Category Errors

While Megastores Fuss About the Toy Aisles, Kids Remain Confused

A bill recently introduced into the California legislature would prohibit large department stores from dividing toys and some other childcare items into "boys" and "girls" sections.¹

California is hardly the first state to consider such a measure. Back in 2015, Target infamously "de-gendered" its toy section, so that confused and befuddled parents can wander between the doll aisle and the Hot Wheels aisle, wondering where the politically correct place would be to find Play-Doh and the newly rebranded "Potato Head" (the "Mr." was recently dropped as too polarizing). As a 2015 New York Times piece put it when analyzing Target's move, "a stroll through the...