Girlie toys?

[Briana90802]

What kind of girl toys did you have while growing up? I had a my little pony. I'm a Brony now. What about you?

[AllieSF]

I had two older sisters to play with, fight with and to torment, which according to them I did a great job doing!

[Karren H]

I had all kinds of different building sets.... engineers are genderless.....

[Melissa73]

sister had barbies. used to force me to play w/ her... (and it was a force!, I had to pretend like I hated it.) then in the 80's after both sisters got cabbage patch dolls, I was brave enough to ask mom for 1 ... course I got a boy doll. and years later I got another baby premie (sp?) course my sister always made me play house with her and her dolls too

melissa

[Aly Cat]

Rainbow Bright, Popples, and Carebears. Outside of those, I mostly made my own toys.

Oh! And pretty pretty princess game when I went to my crushes house. She and I used to play that all the time!

[KateSpade83]

I never had any girlie toys ever, and when I was young I was a macho dude that beat up the school bully in my 6th grade.

[Angela Campbell]

My parents would never let me have any girl toys. I lived across the street from two girls and I spent a lot of time there though. Barbies was my favorite, but I liked doll houses too. I got a GI Joe. (he can wear barbies stuff lol)

[Sister Rachel]

"I had all kinds of different building sets.... engineers are genderless....."

Oh right on, Sister! :clap: :hugs: Great line!

[Cynthia Anne]

The only things I remember was a manure fork in one hand and a potato fork in the other! And they were not toys!!

[Jenni Yumiko]

I had all kinds of different building sets.... engineers are genderless.....

Agreed, Legos, erector sets, micronauts and those girder things with the plastic windows were the best!

[Rogina B]

I was an Erector Set kid as well! But I have been building to "full scale" since that start..lol!

[May(be)]

This question has inspired me to create an offshoot thread. I'll post it a little later. Thank you!

To answer your question, my parents bought me an easy bake oven growing up. Considering that toy stores reinforce gender stereotypes and it's sold in the girl's section of the toy store, I guess it's a girl's toy. I just like cake, though. Cakes cooked by light bulb are the best cakes.

[CarmenSkye]

I actually stole a Bratz doll from a friend of mine at school. It was a McDonald's toy and he got it by mistake during one of those times McDonald's decided to have a boy/girl split between toys. His mom brought him McDonald's for lunch in 4th grade and he was kind of upset when he got the doll instead of a Hot Wheel or something of that sort. I offered to "throw it away" for him and ended up slipping it into my pocket. When I got home, I immediately hid it in my "secret spot" (in a box that was under my junk in a drawer) and only took her out to play when my parents where away and my babysitter was asleep. Her name was Jade, and I loved her :).

[Brenda79135]

I don't remember to many toys while growing up. Hot wheels mostly. But my favorite thing was my bicycle. I ah a national forest as my backyard, so we didn't spend much time indoors.

[Paula T]

Tinker toys, Lincoln logs, Gilbert brand erector set, You might have guessed I became a mechanic.:)

[ErinP]

My grandpa worked in purchasing at a department store. He would get a ton of free samples. And toys were one of the many things he had a steady supply of. All the grand kids got to pick whatever was around at any given time. I would always play with the girl toys. I remember one baby doll that I really loved! When you held her in your arms her eyes would close. It was so cute!

[ossian]

Do making disco clothes to GI joes count?

My mother made some disco clothes for my brother's and it's GI joes. For awhile the GI joes would attack enemies in disco clothes. It was awesome. It's probably telling kind of now, but I cut the pants legs off of the neon green stretchy pants my mother had made so my GI Joe was fighting in underwear form. Thinking back on this I utterly have no idea on why I cut the legs of his pants. My brother thought it was odd, to me it was fun and completely perfect.

Damn I wish I knew how I endened up this way.

[ArleneRaquel]

I had a Teddy Bear does that count ?

[Eryn]

I had all kinds of different building sets.... engineers are genderless.....


Agreed, Legos, erector sets, micronauts and those girder things with the plastic windows were the best!


I was an Erector Set kid as well! But I have been building to "full scale" since that start..lol!


