Seven-Year-Old Girl Accuses LEGO of Sexism

[faefrost]

.... I am afraid to ask but, how exactly do can you tell what a lego's gender is?

also isn't the point about lego playing with the bricks? If she wants to play with people why not action figures or dolls?

on the other hand I can't imagine it breaking lego's budget to paint half the figures differently.

First you put it in the killing jar. Shake it up a bit to give it a good dose of the poison. Wait till the little yellow bastard stops twitching. Otherwise they bite.

Pin them out in a medium dissecting tray and using a #2 blade carefully slice into their lower abdomen. If you find ovaries you have a female. If you find testes in the lower abdomen you have a male.

Remember to document it all. We wouldn't want our population numbers to get messed up.

 

[Not Matt]

Well the female minifigure pack is most likely becoming a thing. And they did try to have barbie lego sets but nobody bought them. But I know this girl all in all is right to say that LEGO offers next to nothing to it's female consumer base.

 

[Dakkagor]

As far as I am aware, its just a printed graphic still. 3D breasts on a minifig would be weird.

So, couple of years ago I actually worked for the Lego Company, just before the new girls range hit the stores. I got to read the companies magazine on why the range looked the way it did. Fun fact: Lego test the shit out of everything. Every product you see on the shelves will have gone through a group of kids first, often over several iterations. After the company nearly died in the early 90s they had to. They spent a fortune on scientifically understanding how children (at that point, their target demographic of 7-11 year old boys) played with the toy. Then they decided it was time for another crack at the girl market.

The Lego friends range was based on the following data points: the 'gender neutral' ranges where not selling to girls (ye olde basic bucket of bricks) the classic minifig was unappealing to girls (this was a big surprise, but they pinned it down to the fact that minifigs do not look 'real' enough, in basic terms) and the big classic ranges (space etc) never sold well to girls at all. Also, they quickly determined that girls where more interested in the 'play' part of the 'build and play' dynamic that is Lego's core ideal.

So they came up with the new friends minifig, stripped out the heavy assembly elements and changed the colour scheme to pastels, shades of purple and white mainly (every time you people shout 'its all pink!' my eye does a twitchy thing) They then did their damnedest to put in a wide range of sets. Sure, there are ponies and dogs and beach visits and kitchen sets. But there is also a lab full of scientific equipment, a kendo dojo, an art studio. . .you get the idea. Note that the minifigs are depicting characters of about 16 years old. They drive, have jobs, are independent, at least one of them is characterized as a tomboy character, one of the others is a bit geeky etc.

The fact is this a company doing its level best to appeal to a demographic it has previously been shut out of. They are trying, which is more than can be said for some companies who pump out the same old pink crap. Even in the main ranges, there is a solid spread of female characters (did anyone see the recent X-Com style lego set, which had more than a few female minifig characters? That stuff was amazeballs!) I have, sitting on my desk, a couple of the collectible minifigs, including a minotaur, a genie and a female space ranger. She has an awesome helmet and a freaking ray gun!

 

[nyysjan]

As far as I am aware, its just a printed graphic still. 3D breasts on a minifig would be weird.

So, couple of years ago I actually worked for the Lego Company, just before the new girls range hit the stores. I got to read the companies magazine on why the range looked the way it did. Fun fact: Lego test the shit out of everything. Every product you see on the shelves will have gone through a group of kids first, often over several iterations. After the company nearly died in the early 90s they had to. They spent a fortune on scientifically understanding how children (at that point, their target demographic of 7-11 year old boys) played with the toy. Then they decided it was time for another crack at the girl market.

The Lego friends range was based on the following data points: the 'gender neutral' ranges where not selling to girls (ye olde basic bucket of bricks) the classic minifig was unappealing to girls (this was a big surprise, but they pinned it down to the fact that minifigs do not look 'real' enough, in basic terms) and the big classic ranges (space etc) never sold well to girls at all. Also, they quickly determined that girls where more interested in the 'play' part of the 'build and play' dynamic that is Lego's core ideal.

So they came up with the new friends minifig, stripped out the heavy assembly elements and changed the colour scheme to pastels, shades of purple and white mainly (every time you people shout 'its all pink!' my eye does a twitchy thing) They then did their damnedest to put in a wide range of sets. Sure, there are ponies and dogs and beach visits and kitchen sets. But there is also a lab full of scientific equipment, a kendo dojo, an art studio. . .you get the idea. Note that the minifigs are depicting characters of about 16 years old. They drive, have jobs, are independent, at least one of them is characterized as a tomboy character, one of the others is a bit geeky etc.

