Seven-Year-Old Girl Accuses LEGO of Sexism

[Stu35]

Nope, I don't see it.

Y'know what, I had a long, 4 paragraph response to this. I've decided, however, that you don't want to see it, and nothing I say will change your mind (plus 2 of those paragraphs were sarcastic basic English lessons and probably would've been construed as a personal attack).

So I'll leave you with a metaphor.

You've missed the point. I've tried to bring you on target, you refused to change your point of aim. So fuck it. You win. Who cares.

 

[Madner Kami]

This girl speaks the truth. What Lego girl figures exist are mostly sold in sets that resemble hideous pastiches of Barbie and Bratz, where you get to enjoy such exciting things as brushing their hair or riding ponies.

Outside of that, the only time you see them are as housewives in the city sets, or as licensed characters in the various trademarks Lego is milking. Chances of finding a female cop, pirate or astronaut are practically zero.

Or, you know, you put a female looking head on a gender-less body.
You also sound like a person that doesn't know her(bitchy)/his(spineless) LEGOs.

Female looking head? How do you make a female looking head for a LEGO figure?
Lipstick? - Because all females wear lipstick all the time, right?
Long hair on the head itself? - Not only does that not work with the LEGO-style (the heads have no hair, if there's hair, then it's a seperate piece like a hat), but neither is long-hair a sign for a girl character nor is the baldness of the LEGO-figures representative of male heads.
Mascara and long eyelashes painted on the face? - Because all females wear mascara and have long eyelashes, right?
Shall the civilian LEGO-figures get more pink clothing? - Because all the girls wear pink all the time, right?
And so on. The true sexism is displayed by the little 7 year old girl there, as she instills generally genderless LEGO-figures (the figures with beards or specifically make-upped heads or boobed upper-body parts is miniscule) with primarily male attributes. Especially with all the figures in uniforms or utility clothing (astronauts and so on), it's simply ridiculous to assume, they have any sexual attributes at all, because - just as in reallife - uniforms generally eliminate obvious sexual differences beyond facial-features...

 

[wulf3n]

Maybe this is just me being old (at 22), but wasn't the whole appeal of LEGOs that you could mix-and-match? You could create entirely new characters by simply switching heads. Want a female cop or scubadiver? Just put a female head on the cop body and there you go. If you're just playing with LEGOs as they are advertised on the set, that onus is on you, not the company

I think the focus of Lego has changed. It used to be when you bought a theme kit, the Instructions would have alternate projects to build with the included pieces sparking the creative spirit.

Nowadays, at least with the Star Wars Kits, you're buying very specific thing, with so many "unique" parts that it's difficult to make anything new out of it.

 

[Lieju]

I'm not saying I don't think the kid wouldn't have written it, or even that the kid may have felt this way. Read the post again. I am saying that there are specific passages in the body of the text that seem suspicious to me, based on my own experiences. Red flags, I said. The guy I quoted claimed it was blatantly obvious, and I said not necessarily. Perhaps you didn't see those flags as a result of bilingual hampering, or maybe we don't pay attention to the same kinds and quantities of politics.

I'm also impressed at your comparable examples. I wonder if you mailed your letter by yourself? If not, I don't know if your mother looked at your letters before helping you send them. But Charlotte's mother did. And I think she "helped" her daughter "make them a bit better."

You think a 7-year-old can't figure out how to mail a letter? I think a lot of people are underestimating kids these days.

Well, maybe that's true now that all kids just hang out in the net and email each other and whatnot?

And I don't agree that those 'flags' you mentioned are any proof of anything.

"I want you to make more Lego girl people and let them go on adventures and have fun." It feels like someone attempting to use a child's voice to voice her opinion, which is exactly what's happening. But it needs to keep a balance between getting the message through and still sounding like a kid actually wrote it, so "OK!???" is as the end, just in case. And honey, I think when you write pink and blue, you should put girls and boys in little letters above that. It will help enforce the point that Lego is playing to gender stereotypes, sweetie.

???

It's very possible the kid was influenced by stuff she hears at home, maybe her parents or siblings talk about that stuff, maybe they even told her what to write.

