Hasbro leaves out Rey from new ‘Force Awakens’ toys

Hasbro’s new Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys have stirred a controversy when they didn’t include the main female lead, Rey, with any of their toys.

Rey should be included in the Star Wars toys and it shouldn’t matter that her character is female.

First, Rey’s character is important to the new Star Wars movie. She is the main protagonist and on multiple occasions saves every character. She’s smart, funny, and brave; all the characteristics of every other movie hero. Her character is pivotal to the plot, just as much as Kylo Ren, so her absence doesn’t make sense.” […] They’re stuck with vast amounts of Kylo Ren products that are not moving, and a tidal wave of complaints about a lack of Rey items.” said John Marcotte, founder of Heroic Girls, a non profit organization.

Secondly, an anonymous insider in the Hasbro cooperation confirmed that the official toy makers said “they know what sells” and that they didn’t believe “[boys wanted] to be given  product with a female character on it.” Star Wars was not made specifically for boys, so to completely disregard young girls liking Star Wars and only worrying about what young boys would like is blatantly sexist. That type of sexism should not be engraved at such a young age.

Hasbro's new Star Wars toy boxes. (Photo from briteandbubbly.com)
Hasbro’s new Star Wars toy boxes. (Photo from briteandbubbly.com)
Lastly, not including Rey plays into the life long problem with sexism. A new generation of girls are being born and society is starting to listen. Society can’t change, evolve and treat women with the same respect if the industry continues to treat women like second class citizens. John Marcotte also stated that he “spoke with Disney people, and they were completely blindsided by the reaction to the new Star Wars characters[…]They were completely surprised when it was Rey everyone identified with and wanted to see more of.” Disney’s ignorance to Rey’s character further proves the sexism lying in young girls’ lives.
Hasbro released a reason for the lack of Rey toys, stating that it would give away a main plot to the new movie. There are plenty of ways to not reveal anything and still include Rey. If Hasbro can include Finn in their merchandise without revealing he leaves the first order, then they can do the same with Rey.
Hasbro’s immature stance on female characters is tiring, and shouldn’t be ignored. Hasbro should apologize for their actions and start releasing Rey merchandise to make Rey fans everywhere happy.
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