Imagine walking into a toy aisle and noticing many diverse aisles. In one aisle, you encounter toys packaged in complementary colors and color triads that include building sets (such as "LEGO," "LEGO Super Heroes" and "Angry Birds") and a wide selection of action figures. action: Spider Man, Transformers, The Dark Knight, Power Rangers, etc. In the next aisle, adjacent to the aisle of complementary colors and color triads, you find toys packaged in shades of pink and purple. These toys range from “Hello Kitty” dolls to “Barbie Dream” house playsets. In a toy aisle, like Toys R Us, it is extremely difficult to pick up a toy that is not explicitly or subtly marketed by gender. If toys were marketed solely according to ethnic and racial stereotypes, many people would be furious. However, we encounter toy departments that are heavily and strictly segregated, not by race, but by gender. To fully understand how gender stereotypes perpetuate children's toys, one must understand gender socialization. According to Santrock, the term gender refers to “the characteristics of people as men and women” (p. 163). An individual is certainly not brought into the world with pre-existing knowledge of the world. However, what is certain is the belief that the individual has about himself and that life arises from socialization, that is, from the development of gender through social mechanisms. For example, when a baby comes into the world, their first encounter with gender socialization occurs when the nurse places a blue or pink cap on the baby's head. This act symbolizes the gender of the baby, whether it is a boy (blue bonnet) or a girl (pink bonnet). By the age of four, the child is introduced to the gender-stereotyped toy choices of toddler boys and girls. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 146(4), 527. Pike, J. J., & Jennings, N. A. (2005). The effects of advertisements on children's perceptions of the use of gender-appropriate toys. Sex Roles, 52(1/2), 83-91. doi:10.1007/s11199-005-1195-6Prosser, R. (2008). Childhood inventory. Australian Feminist Studies, 23(57), 417-422. doi:10.1080/08164640802233328 Rajecki, D. W., Dame, J., Creek, K., Barrickman, P. J., Reid, C. A., & Appleby, D. C. (1993). Gender casting in television toy advertisements: Distributions, message content analysis, and ratings. Journal of Consumer Psychology (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates), 2(3), 307. Santrock, J. W. (2013). Adolescence (15th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Signorella, M. (2012). Gender and development in sex roles. Sex Roles, 67(7/8), 373-374. doi:10.1007/s11199-012-0199-2