1.
For Project 01, my individual research focuses on the kite. As a traditional toy with thousands of years of history, I mainly researched kite’s development and its multiple uses, including the function as a toy as well as military tools / religious representations. I chose the dragon kite as a typical representation for the category, since it does not only meet the need of a toy but also contains the good wishes of the Chinese nation since the dragon is an important symbol of auspiciousness and fortune in the culture.
For group research, we discuss whether video games should be considered as toys or not. We raised the opinion on the differences of goals and rules between toys and video games, which also echo with what Gray says in “A Lucid Theory of Human Nature”, play, or playing with a toy, should be non-competitive, there should not be an objective.
- Question: What makes block toys so hard to gender?
The neutral appearance including its shape, color, and its material, applications, cultural representations all make block toys hard to gender. According to “Characteristics of Boys’ and Girls’ Toys”, “girls’ toys were associated with physical attractiveness, nurturance, and domestic skill, whereas boys’ toys were rated as violent, competitive, exciting, and somewhat dangerous”. Block toys usually don’t contain any of the characteristics listed above. However, since the group’s presentation mentioned Lego, I assumed they thought lego was a kind of block toy. I questioned when I listened to the presentation but I was not sure, so I did some research. The initial design of Lego may not be gender-oriented, as an instruction book of Lego in 1974 says that “the most important thing is to put the right material in their hands and let them create whatever appeals to them”. It seems that no matter from the design goal to the following sale of block toys, block toys are all not gender-orientated. But now when I go to the Lego Official Shop on Taobao, there are clear categories for boys and girls, and even the advertisement for International Working Women’s Day (March 8) is strongly related to gender. I understand this might be because of marketing, but under the fierce competition in the current environment, I wonder if block toys will still be hard to gender.
Reference:http://web.mit.edu/sp.778/www/Documents/ToyGender.pdf; Taobao