Toys go "on strike" to end sexism
Tens of toys have starred this Sunday in a "strike"symbolic, summoned by the Ministry of Consumption, at the Puppet Theater of the Retiro Park in Madrid to raise awareness in society about sexism in the industry, and to denounce that a toy that only amuses boys, or exclusively girls, is not "happy."
The event was the end of a ministerial campaign that began on Thursday with a posting of posters in Madrid, Barcelona and Seville, which for Minister Alberto Garzón launches a "very powerful" message to society: that boys and girls can play "freely" with toys without "gender stereotypes" and which, above all, can "have fun with total freedom and thus they can unfold all their potentialities in the adult ages ".
Garzón, who has been "very happy" by the "great reception" of the campaign, has argued in statements to the media that the advertising of children's toys "is also sending that message" sexist for the development of an identity that "It will affect when those people are adults."
For this reason, he believes that we must continue to insist on messages like the one in this campaign, because "in the end we are all to some extent prey to prejudice, stereotypes", a fact" especially worrying "in childhood, where" we can correct it. "
Teresa is of the same opinion, who has come together with her 7-year-old daughter Claudia, because "advertisements and catalogs still seem sexist to us, and we want to try to solve the issue so that in the future there are no such distinctions. "
"I think it's very good that these types of campaigns are carried out, especially to raise awareness among parents, who "They are the ones who educate the children", has explained to Efe.
Less than two weeks before Santa Claus sends the little ones his gifts and opens the way for the subsequent arrival of the wise men, the scene of Puppet Theater it has been taken over by stuffed animals, like Peppa Pig; Disney dolls and princesses; superheroes like Spiderman and Hulk; characters from the Star Wars and Toy Story sagas; dinosaurs of all colors and sizes, and cars or helicopters, whose strike was supported by children and relatives who have been filling the stands.
After entertaining the morning with songs and invite the little ones to have fun With the toys on display, 'Mr. Bear' has read a manifesto "representing all the toys in the world."
"For years we have endured being pigeonholed, being told that we were created only to play with boys or only to play with girls. And it doesn't make sense, we can't take it anymore. That's why we say enough, enough to classify ourselves, enough that we have a label that marks our path in life: toys for boys, and toys for girls", has rejected.
Because, he added, "kitchens, racing cars, crying babies or soccer balls have the right to play with one hundred percent of the kids Y girls, not just fifty percent. "
"Because toys, even if we are made of cloth, plastic, tin, we also have our little hearts. That is why we have convened a symbolic strike, And with this unprecedented action in the world we want to make society reflect, we want sexism in toys to be eliminated and that once and for all we put an end to gender stereotypes, because a toy that can only play with fifty percent one hundred is not a happy toy ", has settled the 'Mr. Bear' before crying out with the public that" playing has no gender "and that what they are looking for is" equality ".
Later, the two animators of the act have been enumerating, to contribute their "grain of sand" to the cause, stories and stories "of equality", What "When girls fly high", "Is there anything more boring than being a pink princess?", "Blackberry candy", "It's okay to be different" or "Little African Riding Hood", and they have narrated some of them.