I finally got my project written and onto my blog. There is still so much to do such as adding pictures and doing my bibliography. The biggest challenge has been finding studies about the Easy-Bake Oven. I really did not find any that actually use the oven as a main subject, but there are a few that mention it so I did my best.

I also did a fair amount of reading of non-scholarly material and found three recurring subjects regarding the Easy-Bake Oven. The first subject is a safety recall due to finger entrapment, the second is the 50th anniversary, and the third is that there was a young girl who started a petition to make the ovens more gender neutral. I have certainly learned to weed through the information available to find usable material.

The Easy Bake Oven was one of my favorite toys as a child and I thought it would be interesting to choose a topic that I had fond memories of. There is a wealth of information on the timeline of this toy, but very little, if any, studies that I have found. Most of the articles are either nostalgic or about safety recalls. Hopefully I can find some research on the social or cultural effects of this product.

The most surprising and impressive bit of information I have found so far is that a 13 year old girl started a petition to have gender neutral colors for the Easy Bake Oven. Her younger brother wanted one, but did not want a purple and pink toy. Hasbro, makers of the oven, complied. The petition garnered over 40,000 signatures and included professional chefs. Now the line includes a black model suitable for any gender that wishes to play.

Gender Lens posts will go here.