An Ohio mother is furious at retailer Target and took her outrage to Twitter on Tuesday after witnessing a sign for “Girls’ Building Sets.”
Apparently the mother was upset that Target was endorsing gender specific toys and more specifically, children’s building sets. The mother photographed a header sign at the beginning of a Target aisle which read “Girls’ Building Sets”. The mother, who goes by the Twitter handle Abi Bechtel, tweeted a picture of the gender specific signage with some somber disappointment. “Don’t do this @ Target,” the mother scolded. (See picture here.)
The tweet went viral as it set off a larger, ongoing debate about gender equality and gender specific toys.
Most respondents of the Target Twitter smack down were supportive. Someone going by the Twitter handle Jim Kast-Keat called the sign designation “patriarchal kool aid at its worst,” while another Twitter user called it, “needlessly gendered childrens’ toys.”
Some of the discussion focused on self described feminists asking why toys or clothing needed to be gendered at all.
Not all responses agreed with Bechtel however. A Twitter user who goes by the handle Republican Pearls tweeted, “We live in a nation where people get offended by toys being labeled “boys” and “girls“. Seriously?”
According to CBS Minnesota, Target tweeted a response to Betchel’s outrage, acknowledging her concern and letting her know they will be forwarding her complaint to “the appropriate teams for review.”