A look at toys, and what gender stereotypes that they reinforce.
All Journey’s stores are doing gender. They split the store in half by men and women shoes, clothing, and accessories. They even put the kids shoe tower on the women’s side of the store as if men don’t buy their kids shoes. Even the backpacks we put on each side are selected to draw attention to each gender, men’s side will have dark more generic colors and the women’s side have the florals and bright or pastel colors. These shoes were so difficult for me to get… Journeys decided since they were a superhero shoe they would be more directed towards men. We did not get a size bigger than a women’s 10 in the the store so i had to special order my size. Women like superheros too.
The brand Fila generally does gender except two of their shoes where the women’s and the men’s look the same. Other than those two the women’s one usually have different details or colors than the men. The women get light pretty colors while the men shoes stick with white, black, red, and blue. Adidas also does gender the men’s shoes are again more generic colors where the womens shoes have accents of pink, gold, purple, etc. It’s hard to find just a plan adidas for women that dont have some sort of accent color suggesting it is for women. Just like the rest of the store we never mix gender on the octagon towers in the store. They are always split by gender and you can see the difference in the type of shoes women get virus men. Almost every brand has certain female colors for their shoes, usually pinks.
3 thoughts on “Oh my god SHOES!”
Another store that I noticed splits the store based on gendered clothes is American Eagle. They have a larger variety of clothes than just shoes, which makes it easier for people to find what they want generally, but I don’t feel like it is necessary for all shoes to be categorized. Some shoes are made to look like they are specifically for women or for men, but I feel like a lot of the shoes pictured could really be unisex, including the superhero ones shown. The division is unnecessary and if someone likes the style of shoe, they shouldn’t feel pressured to not buy it because it is “meant” for a different gender.
I really liked that you pointed out that stores put children’s shoes in the women’s section. It’s like how they only put diaper changing stations in women’s public restrooms, completely sexist! Thanks for making that observation!
I have definitely noticed Journey’s and the way they split up their store. I never made the connection that the children shoes were placed on the women’s side. I have found myself looking through shoes at Journey’s and not finding the style I liked, so I would have to go to the men’s side to look for a more simple color that I had in mind. A lot of the shoes I like are plain styles or basic black and white colors, so if I ever look around Journey’s I know I will probably not find exactly what I am looking for on the women’s side, and then I just decide to shop for shoes online.
Another store that I noticed splits the store based on gendered clothes is American Eagle. They have a larger variety of clothes than just shoes, which makes it easier for people to find what they want generally, but I don’t feel like it is necessary for all shoes to be categorized. Some shoes are made to look like they are specifically for women or for men, but I feel like a lot of the shoes pictured could really be unisex, including the superhero ones shown. The division is unnecessary and if someone likes the style of shoe, they shouldn’t feel pressured to not buy it because it is “meant” for a different gender.
I really liked that you pointed out that stores put children’s shoes in the women’s section. It’s like how they only put diaper changing stations in women’s public restrooms, completely sexist! Thanks for making that observation!
I have definitely noticed Journey’s and the way they split up their store. I never made the connection that the children shoes were placed on the women’s side. I have found myself looking through shoes at Journey’s and not finding the style I liked, so I would have to go to the men’s side to look for a more simple color that I had in mind. A lot of the shoes I like are plain styles or basic black and white colors, so if I ever look around Journey’s I know I will probably not find exactly what I am looking for on the women’s side, and then I just decide to shop for shoes online.