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More Americans say boys and girls should be brought up playing with the same toys and activities than say they should be brought up with different toys (52% vs. 35%), a recent YouGov survey finds.
Most liberals say boys and girls should be brought up alike (71%, vs. 20% who say they should be raised differently), while a majority of conservatives takes the opposite view (35% vs. 56%). Men (44% vs. 40%) are less likely than women (59% vs. 30%) to say boys and girls should be raised the alike.
Younger and older Americans are similarly likely to say boys and girls should be brought up alike, with around 50% of all four major age brackets saying this. But younger Americans are more likely to be unsure about this question, which means the belief that boys and girls should be raised differently is more common among older Americans (42% of those 65 and older) than among adults under 30 (25%).
But general beliefs about whether boys and girls should play with the same toys don't hold true for all types of toys. YouGov asked Americans whether each of 14 toys and games are suitable for only boys, only girls, both boys and girls, or neither boys nor girls.
Almost all Americans say building blocks, board games, science kits, toy musical instruments, arts and crafts kits, and stuffed animals are toys suitable for both boys and girls.
For four other toys, 50% or more of Americans say they're equally suitable for boys and girls, but sizable minorities say they're only for boys: toy trucks, toy tool sets, action figures, and toy guns. Almost no one says any of those four toys are suitable only for girls.
Toy guns are the only one of the 14 toys where a significant share of Americans say they're suitable for neither boys nor girls (23%).
Most Americans say play kitchen sets are suitable for both boys and girls (67%), but 28% say they're suitable only for girls. Tea sets closely divide Americans, with 50% saying they're for boys and girls, and 42% saying they're only for girls. The same is true for baby dolls (46% say for boys and girls vs. 49% only for girls). Most Americans say play makeup sets are only suitable for girls (26% say they're for both boys and girls and 63% for only girls).
Men are more likely than women to say that stereotypically male toys are only suitable for boys, and even more likely to say that stereotypically female toys are only for girls. For example, most men say baby dolls are only for girls (58%), but a majority of women disagree (55% say they're for both boys and girls).
There are also big differences in how liberals and conservatives view the suitability of toys for boys and girls. For example, 85% of conservatives say play makeup sets are only suitable for girls, compared to 38% of liberals. Conservatives are at least twice as likely as liberals to say each of baby dolls, tea sets, and play kitchen sets are only for girls.
Ideological differences are less stark when it comes to stereotypically boy toys. Conservatives are more likely than liberals to say toy truck, toy guns, toy tool sets, and action figures are suitable only for boys, but both liberals and conservatives are more likely to say each of those toys is suitable for both boys and girls than for only one gender.
Methodology: The August 25 - 27, 2026 poll was conducted among 1,095 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov's opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, U.S. region, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent's most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4.0%.
Image: Getty (Anastasiia Sienotova)
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