Tinker toys, Lincoln logs, Gilbert brand erector set, You might have guessed I became a mechanic.:)

I recall a study that found that the majority of engineers who graduated before the '80s had one thing in common: An Erector set during their childhood! I had one and it was so superior to the current crop of Legos and K'nex as it allowed much more creativity.

I had to look far and wide, but I made sure that my own daughters had an Erector Set!

I don't recall having any girly toys, nor did I have sisters or female friends.

[marlenesexton]

I was, and still am, very masculine. My desire to dress and my occasional fantasies about doing it more seriously are amidst a true guy's guy voted by my high school buddies as the least likely to be gay. Ironic since I wore my mother's clothes whenever I could and dreamed about transsexuals before I knew such a thing even existed.

I used to undress my sisters Barbie dolls to see them naked, does that count?

[bridget thronton]

Lincoln logs, girder and panel set, trains, slot car, one doll

[Diane Smith]

Right on, Eryn -- the classic Erector sets were the best building toys ever made. I had a composite of about three of the larger sets plus a variety of additional parts that you could order individually from A.C.Gilbert back in the day. I could build anything my skills and patience would allow. Heck, even for many years after I got to college and into the professional world, it was common to see various kinds of laboratory rigs and prototype machines built with Erector girders, motors and gears for the mechanical foundations. I had Lego stuff as well, but creative as it was, that was clearly a toy, while working with the metal Erector parts felt (and was) a lot more like real world engineering.

I also used a lot of basic craft supplies to build my own fantasy toys, usually with an aviation or space connection. Also G.I. Joes (the classic 12" ones with elaborately crafted clothing), model railroads and plastic airplane kits. I finally settled on model rocketry as my lifelong hobby obsession and have accomplished a fair amount in that field.

But my folks never discouraged me from playing with "girl" toys, either. I had lots of stuffed animals and a couple of dolls that clearly did not come from the boys' side of the toy aisle, and they got plenty of play attention from me as well. I credit the fact that I can't cook worth a darn now to the fact that I never owned an Easy-Bake oven, though.

- Diane

[paulaprimo]

tonka toys, slinky, mr potato head, lionel trains and my favorite was the blue and grey battle set by marx :)

[Kate Simmons]

I had a baby doll that drank a bottle and wet her pants. I also had cowboy figures. For some odd reason the cowboy was always magically turning into the cowgirl. Go figure!:)

[cdrachael]

closest thing I had to a doll was action man, he had a jeep and a trailer and a helicopter. Use to play with my sister who had a cindy doll and I had action man saving the world

[Beverley Sims]

Trains and boats and planes.
Construction sets et al.
That was by myself at home.

I played with the girl next door and her friends, I liked being a mother, along with them and feeding and changing my dolls diapers.
We all played tea parties, I was five.
I was always wearing a dress loaned to me so as to "blend in".

[Angela Campbell]

Erector sets....yes I loved them. I have been a bit interested as I have met many crossdressers who are engineers. ( I am too) seems to go together well. Maybe they should include courses in college for makeup and fashion. Algebra, Trig, Calculus, eyeliner, fundamentals of DC, physics 101.....

[sometimes_miss]

I got my older sister's hand me downs. Dolls, ez bake oven, etc.. Sis also had lincoln logs, so that was fun, too. I got lionel trains when I was four I think, but was only allowed to set them up during christmas.

[Kalista Jameson]

I have a younger sister, so I often played with her Strawberry Shortcake dolls while wearing her leotard and tights. She wore the same. My mom once walked in on that but thought I was just being a dedicated and attentive brother. She just warned me to be sure to change before my dad got home.

Blueberry Muffin was my favorite.

Cheers,

Kalista

[Tracii G]

Erector sets were big when I was growing up so I played with those a lot.
Had a Schwinn Sting Ray bicycle too and rode it everywhere.I had a few flower stickers on it.
I hung out with the girls down the street so I played house with them a lot.Barbies and all the clothes were fun I admit.
One girl had a Ken doll and we would dress him up in Barbie's clothes.
Loved the Estes model rockets too.

[Sabrina133]

Erector set, books and model airplane kits, baseball glove, bicycle - pretty much the standard boy type toys.

