Three cheers for 13-year-old McKenna Pope of New Jersey, who has launched a petition to eliminate gender stereotyping in Hasbroâs Easy-Bake Ovens.
So far, sheâs garnered nearly 19,000 signatures.
Popeâs 4-year-old brother, Gavyn, wants to be a cook, but Easy-Bake products make it clear that boys arenât really welcomeâ even the Easy-Bake website is subtitled âCooking & Baking Games for Girls.â
As Pope explains:
How about we take this to the next level?
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My little brother has always loved cooking. Being in the kitchen is his favorite out-of-school activity, and he yearns to have the opportunity to cook on his own, or at least with limited help.
Imagine my surprise when I walked into his room to find him âcookingâ tortillas by placing them on top of his lampâs light bulb! Obviously, this is not a very safe way for him to be a chef. So when he asked Santa for his very own Easy-Bake Ultimate Oven, produced by the Hasbro company, for me to help him be the cook heâs always wanted to be, my parents and I were immediately convinced it was the truly perfect present.
However, we soon found it quite appalling that boys are not featured in packaging or promotional materials for Easy Bake Ovensâthis toy my brotherâs always dreamed about. And the oven comes in gender-specific hues: purple and pink.
I feel that this sends a clear message: women cook, men work.
I want my brother to know that itâs not âwrongâ for him to want to be a chef. That itâs okay to go against what society believes to be appropriate.
This isnât a complicated order, Hasbro: Putting some boys in your commercial would be a good start.
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Sukhrajah
So, at what age did you Mom take away your Easy Bake Oven?
doug105
It was my sister’s.
ncman
That girl has no future as a lawyer. Too much “leading the witness” in her questioning.