A Little GirlTalk

On By LynnIn TurtleHead

I was at the Toys R Us this morning, and I learned something.

Did you know that Jenga, the game where you make a stack of wood-coloured blocks and then remove them one-by-one, is a boy toy?

Lucky for you, there’s an exciting new version of Jenga! GirlTalk Jenga! The pieces are bright pink, and each piece has a discussion question on it. What’s your biggest wish? What’s your favourite activity to do with friends? You can chat about each one as you remove it — if you aren’t blinded by the colour!

Here it is:

I don’t get this at all. Maybe it’s because Gal Smiley isn’t a really girly-girl — she isn’t into the whole princesses/pink/sparkly thing. So, we don’t have a lot of girl-specific toys; we have dolls and some toy jewelry, but mostly we have gender neutral things like bowling sets and Lego and animal/superhero costumes and books.

And oh yes, board games.

I was not aware that we were not empowering our daughter by having only the basic versions of Jenga, Scrabble Junior, Candyland, and other classic board games. But apparently we are, because besides GirlTalk Jenga, you can also buy Pink Bling Bingo:

And Ouija — the Pink Edition:

And Scrabble — the Designer Pink Edition:

And even Twister — “The game that ties you up in knots — just for you girl!”:

And OH MY GOD, The Game Of Life!! Jesus!

And Monopoly, of course — this one doesn’t surprise me, there’s a specialty Monopoly for everything and everybody, but in this special pink version (which comes in a jewelry box!), girls can buy boutiques and malls instead of streets. JESUS.

I’m thinking that this was some sort of marketing idea — like, we’ve topped out sales of the basic game, so maybe we can sell more if we come out with a new version, and that new version will specifically be for girls. But I’m still thinking, who the heck is going to buy these girl versions? We have a mix of genders in the house — even homes with only daughters will probably have a dad or an uncle or a grandfather who comes around to play — so the basic version is good for us. There’s no way I have space for, or could justify the cost of, buying two copies of the same game, just so we can have the “boy” and “girl” versions.

Maybe there are girls out there who are SO girly, that they wouldn’t consider playing with a game unless it was all pink and frilly? Or maybe their parents just want everything to match the decor of their room?

I totally do not understand this at all.

9 thoughts on “A Little GirlTalk”

  1. MrsCarlSagan's avatar MrsCarlSagan

    Wow…I had no idea. I don’t get it either. Definitely a marketing ploy to sell more to more people. The messaging is disturbing to me though -why the push to slot our kids into these gender roles, and at such a young age? It seems a not so subtle message to our daughters that they need to “be” a certain way and like certain things to be accepted and liked – and that is harmful.

  2. MrsCarlSagan's avatar MrsCarlSagan

    Just talking to MrCarlSagan about this post and he feels the message is to our daughters is also about consumerism – especially the Monopoly with the boutiques and malls….it’s teaching them at an early age all about consuming and spending – especially pink things 🙂

  3. Ohferpetessake. why do these things need to be pink?!? Yeah, it’s all about teaching the kids to consume, consume, consume. Blech.

    I remember when Hana was 3 her favourite colour was yellow. I was rather proud of the fact that she hadn’t fallen in line with the whole “pink” thing. She was her own girl!

    Of course, by the time she was 4, it was all pink, pink, pink for her. Sigh.

    She’s not getting pink Monopoly, though.

  4. I had no idea such things even existed and I have two pink loving girls. We just buy the regular versions and will continue to do so. Definitely a marketing ploy.

  5. Hey there – wow – this pink game stuff is new to me. Guess I don’t spend much time in toy stores….also, it’s all about the anti-princess list at my house 🙂

    thanks for popping by my blog – I’ll check with our geek to see wot up with the tech prob!

    chat soon
    julie
    http://www.blog.mabel.ca

  7. Karen — OH MAN, I totally agree! I couldn’t believe that pink phone — messing with a classic is so wrong. Did you know that Fisher Price also took the traditional stacking ring set and made a “girl” version of that, too? It has shades of purple and pink for the rings instead of the traditional bright blue, red, yellow, orange, and green. Oh, and I just remembered they also make a pinkified version of the traditional corn popper (that thing with a ball on wheels and a long stem, and you push the ball and it makes a pop-pop-pop sound). BAD FISHER PRICE, BAD!

    I do not get who they think they are appealing to. It’s all just so strange.

  8. I have no daughter but I did notice this wall of pink last time I went to ToysRUs. It is hard to avoid, you have to walk by it to get to the rest of the store. I don’t entirely agree with the girlifying of all things. I agree that pink is not a necessity for a girl. But I will admit to having looked high and low for a tea set that was not pink (and i found it at ToysRUs) for my sons second birthday. I also found a slightly less girly kitchen for him at boomerang. He is a boy who loves to play tea party and kitchen. If I ever have a daughter she will have to live with these primary coloured toys. Oh poor thing 😉

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