[Alexis.j]

More soft toys/teddies that would fit on a king size bed. ..

[stephNE]

I had a tea set, and a box of jewelry in my closet (a pin, a couple bracelets and a necklace).

[Cheryl T]

Oh well I had a Betsy Wetsy doll and loved it. Had to change her often and keep her clean and it was great preparation had I become a mother.
I also had a Tiny Tears.
Ok, I know I'm showing my age and many will have to Google these to see what they were, but they were mine and I loved them.

[Dawn cd]

I asked for a dollhouse with tiny furniture. My parents were a little puzzled, but they bought it for me. I played with it for a couple of years.

[FrillyShelly]

I had an older sister that dressed me up & played "tea time"

[Leanne2]

Back in the 50s some of the dolls were made of a soft rubbery material that consisted of a torso, arms, legs, and the head. These parts could be removed and replaced easily and they would swivel to show different poses. My sister had a doll like this that I played with. One day I pulled all of the fine plastic hair off of the head. My sister got mad and said that without hair it was a boy doll now and I had to keep it. I named him Petee and played with him often. Leanne

[Briana90802]

I recall a study that found that the majority of engineers who graduated before the '80s had one thing in common: An Erector set during their childhood! I had one and it was so superior to the current crop of Legos and K'nex as it allowed much more creativity.

I had to look far and wide, but I made sure that my own daughters had an Erector Set!

I don't recall having any girly toys, nor did I have sisters or female friends.

I had both erector set and kinex. And I must say that kinex is superior. The limitations of kinex pieces allows for more inventive problem solving situations.

[Danielle_cder]

none to speak of boy toys for sure, bull dozers, dump trucks, backhoes, trackhoes, i played in red dirt.

[Lorileah]

My parents pretty much let us have whatever we wanted as far as toys so our house was a conglomeration of boys and girls things. My dad built my little brother a kitchen with table and chairs even. We had the GI Joes and a couple of Knights (don't remember what they were called). My grandmother taught me and my brother how to sew and cook. Does that count? Funny the brother who played with dolls the most is gay. The brother who played with cars is straight, and then there is me :)

[GothicEmily]

Strictly boy toys here. I was a junior geek who liked to build things: Legos, Erector set, Tinkertoys. Didn't really have any great desire to hold play tea parties, play with dolls, etc., but if you look at playing with dolls as a sort of rehearsal for parenting, and my lack of desire to be a parent as an adult, it's not a surprise.

[CynthiaD]

One of my very first toys was a doll that I insisted my parents buy for me. It disappeared after a while. I used to love to play house with the girls in the neighborhood. At first they didn't want me to play because I was a boy, but then I pointed out that every house had to have a dad (this was the 1950s) and they let me be the dad.

My younger brother and I had some girly toys that had once been my mothers, but we were a lot harder on them than a girl would be, so they didn't last long. I slept with a teddy bear until I was in high school. That's kind of androgynous, but I used to pretend it was my baby.

[Brynna M]

No girl toys but I had a tone of girl movies. rainbow bright unico, carebears, my little pony movies. all were favorites growing up.

[Jessica Who]

I had (and still have) action figures and played with them a lot. Sometimes, though, I would borrow my sister's Barbies so they could be the girlfriends of my Ninja Turtles or He-Man characters :)

[ossian]

Ok.... to add, because of my geeky side..... my brother and I did build an underground rather elaborate "bunker" slash "doll house" that involved electric lights. For the GI Joe's. It gave light even if the hatch was closed. It was great fun to build, kind of like a train set for GI Joe's but underground. When we buried it it was Fall and we imagined through the Winter, with many visits during warm Winter weather, what was going on. It was super fun. My bro later went on to a degree in engineering. I'm so proud of him.

[Alana Wests]

Mostly He-man and other awesome classics like that. Though, my cousin brought over a large doll once that I instantly fell in love with, when she left in the morning , she gave it to me because I was so enamoured with it. That lasted for a few weeks,m then it broke(I carried it everywhere). after that, no more dolls or girly toys.