The fact is this a company doing its level best to appeal to a demographic it has previously been shut out of. They are trying, which is more than can be said for some companies who pump out the same old pink crap. Even in the main ranges, there is a solid spread of female characters (did anyone see the recent X-Com style lego set, which had more than a few female minifig characters? That stuff was amazeballs!) I have, sitting on my desk, a couple of the collectible minifigs, including a minotaur, a genie and a female space ranger. She has an awesome helmet and a freaking ray gun!

On unrelated topic, i bought the kendo dojo set for me niece last year for her birthday.

However, i can attest to there being few obviously female figures in lego sets from having tried to find more traditional legos fer her on previous years.
But yeah, it could be worse.

 

[Zaeseled]

I feel like this would be a perfect time to introduce her to Bricklinks. You want a girl character to go into your adventure? Buy the set that has a girl looking genderless yellow thing in.
You don't want to buy the whole set? FINE. Buy just the character, or just it's head. I'm not kidding, you can even buy just a head if you want; http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?itemID=40556&colorID=3
That was the best thing about Lego, you could take your secret agent's head and put it on a ninja body and put a ninja mask on and now it's a ninja with glasses and it's so cool and...
All in all, I don't understand why Josh Engen would try and paint the girl as sexist. May I suggest getting a new news reporter?

 

[Bocaj2000]

Not once in that letter does she accuse them of sexism. This is an inflammatory and misleading title of an article.

Just as a company has any right to sell whatever ratio of boys-girls it wants (though I never really thought legos had a sex, just a change of hair), a consumer has a right to ask for them to change.

This is not news worthy. This is cheap and exploitative view mining.

Agreed. Sadly, on the Escapist all you have to do to get views is put the word "sexist" in your title and you're get people bashing feminism without even viewing the source. Very pathetic attempt to get views... but it worked.

 

[loa]

Legos attempts to "appeal to girls" are pretty disgusting.
Pink color coding, making specific figures that segregate them from the "boys" lego (why?) and having stereotypically "girly" themes such as baking cakes and going shopping while the boys are the ones that are encouraged to, you know, build stuff and use their imagination.

This is especially baffling and completely unnecessary since lego used to be fairly gender neutral until they decided to only market to boys.

So there's a discussion to be had here.

 

[Smeatza]

Legos attempts to "appeal to girls" are pretty disgusting.
Pink color coding, making specific figures that segregate them from the "boys" lego (why?) and having stereotypically "girly" themes such as baking cakes and going shopping while the boys are the ones that are encouraged to, you know, build stuff.

This is especially baffling and completely unnecessary since lego used to be fairly gender neutral until they decided to only market to boys.

It seems rather insulting to those who bought such a popular product to call it disgusting.
I quote, Lego friends is "one of the biggest successes in Lego's history ... The line doubled sales expectations in 2012, the year it launched. Sales to girls tripled in just that year."
Considering the Lego company had fallen on some tough financial times before the release of this range I would hardly call their branching out, their catering to a market that had previously been ignored and excluded, unnecessary.

You also neglect to mention the fact that the Lego friends sets also feature Labratories, sports cars, plane sets and vet's amongst others.
Or the fact there's nothing stopping young girls from using the more build orientated, core product range.

 

[Snowbell]

I would be overjoyed if they started making more female minifigures - and not in the Belleville or Friends range.

 

[loa]

It seems rather insulting to those who bought such a popular product to call it disgusting.
I quote, Lego friends is "one of the biggest successes in Lego's history ... The line doubled sales expectations in 2012, the year it launched. Sales to girls tripled in just that year."
Considering the Lego company had fallen on some tough financial times before the release of this range I would hardly call their branching out, their catering to a market that had previously been ignored and excluded, unnecessary.

You also neglect to mention the fact that the Lego friends sets also feature Labratories, sports cars, plane sets and vet's amongst others.
Or the fact there's nothing stopping young girls from using the more build orientated, core product range.

I have no love for gender roles.
They inhibit our society and are needless friction for "deviant" people such as gays or trans to work against.
They're a vile anachronism manufactured to control peoples bodies and we're just about at the right point in time to say no, this is no longer needed.

 

[Lightknight]

I don't pay attention to almost anything children say. Seven-year olds say a lot of things. Mostly things that their parents tell them to. The headline should read, "Parents teach child to call Lego Sexist".

