(moonpir)
Rose has a problem with McDonald’s. It’s a relatively tiny one, but something that she wishes McDonald’s would fix. See, for her occasional visits to buy Happy Meals for her kids, she would prefer not to be asked whether she wants a “girl toy” or a “boy toy.”
Simple enough? One would think.
Rose wrote to Consumerist originally:
Maybe this is dumb, I don’t know. I take my three children (one girl, two boys) to McDonald’s about twice a month, usually while on road trips to visit family. (I get them apple slices, 2% milk, and all white meat chicken nuggets, but nutrition isn’t the topic at hand.) When I go to McDonald’s, I’m in variably asked the same question:
“Girl toy or boy toy?”
This kills me, and it kills my daughter, especially when I specify that I want three Bakugans or three cars or three whatever, and they still pass out a ‘girl’ toy after they see my daughter in the car. Tonight was the last straw. I can’t keep quiet anymore. Would it REALLY be so hard for them so say ‘Would you like a Bakugan or a Hello Kitty toy?’ Really?
She wrote to and tweeted at McDonald’s about her concerns, and the answers she received weren’t satisfying. The Twitter rep tried to help, noting:
I read your posting and I understand- maybe you could just say which toys your children would prefer-hope that helps
Not really–especially when, as Rose notes, employees are giving Rose’s daughter the “girl” toy as soon as they see a girl in the car. Maybe it’s time to complain to the management of the individual McDonald’s franchises that are doing this. It sounds like the “girl toy/boy toy” shorthand (which has been around since I was a tiny little Consumerist demanding Transformers and friction-motor cars with my cheeseburgers) isn’t about to go away.
When ordering Happy Meals, do you encounter the same terminology and any confusion when choosing toys? What does your family do?
McDonald’s Sexism Fail [You Do What...? A Homeschooling Blog.]
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OMG what a First World Problem.
Rose must be a real blast at parties. Heavens knows what else Rose finds offensive and sexist.
Yawn.
This is not a problem in San Francisco.
Calling it a “girl toy” and “boy toy” rather than an “action figure” or “doll” is still not going to solve any problem. The only thing in this article that would annoy me is that they are ignoring what I’ve requested and giving me a toy I didn’t request simply because they saw I had a boy or a girl.
That’s simply the best way to summarize the toy. Girls and boys generally play with different toys, though of course there is some overlap. Unfortunately, while it’s okay for a girl to be interested in boy’s things it’s not nearly as acceptable for a boy to be interested in girls’ things. That’s why being called a tomboy is not an insult while being called a sissy most certainly is.
Uneducated McDonalds employees simply aren’t going to care about the sociology behind learned behaviors and the gendered behavior modeling that toys teach children. You may complain about semantics all you want, but at the end of the day, what actually matters is that someone asks you what you want and then gives you something different.
Easy Solution. Inform them your ‘daughter’ is a hermaphrodite and tell them to always give ‘boy toys’ so you don’t have to bring up the sensitive subject again. Well up with tears for maximum effect.
“Boy or Girl toy?” is easier to say than “My Little Pony or Bakugan toy?” (Which would probably sound more like “MMFFFLLLPFFYRRBAAKGNNTOY” through a drive-thru intercom). Don’t like it? Vote with your wallet (or purse, or non-gender-implying money carrying device).
This has pissed me off since I was a child. In the 80′s it wasn’t uncommon for the “Boy” toy to be the hot action hero of the moment or some weird transformers-type car. The “girl” toy was almost always some static figurine of a princess or a kitty. I always wanted the boy toy & could rarely convince them to give it to me.
I’m a girl, and I remember going to McDonalds when I was little and the whole Hot Wheels/Barbie thing was real big back then (the 90s) and I always had my mom specify that I wanted a boy toy. I never liked Barbies and still don’t, Most of the time once they saw me in the car they put a Barbie toy in my Happy Meal, which always pissed me off. Ha.