[Cheryl Ann Owens]

It was A. C. Gilbert Erector Sets that launched my fascination of mechanical things. I went from a machine operator to a highly paid management position from what I learned. I also enjoyed the Kenner Girder & Panel sets. I owe a lot to those early toys to have gained a mechanical sense that has carried me through in many ways. I do have a bride Barbie that is very special to me though!

Cheryl

[tall2826]

I personally never had any but my sister and I would always play with our toys together.

[Sometimes Steffi]

I had all kinds of different building sets.... engineers are genderless.....


"I had all kinds of different building sets.... engineers are genderless....."

Oh right on, Sister! :clap: :hugs: Great line!


Agreed, Legos, erector sets, micronauts and those girder things with the plastic windows were the best!


I was an Erector Set kid as well! But I have been building to "full scale" since that start..lol!


Tinker toys, Lincoln logs, Gilbert brand erector set, You might have guessed I became a mechanic.:)


I recall a study that found that the majority of engineers who graduated before the '80s had one thing in common: An Erector set during their childhood! I had one and it was so superior to the current crop of Legos and K'nex as it allowed much more creativity.

I had to look far and wide, but I made sure that my own daughters had an Erector Set!

I don't recall having any girly toys, nor did I have sisters or female friends.


Lincoln logs, girder and panel set, trains, slot car, one doll


Right on, Eryn -- the classic Erector sets were the best building toys ever made. I had a composite of about three of the larger sets plus a variety of additional parts that you could order individually from A.C.Gilbert back in the day. I could build anything my skills and patience would allow. Heck, even for many years after I got to college and into the professional world, it was common to see various kinds of laboratory rigs and prototype machines built with Erector girders, motors and gears for the mechanical foundations. I had Lego stuff as well, but creative as it was, that was clearly a toy, while working with the metal Erector parts felt (and was) a lot more like real world engineering.

I also used a lot of basic craft supplies to build my own fantasy toys, usually with an aviation or space connection. Also G.I. Joes (the classic 12" ones with elaborately crafted clothing), model railroads and plastic airplane kits. I finally settled on model rocketry as my lifelong hobby obsession and have accomplished a fair amount in that field.

But my folks never discouraged me from playing with "girl" toys, either. I had lots of stuffed animals and a couple of dolls that clearly did not come from the boys' side of the toy aisle, and they got plenty of play attention from me as well. I credit the fact that I can't cook worth a darn now to the fact that I never owned an Easy-Bake oven, though.

- Diane


Erector sets....yes I loved them. I have been a bit interested as I have met many crossdressers who are engineers. ( I am too) seems to go together well. Maybe they should include courses in college for makeup and fashion. Algebra, Trig, Calculus, eyeliner, fundamentals of DC, physics 101.....


Erector sets were big when I was growing up so I played with those a lot.
Had a Schwinn Sting Ray bicycle too and rode it everywhere.I had a few flower stickers on it.
I hung out with the girls down the street so I played house with them a lot.Barbies and all the clothes were fun I admit.
One girl had a Ken doll and we would dress him up in Barbie's clothes.
Loved the Estes model rockets too.


Erector set, books and model airplane kits, baseball glove, bicycle - pretty much the standard boy type toys.


Strictly boy toys here. I was a junior geek who liked to build things: Legos, Erector set, Tinkertoys. Didn't really have any great desire to hold play tea parties, play with dolls, etc., but if you look at playing with dolls as a sort of rehearsal for parenting, and my lack of desire to be a parent as an adult, it's not a surprise.


It was A. C. Gilbert Erector Sets that launched my fascination of mechanical things. I went from a machine operator to a highly paid management position from what I learned. I also enjoyed the Kenner Girder & Panel sets. I owe a lot to those early toys to have gained a mechanical sense that has carried me through in many ways. I do have a bride Barbie that is very special to me though!

Cheryl

Wow. There are a lot of engineers here.

I had no girlie toys, and the only time I "played" with girls was to throw sticky burrs at them.

These are some of the boy toys I had

I had an Erector Set, Legos, Girder and Panel, Tinker Toys an HO race set, American Flyer trains, Creeper Crawlers, all sorts of model planes, tanks and other vehicles, a whole bunch of Tonka trucks, a chemistry set, a microscope, butterfly nets, fishing poles, a sled, toboggan, baseball equipment, football equipment, hockey equipment, a basketball, numerous frisbees, bee bee guns, bow and arrows, toy guns and rifles. My dad bought us everything he didn't have as a kid, and he had nothing.

