Jasone Zarate Emilio has been analyzing the catalogs that toy houses distribute during the Christmas season for years. Despite the years, it seems to him that the landscape is the usual one: pink pages for girls and blue pages or strong color for boys. The girls are arranging their hair and the boys are adventurous and sports lovers. In addition to the general discussion, it has carried out a review of the catalogues of the different toy houses, with concrete examples.

Zarate Emilio has published this reflection on the website of Pikara magazine, in which he also participates. Here are some passages:

“In 2005 I sent a letter to the house Chicco and in 2009 another to Imaginarium, commenting on the theme, reflecting and criticizing. As had been assumed, everything remained in nothing. There may be a small difference in something specific, but it is the same basic message and, what is more serious, the message is the same as 30-40 years ago (to mention a few figures).

The problem is in education, we say. And I ask: “Who is educating? Who is responsible for that education? Who transmits values, attitudes, roles and stereotypes? Is school the only culprit?

At home, we parents test how boys and girls spend pages that for them (girls ‘boys’ and boys ‘girls’) are not theirs. They don't know whether they like it or not, or whether they can want it someday. The doors are closed to discover and test. On the other hand, they are assigned a role based on the sex they were given at birth.

They stress very much (and well done) the role that mothers and fathers have with their sons and daughters, to help them develop, etc. [In catalogs] parents have more functions; they are very marked: they use board games, cars, escalextris, painting, energy, technologies like prescriptive tablets… and sometimes only with boys. Mothers are few (it's because we don't have time to play with children) and when they show up they're reading with daughters or sitting on the floor cloth with younger children.

Our boys and girls, the youth of tomorrow, the adults of tomorrow, learn by playing; and according to toys and games, sexist values and attitudes are perpetuated.