I got the Paradisa cafe/beach house set from my uncle when I probably nine or ten. After the thrill of getting my own Lego set subsided, I was bored out of my mind (there are way fewer Legos in the girl sets and the large pieces are solid, ready-made pieces). So I built my brother’s space shuttle with launch pad set which he had given up on a half hour before.
vs.
The fact that my brother got the more difficult set despite being two years younger was confusing at the time. I thought his was so much cooler and I remember thinking he didn’t appreciate it nearly enough. And obviously a space shuttle kicks ass compared to a cafe.
But really, if I didn’t have my brother receiving the more complicated (i.e. normal) Legos I feel like I would never have had the opportunity to explore with Legos like I did.
I think the biggest issue with these girl-marketed Legos is the lack of building options. Most of the “building” in the new set is purely decorative (make flowers, add details, etc.) which are stuck on to the sides. There’s nothing structural.
The regular Legos also usually have one cool trick. We had the Lego Adventurer’s Mummy’s Tomb set and when someone tried to steal the jewel, a trapdoor would open and the Lego man would fall into a pit of snakes.
Seriously. Normal Legos were the greatest children’s toy of all time.
LEGO announced that after 4 years of intensive research, they have finally come up with a LEGO product that fulfills the desires of “how girls naturally build and play.” This new theme is called LEGO Friends and it’s a pink and purple, gender segregated, suburban wasteland populated by Barbie/Bratz style dolls. Many parents, educators, feminists, and media critics have spoken out against LEGOs attempts to separate girls into their own stereotypical isolated enclave within the LEGO universe.
In part 1 of my two part LEGO and Gender series, I’ll explore how LEGO went terribly wrong with LEGO Friends and provide a brief history of LEGO’s ridiculous and slightly hilarious attempts to market to girls since the late 70′s. In part 2 I’ll delve into LEGO’s intentional strategy to market almost exclusively to boys since the mid 80′s by developing and marketing sets that are male identified and male centered. In conclusion, I’ll offer LEGO a couple of suggestions that they can consider when creating and marketing new products.
For more information, links and a full transcript visit Feminist Frequency
(via lookitssaaaarah)
