Okay, so I’m going to have to apologize in advance for this because I have so many family and friends that would probably completely disagree with what I’m about to discuss today in this article.

“Since when were we getting a moral compass from Target?” – My Spouse

So almost a month ago now, Target made the “SINFUL” decision that they would start removing the gender labeling from their children’s non-clothing aisles (i.e., toys). And not surprisingly a huge number of people who likely have gender identity issues of their own got all irate over this decision. Many people started posting enraged comments on Facebook, while other began calling the Target customer service, complaining they would no longer patronage their stores if they went thru with this decision. Seriously, it started with Home Depot and Walmart, and now the next boycott “target” is Target – who knows, maybe they asked for this.

So earlier today, my wife and I were shopping at Target and she was taking her time looking for a particular set of MLP figures to use in a crafting project. No one was the wiser until I asked, “Honey, did Target finally remove the gender labeling from the toys?” She looked around for a moment and answered “No, I don’t think so. Why?” “Where is the pink, the blue, the words boy or girl?” I pointed out. The walls of the toy aisle were now a plain wood patterned paper.

When we got to the front checkout, I asked the cashier if the change was made yet and she politely answered, yes. She continued to express her grieving over how many people were actually upset over this. And over something so trivial too, simply the removal of gender-colored backdrops and the removal of wording such as “Girl’s building sets.” They also moved all the children’s bedding to the same aisle which made inventory easier to handle.

She proceeded to tell me that they even had a customer in the store the week prior, complaining to the store manager about this change. Some of the customers exact words were, “I can’t believe Target is only selling to transgendered children now.” Yeah, you heard that right, only transgendered children. *sigh* Okay, so I want to make something clear on Targets behalf to all you misinformed parent: THEY ARE NOT SELLING TO JUST TRANSGENDERED CHILDREN! People seriously, Target is only doing what makes business sense and as my spouse’s quote goes: when did we start looking at a non-Christian company such as Target to tell us what our morals were.

Honestly, I was a bit disturbed and saddened to see someone like Franklin Graham at the forefront of trying to encourage the boycott of Target and the calling in to complain about this decision. Honestly, Franklin, you a great Christian evangelist but I’m going to have to disagree with your arguments.  Calling for riots against Target is NOT Christian and goes against many things that Jesus thought.

I have a lot of family and friends that would boycott anything in an instant just because some company does something that they disagree with. Someone I know decided to started boycotting Home Depot just because they started extending benefits to gay partners a few years back. Boycotting once had great effects on the place you shop, that is back when most places were mom-and-papa brick-and-mortar buildings – losing a few customers meant tragic outcomes to their bottom line. However, I’m sorry to say it doesn’t have the same effect any longer in a digital and internationalized economy. You are outnumbered and a business like Home Depot losing your $20 paint purchase is really not that damaging to their revenue these days. And when you post online about your discontent, there are a dozen other customers to fill the gap.

Now, you might wonder what my opinion is on this? I say, “Why has this taken so long to finally happen?” Okay! Okay! Before you start throwing flaming crucifixes at your computer screen, hear me out. Honestly, look at the toys kids are playing with these days. How many of said toys are already gender-neutral? Action figures are just dolls made for boys. Lego has made building sets targeted at girls for years now and many girls prefer the gender-neutral/boys sets, which I honestly think is because most the Girl’s building sets appear to target what I can only say is, *cough* less coordinated kids. You can’t sit there and tell me that’s not sexist on Lego’s part.

Now, look at how many TV shows and movies are now also targeting both genders. Let’s consider Disney’s Frozen, they are marketing products with Elsa and Anna to girls, while marketing Olaf and Sven to the boys. Now, I have some other issues with that kind of gender marketing since there are boys who like the princesses and girls who like Sven and Olaf, but I digress. Honestly, does it make sense to put half the Frozen toys in one aisle and the other half in another? Okay so maybe this layout might “better” serve “transgendered” children, latte da! But honestly, how is this suppose to make your son gay? How is it that we don’t want our boys playing with Barbie dolls but are okay with them playing with a shirtless GI Joe?

I understand where some concern comes in and I could go on. Sadly, I know it might not change your mind but consider that maybe your gender bias views are more harmful to your kid’s gender identity than healthy. To be completely honest, I walked all those toy aisles earlier today and what was obviously boys toys are still easy to spot and vice-versa. Additionally, are board games gender bias? Are Legos? Are Hotwheels? All those toys I just named are now sold in some way or another for both boys and girls. And if the color of the toy is your argument then you need to check your facts because at one time pink was considered a boys color, in fact, gender-colored marketing is only an invention from about the last 120 years. During the 1800s little boys would wear dresses and white was considered a “children’s” color. I’ll take it a step further and argue that you are as an adult a victim of gendered marketing. You buy the “woman’s” (or “man’s”) body products and then women get upset that they’re underpaid and so forth.

Target is NOT your compass for moral guidelines, they are simply a business and again I say, “Why did this not happen sooner?” Please consider what I had to say next time you go browsing your local Target. Honestly, I don’t even think you will notice. Even more so, I don’t think your kid(s) will notice either and if you have to pry that pink toy from your son’s hands then I think your moral issues go much further than just Target’s front door.

Also, can I make it clear that this is not a win for the transexuals nor the gender spectrum crowd? No, this is actually a win for all. It’s just the removal of a labeling that I believe was reinforcing some old gender stereotypes that honestly don’t fit into today’s culture anymore. If you at all think that girls can get normal jobs outside the home or that men can become nurses or hair stylists then why are you clinging to this outdated idea that girls play with pink toys and boys play with blue toys. Times are changing and we need to be keeping up or we as Christians will continue losing any and all influence in the world.