crossxtoys / gender toys

How to visualise stereotypes related to one's gender?
How to trigger reflection and discussion around the common definitions of masculinity and femininity?
How to make people realize that quite often our expectations towards each other might be harmful?

These three questions were the core of my bachelor in design explorations which began by conducting a simple survey amongst various people aged 20–75 whom I asked to associate a given word with a gender.

sex Gender gendertoys toys critical interaction stereotypes norms

The participants were asked to associate a given word with a gender. They could choose between female, male or write any other answer. Yet, in most cases the binary division dominated. They believed that being fragile is strictly connected with being a female and that aggression is 100% a male characteristic. Parallel to gathering the data, I was translating these features into various objects, exploring the tactility and symbolism of certain shapes and materials.

After gathering the results of my surveys, I prepared a set of elements symbolizing certain characteristics. I have decided to work with the techniques and materials I have explored during all the previous years of my studies. Glass, wood, metal, ceramics, leather, stone, resin, silicone, textile, concrete and a few others were used while creating shapes of soon to be my gender stereotypes toys.

How to play with CROSSxTOYS then? It is simple. With the help of the instruction, the user finds out what is the feature behind a certain element. The first task is to build a totem made of features we think are associated with a stereotypical man. We might do this by choosing cold, rough, sharp, hard and scratched elements or any others which we find relevant. The second task is to build a totem symbolizing our idea of a woman.

The last step of interacting with the set is to build a totem symbolizing ourselves. To do so, we have to reassemble pieces previously assigned by us as being connected to a typical woman or man. This moment is the most important as it gives a proof of how much we are limited by socialization – none of us carries features which are thought to be either one hundred percent feminine or masculine.