That Target is choosing to deidentify the intended gender of toys is irrelevant to me. Heck, I bet my oldest will prefer it. Their apparent reason for doing so is ridiculous.
BSL,
As a father of two and uncle to ... crap, I can't keep up with that number, age appropriateness is every bit as individualized as toy preference. And anyway, wouldn't that be just as offensive in some made up way to kids that are particularly slow or advanced?
Meh, you still have a bigger gap in terms of age appropriate and gender, in terms of differences between toys. I've been learning on the kid at work, but we've only made it to 3 1/2 so, I still have a ways to go to figure out a (extreamly) general idea of milestones, but I was that person who had no clue when they went from crawling and drooling to walking and talking. I'm actually still a little in shock at how fast they go from messy thing wrapped in blankets to messy actual little person.
Age appropriate can be a big deal. Especially with "educational" toys or toys that require motor skills. Emily went through a big puzzle phase, but there was a distinct lack of age appropriate puzzles available for toddlers her age. A family friend bought one that was a bit too old for the kid and, instead of being a good challenge, it frustrated Emily to the point she didn't want to have anything to do with it.
Yes, there is a huge variation between children in terms of what would be age appropriate, but, for someone who was (and still is) clueless about these things, age is a lot harder to shop for than gender.
As far as being worried about how advanced a child is and worry over stigma, it seems to me that most toys are pretty widely spread out in how they are aged, so it's mostly just "this is the stuff they might eat if they don't know better" type thing you really have to pay attention too. Stuff that is specifically educational is already grouped by age, so I am not sure how whiney parents could mess with that.
Personally, I see taking out the gender groupings to be an improvement on multiple grounds, although I don't think it would really alter to much, even at a place like Toys 'R' Us. Yes, toys are somewhat gender organized, but the overall impression seems to be type, manufacture and then gender anyway. Putting boy toys with girl toys just isn't going to change the fact that the aisle with Barbie is going to be overwhelmingly pink. *shrug* I've never really been in Targets toy section, but if the Walmart toy section is comprible, I wouldn't see this as some huge change in how it's organized.
The thing that would really alter all this would be the toy manufacturers. Until they start really producing toys that are more gender nutetral, you're just not going to have sections of a toy store (or toy section) that are really blended for boys and girls.