I also used to make home-made marble works courses with lumber that was, ah, liberated from the lots where they were building new houses.

I didn't get to play with barbies until I had a daughter.

[Eryn]

I had both erector set and kinex. And I must say that kinex is superior. The limitations of kinex pieces allows for more inventive problem solving situations.

K'nex, which limits you to 45 or 90 degree angles does require the builder to be more inventive in solving problems.

Erector, with a virtually unlimited range of angles, was superior when you were trying to build something. Engineers, even budding ones, need materials that are versatile. With Erector you could even bend the pieces if needed.

Another member mentioned Sting-Ray bicycles. The designer of the Schwinn Sting-Ray, Al Fritz, recently passed away. The girls' version was called the "Fairlady" and was in production for 18 years.

[freeindress]

Ungendered: (when young) Lego, (teen) Lab-Deck breadboard, many Elektor magazine issues, recycled parts from Dad's workplace
boy: Meccano, H0 train
girl: Mom's knitting machine

[Eryn]

I don't see Meccano (Erector in US) or model trains as gendered. :)

[Bonnie Stone]

Actually one year I really wanted a chemistry set and a Microscope, I did get both, but guess parents waited to late and the only microscope kit they could find was in a metal box that opened up and contained everything, on the outside was a pic of girls using it and in Bold letters it said " Microscope Set for Girls, I thought it was so cool and it was all mine.

[brenne]

When I was ~3-4 my mom bought me a baby doll from the Goodwill - it disappeared, though ...

[ginafaye]

was my mothers dress dummy one summer when she did a lot of sewing.. :)

[BOBBI G.]

Growing up I lived in a rural area in northwestern Ohio with my two sisters. Most of the kids anywhere us were girls, and I would go to their houses and play or was at home with my sisters playing, usually with their toys and games. My Dad was a design engineer for Willis Overland ( Jeep) and I did have all the usual boy toys.

[Tina B.]

Grew up in the 50's when a man was suppose to be a man, but one year for Christmas mom gave in and got me a Campbell's soup cooking set, it came with a cooking pot, little cans of soup a chefs hat and apron, loved the apron, dad hated the whole idea of it all! Other than that, I loved to play with my older sisters collection of dolls from around the world, she had 15 to 20 of them she kept in the top of her closet, and when I was home from school, and she wasn't, I would get them out and play with them, and put them back before she got home. I also made good use of her wardrobe.

[Robyn2006]

As a kid I was mad for anything with battery and a motor… robots, slot cars (Strombecker… anyone remember those?). Once I motorized my sister's barbie car… Played with her barbie sets too for a while, liked her hot little body and how she could change her style so easily, a foretelling of events to come, no doubt. But when my dad saw me do this, he had a little talk with me about boys and girls and quickly put an end to that!

[Sarah V]

I never had any girlie (specific) toys either while I was growing up. They were all boy (and even continue to be so in adulthood). However, I do now have a few dance related Barbies, that a female friend who knows about me has given me for Christmas over the years. They are all in their boxes and are for display. Maybe some day 30 yrs from now they will be worth something.

[Dianne S]

I was never interested in stereotypically "girly" toys. My favourite toy by far was Lego, which is gender-neutral. I also liked electronic kits and could spend hours just playing with various bits of scavenged electronics as well.

However, I do remember getting a "Batman" costume when I was about 8. I really, really loved it... because it had tights! :)

[RedBaron]

Besides boy toys I had a teddy bear. I got it on my first birthday and still have it, it is now 66 years old!

[Hanlie]

Another engineer. My first bicycle was a ladies bike. I fantisized a lot while riding it that I was a young women. When I got older and needed a bigger one I got the boys version. The fantasies did not stop though. Envied the girls and some of their toys, but never had a real girls toy of my own.

Hanlie

[Asp]

I guess I was a "tom boy". I had legos, tonka trucks, power rangers, etc. However, I did play with barbies wit my sister.