TOYS FOR TOTS BECOMING MORE ANDROGENOUS

TOYS FOR TOTS BECOMING MORE ANDROGENOUS

FALLBROOK, Calif (Wireless Flash) -- Toy manufacturers must be taking a cue from David Bowie and k.d. lang because they're making toys more androgenous. That's the word from toy expert Julie Creighton, who says more and more toys these days are being designed to appeal to both boys and girls. Hot toys like Furby, the Pokemon character Pikachu and Elmo are all gender-neutral characters which are equally popular with boys and girls. Some toys are still specifically targeted at one sex, such as Easy Bake Ovens, which come in girly, pink-colored boxes -- but Creighton says her own experiments show boys like to play with toy ovens just as much as girls do. She claims manufacturers would probably sell more kitchen- related toys by simply using gender-neutral colors like yellow or red instead of pink.