Conclusion

At what age in our childhood are we taught to be male or female?

Gender is taught at home and in one’s social environment. The mass communication media reinforce it: internet, including social networks and youtube, television, and radio.

If gender is performative, it is from the ludic aspect that we reinforce gender norms using objects, colors and concepts we associate with femininity and masculinity. 

“One is a woman since she operates as a woman in the dominant heterosexual structure.” (Preface page 12 Judith Butler: Gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity)

Also of note in the Playmobil 2016 catalogue are the gender roles; men are predisposed to violent behaviors - or associated with objects to exercise violence - while women are assigned passive roles: princess, brides, fairies, mothers, teachers, veterinarians, and doctors. The women’s objects include mirrors, canes, cars, houses, mansions, magic creatures while the men have missile trucks or any kind of weapon depending on the toy line. Men are bold, they face danger, they sometimes rob or defend treasures. 

The Playmobil line gives us a glimpse of reality. We cannot say that Hans Beck had planned the sets in 1974 intending to reinforce the heteropatriarchy; however, we are now in 2017 and we can’t consider this study without observing the differences, roles, and gender performativity within the sets. The toy industry is part of the big ideological machinery that normalizes behaviors and roles, reflected in Mexican society by problems ranging from micromachismo to gender-based violence.

The standardization of violence in the game

We live in a society where we celebrate violence and gratify the dominant traditional masculinity, according to a study conducted by the Spanish National Center for Innovation and Education Investigation (CNIIE).

This study proposes a new model of an alternative to the traditional models of masculinity. 

The New Alternative Masculinity has three fundamental characteristics: confidence in oneself, courage to confront negative behaviors  of the Dominant Traditional Masculinity (sexism, racism, etc.), and the explicit rejection of double standards. This model of masculinity represents a real alternative to the traditional models of masculinity because it combines ethical language and the language of desire, in order to build equitable relationships and actively fight gender violence.

Preventive socialization of gender violence

It is important to observe that behaviors are being reinforced through play and/or objects so that we may change this ideological inertia and build a new value system based on fair relationships. Thinking about how we construct gender based on the ludic aspect of our childhood as well as avoiding the promotion of inequitable gender dynamics can be a prevention method against gender violence at all age.

Although the toy industry, the advertising industry, and in general the mass communication media are not evolving at the same pace, it is our responsibility to question, seek information, and educate our children, grandchildren, students, friends etc. on gender equality.