about kids who aren't free to play because they're working in the mines, or kids who are going to be persecuted (overtly) by the church or government if they're seen with a toy that's not aimed at their gender.

So I think that line needs a little bit of qualifying - like "Children should feel free to play with the toys they enjoy most" or something like that.

Does that make sense? Or am I just adding extra words ?

Ok - it looks like th British Toy Retailers Association covers UK and Ireland.

But it doesn't give a list of the biggest ones. Are there any biggies to add for Ireland, or is it basically the same list as the UK?

Still on question 5, please can we add an option "Other - please state in comments below" and make the comments box below Qu.5 a bit bigger?

This is because at the moment we're forcing people to select an answer - but if the respondent doesn't feel any of the answers apply to the shop they went to, we're not giving them a get-out, and they'll be forced to pick an answer they don't actually agree with.

I think it's about the same, Himalaya - Smyths, Debenhams, Boots, Tesco. There are some in the UK that aren't here (at least where I am) like John Lewis and a couple of others that have been mentioned.

That's great that the Association covers both - lends some rationale to sticking Ireland in there too :)

Once the 'launch' thread is up and running I will post somewhere higher traffic (chat, I guess?) and call for Irish MNers to come take part.

OneHandWavingFree I thing you're right. How about ...

"Toys are for fun, for learning, for stoking imagination and encouraging creativity. Children should be free to play with the toys that interest them most.

Isn't it time that shops stopped limiting our children's imagination by telling them that some toys are only suitable for girls and some for boys?

The answer is simple ? we?re asking retailers and manufacturers to sort toys by theme or function, rather than by gender, and let children decide which toys they enjoy best.

Let toys be toys - for girls and boys."

*think not thing!

Will the Facebook page exist by the time the survey goes out?

If so please can I suggest that at the end of the survey we say thank you and give a link to the FB page.

"Girls' version of toy in girls' section and boy's version of the toy in boys' section".

I agree that this would make sense as an additional option.

Draft project plan

(In the spirit of mutual iteration)

1. Nov 26 launch survey on MN - aim to collect data on all major retailers over 2 weeks

2. Week of Nov 26 set up FB page as public face of campaign - place to post photos, updates, calls to action etc...(soft launch)

3. Early- mid December - analyse survey data, identify key targets, set up Change.org petition with the campaign ask.

4. Before Xmas - send out press release to launch campaign inc. survey data and the ask - try to get attention of Caitlin Moran, Lucy Mangan and other journalists who allegedly lurk.

5. 2013 - social media campaign to promote petition and put direct pressure on retailers - Design a series of FB meme visuals etc...

....at some point, work out if this is "An MN campaign" or just a campaign that started on MN.

I'll get started on visuals/memes if people want to post suggestions.

Hello, I've been lurking since this thread began. I don't have any specialist skills to help, just wanted to say well done, it seems like it is going to be a great campaign. If there is anything I can do to help, let me know