http://www.thelocal.se/22504/20091006/

Toys"R"Us scolded for gender discrimination
Published: 6 Oct 09 16:26 CET

US-based toy retailer Toys"R"Us has been reprimanded for gender discrimination following a complaint filed by a group of Swedish sixth graders about the store's 2008 Christmas catalogue.

Last winter, a sixth grade class at Gustavslund school in Växjö in south central Sweden reported Toys"R"Us to the Reklamombudsmannen (Ro), a self-regulatory agency which polices marketing and advertising communications in Sweden to ensure they are in line with guidelines set out by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

According to the youngsters, the Toys"R"Us Christmas catalogue featured "outdated gender roles because boys and girls were shown playing with different types of toys, whereby the boys were portrayed as active and the girls as passive", according to a statement from Ro.

6th graders filed this complaint?   

Oh come on, I just had a job interview for toys r us yesterday

Surely that's gender stereotype, rather than gender discrimination?

And maybe shouldn't this be a case of suing (if you really want to do that...) the manufacturer rather than the store? *shrug*

It's not like they boys and girls are disallowed from doing anything.

Stereotypes aren't illegal or monetarily damaging.

SilverFang

Enforcing ancient gender stereotypes where boys are strong and active and girls are weak and submissive just seems somehow wrong to me.