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Memoirs of a SLACer

sociological views on life and the liberal arts

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How Target saved me from making a huge Halloween mistake

September 18, 2014 by John

Stores in the United States often helpfully designate the items for sale as “for girls” or “for boys.” These designations are particularly helpful when the only difference is the color of the items, since in those cases color-blind people might make a mistake. Gift card sections are typically not much different, though the labels get a little redundant when there are also images of ponies or robots, since even color-blind people can recognize the difference between super-feminine ponies and super-masculine robots. Shopping in Target recently, I noticed a section of Halloween cards that were labeled not only “For Kids,” but “for “for a boy” and “for a girl.” You can see the cards below:

photo 1Since both cards appeared to feature the color orange, which is neither pink nor blue, I wondered about the distinction between the two and got them out to look more closely:

photo 3The card on the left is clearly a poorly-wrapped mummy (if it had been better-wrapped its skin may not have turned orange) while the card on the right is an orange owl (which is apparently possible). Based on its hat, the owl is possibly also a witch (or maybe a pilgrim). So maybe the mummy is for boys because it is a boy and the owl is for girls because it likes to wear pilgrim witch hats? Those don’t seem like strong reasons for gendering these cards, so let’s open them up and see if the inside of the “boys'” card is blue and the inside of the “girls'” card is pink:

photo 2Nope, just more orange. So the lesson Target has taught us this Halloween is that poorly-wrapped mummies are for boys who are “totally awesome” while owls wearing pilgrim witch hats are for girls who are “very special.” It is a good thing that Target labeled them for me because otherwise I may have thought that each was equally suited to both boys and girls, which would have been a huge mistake. Now I know how color-blind people feel (which explains why they get so upset about it).

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Posted in Gender, Holidays, Social Economics | Tagged Colorblindness, Gender, Gift Cards, Halloween, Little Miss Sunshine, Memoirs of a SLACer, Mummies, Orange, Owls, Target | 4 Comments

4 Responses

  1. on October 23, 2014 at 9:02 pm Men reinforce sexist Halloween costumes while pointing out how ridiculous they are | Memoirs of a SLACer

    […] is running out to send your Halloween cards and get your Halloween costume. For women, the choices for pre-made costumes range from “sexy […]


  2. on May 28, 2015 at 9:02 pm The social construction of healthy foods | Memoirs of a SLACer

    […] recognize that many things are social constructions. This means that things like gender norms are not based on actual biological differences but on accepted social beliefs – there […]


  3. on September 17, 2015 at 9:15 pm Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to sexiness | Memoirs of a SLACer

    […] year, Target stopped me from making a huge mistake by labeling which Halloween cards were for boys and which were for girls. This year, though, Target […]


  4. on January 28, 2016 at 9:03 pm Seven years of SLACing (and new Barbies!) | Memoirs of a SLACer

    […] effect my blog is having on racists and toy manufacturers, it is clear that similar influence on sexists, classists, and college administrators is not far behind. Yes, I think it is safe to say that my […]



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