A company isn't sexist for producing a product geared towards any target demographic. Not anymore than stocking companies are sexist for marketing to females. That's just dumb. But, you know, a seven year old did say it so she's not dumb for her age.

What's more is that Lego generally reflects the media. Maybe the 7 year-old should complain that for every female character in movies there's usually two or more male characters. Besides, legos has entire lines of products specifically geared for girls. The picture above is cute and all but they have quite a selection. If it was more profitable then I'd bet they'd have even more.

Hmm, it occurs to me that I really don't like or respect children in any way, shape, or form. I basically view them all as analogous to really dumb/drunk adults.

 

[Smeatza]

I have no love for gender roles.
They inhibit our society and are needless friction for "deviant" people such as gays or trans to work against.
They're a vile anachronism manufactured to control peoples bodies and we're just about at the right point in time to say no, this is no longer needed.

Well your fundamentalist attitude is causing you to lash out at gender role statements you are perceiving but that aren't actually there, as I showed in your previous post.

Your perception of gender roles and their purpose is simplistic and sensationalist.

If you think that discrimination against gay and trans people wouldn't exist if gender roles didn't exist then you are sadly naive.

Abolishing/Banning gender roles would not be the universal panacea you think it would be. In fact it would amount to nothing more than discrimination towards people who wish to live their lives in a traditional manner.

 

[loa]

Well your fundamentalist attitude is causing you to lash out at gender role statements you are perceiving but that aren't actually there, as I showed in your previous post.

Your perception of gender roles and their purpose is simplistic and sensationalist.

If you think that discrimination against gay and trans people wouldn't exist if gender roles didn't exist then you are sadly naive.

Abolishing/Banning gender roles would not be the universal panacea you think it would be. In fact it would amount to nothing more than discrimination towards people who wish to live their lives in a traditional manner.

Why don't you try and tell me what gender roles are useful for then so we can at least leave it with you saying something of substance.

 

[Smeatza]

Why don't you try and tell me what gender roles are useful for then so we can at least leave it with you saying something of substance.

Why do I need to.
One does not need to use utility to justify the way one lives their life.

 

[ccggenius12]

So, couple of years ago I actually worked for the Lego Company, just before the new girls range hit the stores. I got to read the companies magazine on why the range looked the way it did. Fun fact: Lego test the shit out of everything. Every product you see on the shelves will have gone through a group of kids first, often over several iterations. After the company nearly died in the early 90s they had to. They spent a fortune on scientifically understanding how children (at that point, their target demographic of 7-11 year old boys) played with the toy. Then they decided it was time for another crack at the girl market.

The Lego friends range was based on the following data points: the 'gender neutral' ranges where not selling to girls (ye olde basic bucket of bricks) the classic minifig was unappealing to girls (this was a big surprise, but they pinned it down to the fact that minifigs do not look 'real' enough, in basic terms) and the big classic ranges (space etc) never sold well to girls at all. Also, they quickly determined that girls where more interested in the 'play' part of the 'build and play' dynamic that is Lego's core ideal.

So they came up with the new friends minifig, stripped out the heavy assembly elements and changed the colour scheme to pastels, shades of purple and white mainly (every time you people shout 'its all pink!' my eye does a twitchy thing) They then did their damnedest to put in a wide range of sets. Sure, there are ponies and dogs and beach visits and kitchen sets. But there is also a lab full of scientific equipment, a kendo dojo, an art studio. . .you get the idea. Note that the minifigs are depicting characters of about 16 years old. They drive, have jobs, are independent, at least one of them is characterized as a tomboy character, one of the others is a bit geeky etc.

The fact is this a company doing its level best to appeal to a demographic it has previously been shut out of. They are trying, which is more than can be said for some companies who pump out the same old pink crap. Even in the main ranges, there is a solid spread of female characters (did anyone see the recent X-Com style lego set, which had more than a few female minifig characters? That stuff was amazeballs!) I have, sitting on my desk, a couple of the collectible minifigs, including a minotaur, a genie and a female space ranger. She has an awesome helmet and a freaking ray gun!

Thank you for saying all of this so I don't have to. I was going to drop a bunch of quotes from the Lego case study in my marketing text book, but your response goes into far more detail than a one page blurb about how there's logic behind their decisions.

 

[Dakkagor]

I would be overjoyed if they started making more female minifigures - and not in the Belleville or Friends range.

They'd struggle. Belleville hasn't existed as a range since the 90s, at least.

Also, can we get three cheers for Wyldstyle, one of the best female characters in a kids film since at least Mako Mori:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7uiT-hmTS4