poo, i love playmobil. my favorite toy when i was little. cept i had the pioneers and indians...complete set! house, chairs, papuses, the whole deal

You forgot the companion picture. And why is she wearing shoes and not pregnant?

That isn't a currently available set, right? I'm guessing 80's judging from the photo, since the ThinkVegan link isn't working.

As for me, I was into Jurassic Park and Batman toys myself. If I got anything from the "pink aisle", I'd chuck it.

I loved playmobil too when I was a kid... I still love to look at the different sets when I'm in a toy store. When I was a kid, I played with the RV, the construction workers, the pirates, and the playground set... never saw the laundry room!

yea, i always thought that was a completely gender neutral toy...i never saw this one either!

Funny, I was always playing with dolls and stuff like this. So much for my hegemonic masculinity.

I've always been disappointed in girl's toys. The selection of toys aimed at boys has a lot more variety and the toys themselves seem like they're more fun to play with. I've seen an array of plastic appliances like stoves, sinks with dishes and vacuum cleaners aimed at little girls. If I had asked for one of these my mother would have certainly put me work with the real thing.

I think children tend to think gender nutrally about their toys. They will play with whatever they see as fun. Gender comes into the picture when adults impose traditional gender roles on the children, such as boys don't play with dolls, but it's ok for them to play with action figures. I distictly remember asking for GI Joe action figures one year for Christmas and being told that girls don't play with those. Luckily my brother shared. We used to have some epic battles involving Transformers and GI Joes. Likewise, he and I would also play with my Barbie dolls.

Eventually toy manufacturers will realize that not everything aimed at girls has to come in bright pink packaging. Girls (and boys) will play with any toy, so long as it is fun and holds their interest.

I agree that this is probably a dated, albeit icky, set. Playmobil has several oddball sets such as the Portable Bathroom with Crew. I suck at the link thing, but you can see all of their funky stuff at the Playmobil site.

no it's still on sale:

Playmobile site

good points, VT, but i do hafta say that playmobil is one of the most gender neutral toys ive seen. its basically the same category as legos as far as the little kits with diffrent themes go. which is why i was pretty surprised to see this one, since im used to seeing covered wagons, log cabins and pirate ships with little male and female plastic "dolls" from playmobil. hah maybe that means this one wasnt so popular! (hopefully)

When I was little my sister and I played with the Little Tikes child-sized vacuum and ironing board playsets. So much for pretending I was a hardcore little kid. :)

Which reminds me, Christmas is upon us, and there will now be an unbridled torrent of All Things Barbie given to my daughters by well-meaning relatives.

Doesn't matter how often I ask them not to, the tone of voice I use, the facial expressions employed, etc.; there is a conspiracy among them and they will give my daughters Barbies, dammit.

Drives me nucking futs.

i work in a toy store. and sadly, this isn't the worst stuff. and playmobil isn't even the worst brand...it can be a loooong day for a feminist in a toy store.

do they have a business model! i get tired of seeing the same ole same ole house maid........... its about time ppl move on

away from that nuclear model or what something like that

Sadly this reminds me of what I do all day...well with the exception of the clothes line...I have a dryer from 1976! At least she is wearing pants?

Children's toys really frustrate me. Last year my sister and I went shopping for her kids at walmart. They had a series of affordable toys that we're very gender-centric. In pink they had a dress up set for little girls, in blue they had a doctors play set for little boys. I wonder how many parents bought these sets. UGH. I can't imagine growing up in a household where I was told constantly my role in our society is to look pretty and my brother's role is to be smart.
The good news is that this year I saw a series of generic barbie like dolls that were cops, firefighters, etc.

maybe i'm missing something... what's wrong with this picture? it's just a woman ironing...?

betsy - I could be wrong, but I don't think the ladies have a problem with a pic of a toy set with a woman ironing. I think the problem is that most toys for girls are of that nature. Meanwhile, you never see a toy set with a guy ironing or a toy set for a woman doctor or lawyer. The toys may seem harmless but many believe the stereotype of a tradional woman is perpetuated at an early age with toys like this.

Another thing I could be wrong about is I don't think everyone wants to see the end of this toy set (although I sue some do), but a greater variety of the images available to little girls.

This may seem ridiculous to you but go to the store and look at the toys. That is the image that girls are getting (and boys see of them) as they grow up.

(although I', sure some do) - sorry for the typos

dammit, even my correction needs a correction