Not long ago I wrote an article about the hot new toy in my house full of boys—the overwhelmingly purple Easy-Bake Oven by Hasbro. The article, My Sons’ Easy Bake Oven Shame, really struck a chord with parents, as well as grown-up men and women who have been bothered by the gendering of toys since they were kids and were secretly dying to play with their sisters’ Easy-Bake.
Now one little boy’s big sister is as fed up as I am about the ridiculous gendering of the Easy-Bake Oven. 13 year-old McKenna Pope would like to end the harmful stereotype that “men don’t cook, they work” to open the door for boys like her brother to feel comfortable doing what they love, without Hasbro telling them it’s a “girl thing”.
Watch McKenna and her brother’s video above, and go sign their Change.org petition to tell Hasbro that boys belong in the Easy-Bake Oven commercials and on the box!
A dinosaur and an Easy Bake Oven! That’s small talk. How about a dinosaur that comes WITH an Easy Bake Oven?
But like mediahound says it does rubs me the wrong way that this is not a boy saying he wants an Easy Bake over but a girl getting him to say the he wants one in front of a camera for her own ends.
How do you know that? How do you know she got him to say that and the boy doesn’t truly want an Easy-Bake Oven? Some boys do, in fact, want one. From the video the sister just asks her brother questions and he tells her how he feels. In any case, how does any of this negate the overall message and mission of the video? Wether this boy does or does not really want one, even though he did seem to be having a good time cooking, does that ultimately diminish the heart of what the brother and sister are… Read more »
Of course there are boys that want one. It’s not his desire for an oven that I question. It’s her putting him on camera just to chirp it up that I question (and even then I’m really not trying to say that she shouldn’t be doing it, just that I find it odd). Wether this boy does or does not really want one, even though he did seem to be having a good time cooking, does that ultimately diminish the heart of what the brother and sister are advocating for? Possibly. I’m sure I’m not the only person that thinks… Read more »
Wether this boy does or does not really want one, even though he did seem to be having a good time cooking, does that ultimately diminish the heart of what the brother and sister are advocating for? If the kid didn’t want one – but was being used to further another person’s agenda – where does the piece of string start and stop? I was once asked by a woman with a 3 month old baby in her arms, If I thought it would be too much if she went up to women entering an abortion clinic and asking if… Read more »
There’s a bit of a dilemma here. Boys are getting the message that cooking is for girls and not boys, so it’s lame that the ovens are colored purple or have lots of flowers on them. It would be in Hasbro’s best interest to expand their marketing to boys. However, just selling ovens that have racing stripes or dinosaurs or something stereotypically “boyish” on them is just the flip side of the stupid gender division. Why not just ignore the color scheme one way or the other and buy one if your kid wants one? Not buying it because it’s… Read more »
I think the oven should look like an oven.
I mean, my oven isn’t purple with ugly flowers on it, my oven is a silver color. My parents’ is white. I’ve seen black ovens.
A stainless-looking one would probably sell very well.
Well I am one for pushing gender equality – I like the big E and I like Equality of all flavours, but not at any cost. I watched the video and had an uneasy feeling of the kid being pressured – and then at the end there it was – she said it “.. Join Me in My fight for gender equality” – she took possession. It wasn’t his fight or the fight it was her fight. So – sorry I won’t be signing and supporting, cos from where I’m standing kids are getting used and pressured to be made… Read more »