2 of 19

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 5

website, parents looking to buy their children educational toys that would encourage them to engage with technology are able to find several similar examples, and there is nothing in the above description or in the look of this toy that implies that it is not intended for girls as well as for boys. In fact, these toys would be gender-neutral if the manufacturer had not gone through the trouble of designing a laptop specially for little girls', The Petal Power Laptop which is described as:

Pretty flower-shaped laptop, designed specially for little girls. Cute on-screen cyber girl guides players through 18 exciting activities, featuring letters and words, maths, logic and memory games. Special Personal key allows children to save personal details. Select a digital flower; cyber pet and watch it grow as activities are completed. Make a wish and have fun asking questions in the Fortune-teller activity! A good memory and fashion sense needed to find a correct outfit in the Fashion Show game!

This substantial difference in content and appearance could perhaps be justified if the Petal Power laptop was intended for a younger audience than the challenger laptop, but they are both recommended for 4-7 year olds and are sold at similar prices. Gender is therefore established as the only differentiating factor between the two products, and it becomes difficult to justify the fact that the Challenger laptop offers over twice as many activities as the Petal Power laptop. Children using the Challenger laptop get to develop crucial IT skills and feel validated by the fact that they are engaging in a grown up' type of activity, while children using the Petal Power laptop (in the same age group) get to choose a flower and develop their fashion sense!

While the Challenger laptop strongly resembles a real laptop, its girlie counterpart, shaped like a flower, with flower-shaped keys and made of bright pink and purple plastic bears no similarity whatsoever to adult technological appliances. If we were to trust the perception of girls conveyed by the manufacturer's description of the Petal Power Laptop, we would be led to believe that girls are only interested in subjects that are fundamentally different from those that would appeal to boys. We could also assume by the shape of this laptop's interface, that girls have an extremely short attention span and must therefore be lured in with a cute colours and shapes, and then be kept interested in the activities by interacting with themes

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Girls versus boys in the gaming community?
We want to hear your view. Write now!