Gender and traditional demographics are becoming less and less relevant. Toy, influencers, education, beauty, media, and shopping trends are discussed.

1. GEN-Z goes
GENDERLESS

2. agender genderless
ungender
gender fluid
non-binary

3. In terms of target audience,
gender is not as important anymore.
This is especially true for
Generation-Z.

4. GEN-Z
Who are they?
Middle
+
High Schoolers
About 13-20
years old

5. in 4 years...
GEN-Z WILL MAKE UP:
24% of the US workforce
40% of consumer spending

6. Digital Natives: those that grew up with
the internet.
Social Natives: those that grew up with
social media.
They are...

7. As a result...
They demand more interaction with their
brands. They want a relationship.
And as brands...
We direct feedback from audience.
We can collect data with social media, Google,
big data to understand the psychographics.

8. On a limited teen budget, they’ll
only spend on brands that reflect
their values and attitudes— and
will ravenously research a company’s
history to ensure it does.”
“

9. In terms of gender, what does this mean?

10. is coming of age during some
women legally topless in NYC
woman running for president
gender neutral bathrooms
legalized gay marriage
GEN-Z
signficant shifts in gender history.

11. And gender norms
are increasingly non-binary.

13. “Then I was like, ‘OK. You
cannot wear a skirt.’ He said
to me, ‘Dad, it’s fine. It’s going
to be so hot all the kids will be
wearing it.’”
--Will Smith
Jaden Smith
Actor (age 48)
Model, actor, rapper (age 18)

14. “I didn’t want to be a
boy...I kind of wanted to
be nothing. I don’t relate
to what people would say
defines a girl or a boy, and
I think that’s what I had to
understand: Being a girl isn’t
what I hate, it’s the box
that I get put into.”
--Miley Cyrus
Non-binaray, pansexual, singer, songwriter (age 22)

15. "In my life – only ever
liked boys. However I
personally don't wanna
label myself as straight,
gay or whateva so I am
not gonna give myself
labels to stick with – just
existing."
--Rowan Blanchard
Actress on Girl Meets World (Age 14)

16. --Kayla Lem
Middle schooler in Harvard, MA (Age 13)

17. 1920 19501930 19601940 1970 1980
Toy marketing history

18. 1984 Federal Communications Commission’s television
deregulation removed longstanding limitations on
children’s advertising and widespread consumer
adoption of cable allowed media owners to target
more narrowly segmented audiences than ever
before.

19. 1980 1990 2000 2010

21. violent
STRONLY
MASCULINE
STRONLY
FEMININE
NEUTRAL/MOD
MASCULINE
educational physical
attractiveness
competitive physical skills
nurturance
musical skill
artistic skill
academic skill
domestic skillsomewhat
dangerous
Blakemore, J.E.O. & Centers, R.E. Sex Roles (2005) 53: 619. doi:10.1007/s11199-005-7729-0

22. Girls and boys perform similiarly in math and girls outperform
boys in reading globally.

24. Men spending on grooming (beauty products)
Euromonitor

25. 50,000 boys and girls and performed the same psychological
tests. This would be the result.
--Michael G. Thompson

26. Binary marketing is not aligning with reality.

27. But market segmentation works!

28. This is short-term thinking.
Reality is that gender is not binary
So many options for
differentiation
GenZ is not comfortable with
being put in a box.
GenZ expects for you to go deeper
Values matter more than ever.

29. "I think the internet plays
the greatest role in the self-
discovery process today,"
"Young people have more access to
information and to other people than ever
before. Marginalized folks are building
communities and platforms online and are
talking about their everyday experiences
on public forums. I can't tell you how many
times someone has written something and I
think, Oh my God, that's a real thing? That's
not just me? There's a name for this?"
--Tyler Ford
25-year-old NYC-based agender writer, speaker, and
media personality

30. "What we're seeing here is
the Internet making people
neutral,"
"If I'm playing a game with somebody in
Africa or Japan or Europe, I don't know
if they're male or female or what they
look like. I'm playing with them. Is it an
avatar or real? It doesn't matter."
--Richard Honack
Professor of education at Northwestern University

31. Gender binaries
Gender fluid
Self determination
Function
Lables
IN OUT
Values
Price
Personalization
What you do, like, defines...
not the external

32. “I’m from a generation
that operates quite nicely
in a box. Today you really
can’t tell who is gay or not.
When I look at fashion
now there’s a blaise-ness
when it comes to gender
bending. Anything goes.”
--Rebeeca Weinberg
Stylist for Sex and the City, LGBT advocate, and designer for agender
clothing line (48 years old)

33. I’m a size 4 in girl’s,
“In shoes,
a size 5 in women’s,
and a size 6 in men’s.”
--Amelie Weinberg
10 year old daughter of Rebecca Weinberg

35. MERCHANDISING

38. they/their/them
ze/zir/zir/zirs/zirself
latinx
Mx.
W
Ne/nem/nir/nirs/nemself
ve/ver/vis/vis/verself

39. Gender binaries
Gender fluid
Self determination
Psychographics
Function
Lables
IN OUT
Values
Price
Personalization

40. GEN-Z
olivia@livtrends.com
@livtrends
OLIVIA CHOW
trend & innovation specialist
GENDERLESS