When I entered "The Toy Works," of Keene I nearly ran into the tangible proof of this The first wall of the store is set back, at most, four feet from the front door. The wall was split precisely in two. On the left side was a tapestry of pink dolls, on the right was nothing but black and red wrestling toys. The entire store mirrored this theme with only a few transgressions and exceptions. Girls toys were identified by pink and other light colors, glitter and sparkles, and the more obviously, pictures of only girls playing with these toys. There were "Barbie" dolls dressed in gendered clothing such as dresses, bikinis, and even hulas. Since apparently, women spend most of there time doing housework and raising children, there were little pink strollers and miniature pink vaccuums. There was even a plastic vanity table.Boys toys were tagged by dark colors such as red and black. The male gendered toys also had pictures of boys or full-grown muscular men on the boxes. "WWF" wrestling figurines were highly prevalent. One such figurine called the "Bone Crunchin' Buddy," bragged that the "elbows and knees crunch when you bend them." The sports isle consisted of pictures of male athletes and more red and black. The radio controlled vehicle isle featured more of the same; male drivers and red and black. It was impossible to miss the G.I. Joes. Camouflaged combat vehicles and "He-Man" looking men with guns battled all over the shelves.A few exceptions of the gender role enforcment must be noted. These may not be non-gender biased toys, but they represent a change and deviation from the traditional, pre-conceived gender roles of toys, seemingly cast in stone. "Barbie" dolls clad in NBA jerseys and soccer jerseys broke the housewife and beauty object theme. I played a video game which featured a female boxer. In a row of 11 blue and red buckets of "Leggos," one was pink with a girl on the front. The most uni-sexed items...
