Science toys, Legos[R], blocks, large vehicles (all previously rated as boy toys), and vacuum cleaners (previously rated as girl toys) were found to be more gender-neutral than in the past.
Age category: F (2, 50) = 40.46, p <.001, [eta][p.sup.2] = .618; [M.sub.infant] = 13.49, [M.sub.4-6] = 12.78, [M.sub.10-12] = 11.51.) "Girl toys" were rated as significantly most feminine, "boy toys" as significantly most masculine, and "both" toy ratings were intermediate, although on the masculine side of the midpoint; overall, mean ratings for toys went from feminine to slightly masculine as child age increased.
"Boy toys" were rated significantly most active, "girl toys" as most passive, and "both" toy ratings were at about the midpoint; mean ratings for toys went from slightly passive to slightly active as age increased.
Age category: F (2, 50) = 16.33, p <.001, [eta][p.sup.2] = .395; [M.sub.infant] = 12.33, [M.sub.4-6] = 12.04, [M.sub.10-12] = 10.71.) "Girl toys" were rated as uninteresting, while "both" and "boy toys" were rated as interesting ("girl toys" were rated significantly lower than "both" and "boy toys"); toys for 10-12-year-olds were rated significantly more interesting than toys for infants or 4-6-year-olds.
Age category: F (2, 42) = 13.17, p <.001, [eta][p.sup.2] = .385; [M.sub.infant] = 13.02, [M.sub.4-6] = 12.21, [M.sub.10-12] = 11.41.) Pixilated "girl toys" were rated as significantly most feminine, "boy toys" as significantly most masculine, and "both" toy ratings were intermediate, although on the masculine side of the midpoint; mean ratings for all toy types went from feminine to slightly masculine as child age increased.
Age category: F (2, 42) = 3.53, p = .038, [eta][p.sup.2] = .144; [M.sub.infant] = 12.85, [M.sub.4-6] = 12.35, [M.sub.10-12] = 11.77.) Pixilated "boy toys" were rated significantly more active than "girl toys" or "both" toys, again generally replicating Experiment I results.
A significant toy gender x age category interaction, F (4,84) = 2.93, p = .025, summarized in Figure 6, showed that "both" toys and "boy toys" were seen as less interesting in older age categories, whereas there was no significant change in how interesting "girl toys" were rated.
Results from Experiments I and II show that the pattern of masculinity and femininity ratings was the same whether participants were looking at normal pictures or at pixilated pictures, with boy toys seen as most masculine, girl toys as most feminine, and "both" toys as tending toward masculine.
