The Senate of California adopted Wednesday, September 2 a bill that would oblige the department stores of this state of the western United States to create “
neutral
”
toy departments
, without explicit reference to an audience of boys or girls.
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The theory of gender has invaded all spheres of social life
"
The text, which has yet to be voted on by the California House of Representatives before being submitted to Governor Gavin Newsom, will not prohibit the existence of sections dedicated to girls or boys but provides for the creation of shelves where fire trucks and princess dolls will be able to cohabit without being assigned to a particular genre. "
We need to stop stigmatizing children and boxing them telling them what they should like under gender stereotypes from another age,
" said Evan Low, elected official behind the proposal. of law, in a press release to AFP.
The idea came to her after hearing a collaborator tell how her daughter asked her if she could pick up certain toys from the shelves even though she was a girl, or if she had to be a boy.
If passed and proclaimed into law, the law should apply to all California stores employing more than 500 people.
It provides that a "
reasonable selection of (childcare) products and toys be exhibited
" in these sections.
Violators would face fines.
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Proponents of this law note that products intended for little girls are often more expensive than those intended for boys even if the products are identical. Opponents of the measure, for their part, invoke the freedom of businesses to choose how to present their products and the possible disarray of parents faced with goods that are not clearly labeled for one genre or another. Many toy manufacturers have already taken steps to produce “
gender-neutral
”
toys,
and the large US retail chain Target decided in 2015 to create gender-neutral spaces for children and household items.