Telegraph
Finally: Easy-bake ovens for boys
Pope’s quest for a more manly stove started when she found her four-year-old brother, Gavyn, trying to cook a tortilla on top of a lightbulb. Deciding the young chef needed an oven of his own, she and her mother went to Target, only to find the Easy Bake packaging geared solely toward girls.
Pope posted her petition on the site Change.org, saying she found it “quite appalling” that “boys are not featured in packaging or promotional materials.”
She added, “The oven comes in gender-specific hues: purple and pink. I feel that this sends a clear message: women cook, men work.”
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So, what? Considering the number of male chefs, I hardly think they are being left behind just because Easy Bake doesn’t come in camo.
Blake on December 20, 2012 at 6:44 PM
I suppose people who find the lack of marketing to boys “appalling” are committing to buy the boy-friendly version?
malclave on December 20, 2012 at 6:45 PM
Something tells me her little story about her 4 year old brother is a lie.
Having said that, there are plenty of celebrity male chefs out there who could lend their name to an oven or cooking set for young boys. There more than likely is a market for this. Notice how I used the word “market”, I’m not interested in social engineering.
Daemonocracy on December 20, 2012 at 6:45 PM
This will probably be as popular with boys as GI Joe was with girls.
LincolntheHun on December 20, 2012 at 6:46 PM
Or it could be that for the decades they have been selling this oven that girls are more interested in the easy bake oven than boys- so they have played to their customers base.
melle1228 on December 20, 2012 at 6:46 PM
We are about 3.5 years away from forced castrations.
Kataklysmic on December 20, 2012 at 6:48 PM
Hell, just buy a pink one, paint it the color of your choice and stick some flame decals on the outside.
Blake on December 20, 2012 at 6:50 PM
If my husband wasn’t such a fine cook, our children would have starved to death!
Ladysmith CulchaVulcha on December 20, 2012 at 6:50 PM
Let me take a stab – her parents are college professors in the social “sciences”.
Kungfoochimp on December 20, 2012 at 6:51 PM
I dunno, I remember growing up that one of my friends used to complain that his sister used to swipe his GI Joes… as dates for her Barbies.
malclave on December 20, 2012 at 6:53 PM
First world problems. Geez. Put a Batman sticker on it or something.
kim roy on December 20, 2012 at 6:54 PM
Boys don’t need Easy Bake ovens.
They should have Easy Bake gas grills.
NeoKong on December 20, 2012 at 6:55 PM
We boys called our ovens “Thing Makers” and “Vacu-Formers.” We used them to make fake bugs and plastic toys.
tbrosz on December 20, 2012 at 6:55 PM
Then they will be VERY popular because I loved GI Joe growing up, he was a much more manly date for Barbie then Ken!
NerwenAldarion on December 20, 2012 at 6:57 PM
Yeah, I suppose it would be “quite appalling” to go to Target for an Easy Bake and find “boys are not featured in packaging or promotional materials” if you were an insufferably snide little girl with a feminist chip on her shoulder.
I wonder who helped her put that chip there.
Dusty on December 20, 2012 at 7:00 PM
I used to use my sister’s Easy Bake for target practice with my Johnny Seven.
Bam, direct hit on the oven compartment.
Ahh, the good old days.
Dusty on December 20, 2012 at 7:09 PM
I had a “Thingmaker” too! Cooked up many a Creepy Crawler. That thing couldn’t be sold today; I burned the hell out of myself once while transferring the blazing mold to cold water cool-down.
Ladysmith CulchaVulcha on December 20, 2012 at 7:10 PM
I don’t even have a son but I’d totally buy one. +100
SoRight on December 20, 2012 at 7:11 PM
There was indeed a nurse version. I think she lasted one selling season before she was withdrawn due to sales apathy.
roy_batty on December 20, 2012 at 7:11 PM
I had an easy bake when I was a kid and I was unashamed. We made some good cake, which is probably why I’m overweight now.
vcferlita on December 20, 2012 at 7:18 PM
I’ve never understood why any parent would subject their child, male or female, to “cooking” in an easy bake oven. Just help your kid make real food in the real oven so they learn how to cook real food.
CoffeeMan on December 20, 2012 at 7:30 PM
I remember watching the commercial and feeling kinda jealous. Not that I wanted to cook anything, but it seemed like a substantial toy. I was like: “No way, they get an oven with lights and stuff and we get a bunch of stupid stuff?”. I would have probably used it once and forgot about it.
Buddahpundit on December 20, 2012 at 7:34 PM
Brothers always loved Easy Bake Ovens. We got to eat all the stuff our sisters made!
portlandon on December 20, 2012 at 7:37 PM
A proper boy’s use for an Easy Bake Oven, courtesy of The Big Bang Theory:
malclave on December 20, 2012 at 7:41 PM
Easy bake oven for boys, no.
Open flame firepit and chunks of meat on sticks, yes.
TexasDan on December 20, 2012 at 7:45 PM
Also, I’ve been appalled at the lack of G.I.Joe toys marketed to girls.
TexasDan on December 20, 2012 at 7:47 PM
And you gotta figure, most of the great chefs in the world are men. Not all, but most.
JetBoy on December 20, 2012 at 7:54 PM
And the boys will have a lot of fun when they start cooking bugs and worms in there. Then they’ll move on to creating new delights like toy soldiers, the cat and various household items. When these boys get bored with that, they’ll start taking the thing apart and use the pieces to make a fort or something.
RadClown on December 20, 2012 at 7:58 PM
In Colorado and Washington state they’ve introduced an Easily “Baked” oven which makes only brownies.
viking01 on December 20, 2012 at 8:06 PM
i use to play with my sisters Easy Bake ovens back in the ’60′s.
they did not make good enchiladas.
renalin on December 20, 2012 at 8:42 PM
Real men can cook on pink or purple ovens.
Okay. This is a better answer. As a mom, I cooked with all my kids, the boys and girls. They can all cook and bake. It isn’t rocket science but sometimes it does take a little encouragement.
[Confession. I had an easy bake oven as a child and my brothers and sisters teased me mercilessly because all it made was "crumb" cakes. Cakes that crumbled into crumbs. Ah, good times.]
Fallon on December 20, 2012 at 8:45 PM
Exactly. I never understood the Easy Bake. I cooked and baked with my kids since they were toddlers and we use the real oven/stove. The measuring and mixing is the fun part, not sticking it in and out of the oven which of course I did in the real oven. Oh, and licking the bowl, great messy photo op. No plastic toy taking up room required.
Now my daughter is 11 and will cook and bake with me but she’s not really interested in it. My 8 year old son on the other hand makes the best french toast I’ve ever had, it’s always cooked the right amount and experiments with substitutitng other spices than cinnamon. Probably because he’s always hungry and I kinda suck at it. He’s all boy too, dodge ball, grubby, video games, boy scouts, but he can cook! Without any dumb Easy Bake.
rose-of-sharon on December 20, 2012 at 8:49 PM
Yup. My Barbie dolls preferred the manly GI Joe “Action Figures” over the foppish Ken dolls. When they started making the little GI Joes, it was a disaster.
Fallon on December 20, 2012 at 8:50 PM
Does it come with one of those new light bulbs so weak that it won’t cook anything?
Dollayo on December 20, 2012 at 8:53 PM
Meh. No big reason for freaking out on this on either side. ~80% of gender-specific toys are stupid, but that’s an old saw, and we have way more pressing matters.
MelonCollie on December 20, 2012 at 10:51 PM