Toys by Gender

Now that it is December and Christmas is right around the corner, there is a big emphasis on presents and toys for the holiday season. As a student in Women's Studies, it is impossible for me to not notice all the gender segregation of toys.
I went the to the Target online website and you can narrow your search by clicking which age you are shopping for. Nothing wrong with that, but there is also an option to narrow your search by gender for toys by clicking "Girls Toys" or "Boys Toys." The girls toys link redirected you to all the "top toys" for girls. The toys included mostly dolls but also materials for arts and crafts, dress-up clothes and stuffed animals. These are all stereotypical toys that girls, through gender socialization, are taught to play with from a young age. The boys link, on the other hand, takes you to the most popular toys for boys. These toys included action figures, riding toys, and lots of Hot Wheels and Nerf guns.
By separating the toys by gender, we are applying gender socialization on children at a very young age. It is not wonder people grow up to be sexist because as a society, we are teaching our children a binary understanding of gender. By giving the option to "shop by gender" we are enforcing the binary of gender to separate girls and boys. Why can't you buy an action figure for a girl? Why would it be frowned upon to give a boy a doll for Christmas? If we expect gender segregation to stop, we must put an end to the binary understanding of gender.