But I think a lot of people are underestimating children here...

I learned to write when I was 4, and have kept stuff I wrote, so I have pretty good idea what my level of prose was at what age.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Well that's cute and all, but where is that belief coming from that every product should appeal to everyone? Calling Lego sexist might be true, but is that automatically a bad thing? I say no. There are some toys made to appeal to boys, some to appeal to girls. And if a girl likes boy toys or vice versa, that's fine.

Would it be good if Lego had more successful girl Lego? Yes. Is it bad that Lego has mostly been catering to boys? No.

That said, Lego has been working for years and years to make successful Lego lines for girls, but only recently have they taken off. I'd say it's unfair to call them sexist. Hey, their most recent girl sets were the best sold Lego sets of last year.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Hehe, that's pretty cute.

And yeah, I haven't actually paid attention to it, but I can definitely see how what she wrote might the case.

My two little nieces never receive Lego as gifts, while the boys in the family do get that kind of stuff. Even though the girls can spend hours constructing stuff with my own old legos when they come over to my place.

As some other poster said, they shoulda done the smart thing and used the occasion to put some of their girly stuff in the spotlights. I'm sure they have a selection aimed at girls, but that doesn't mean that the typical shopkeepers offer them.

 

[Strazdas]

But... You... you can use girl minifigs with the "boy" play sets.

That's the idea behind LEGO. You get to do whatever the fuck you want.

This isn't something LEGO should be put to fault for.

that may have been true once back when LEGO was actually compatible between sets.

In a matter of half-a-day, it would be torn apart, assimilated into my collection, and would be part of whatever I decided to build at that time. Usually something sci-fi, like starfighters or mechs. Particularly mechs, once the old Life on Mars sets came out. Those were fantastic.

ah, i remember those times as well. i once built a industrial ship out of 4 seperate lego sets that was so sturdy that it sat on my desk for 10 years with multiple falls down and i only dissasembled it when i had to move. i built it when i was 13. Didnt leave much extra pieces to play with though.

 

[Eynimeb]

As an adult LEGO fan (who doesn't really have enough time to play with it anymore but still has a giant spaceship dominating his bedroom) I kind of have to agree with the girl.

Most kids will end up getting a number of sets and after a while they'll get enough figures that they'll have the ones they want. - How many of any given type do you need anyway? But, in the long run, it *does* get ridiculous. I have hundreds of figures (mostly in the form of a necromorph-soup-style heap of bodyparts), and only a small fraction are female.

Also, it can be very disheartening every time you get a new set for it not to contain figures you identify with, in this case female figures. An adult won't much care, but it can make a kid feel left out. LEGO aren't doing anything wrong per se, there certainly is no sexist intent (merely the belief that making more male figures will increase sales). But, getting the impression that there is no place for you in something you enjoy (insert toy line, RPG, video game, nerdy fandom, etc etc of your choice here) because of gender, ethnicity, etc, *does* get under your skin and make you feel unwelcome in the long run.

I think the solution is very simple and low-cost: Just make roughly half of the figures in lego sets female and everything will be fine. All it takes is female hairpieces and/or headpiece with slightly different printing, plenty of which exist already. No guy I've ever spoken to in the history of the universe is going to complain that there are more female figures and hardcore fans will be delighted that their towns and spaceships actually have a decent number of female figures in them.

 

[Elberik]

From the Facebook comments section:

the Crusader Mitchell Hicks

"Cue the "WAAAAH DONT TALK ABOUT SEXISM BECAUSE THEN I MIGHT HAVE TO FEEL GUILTY WAAAAAAAH" commenters."
-"Boom; called it"

"Spoken like someone that comes from the majority and therefore is blind to the minority's concern.
It matters to her because toys that emphasize action, adventure, and creativity are usually marketed to boys, and LEGO is no exception.
It matters to her because, especially for younger kids, it's easier to project onto a toy that's supposed to represent your same gender, and there aren't very many girl LEGO minifigs in those fun sets."

"I guess if you're not capable of using your imagination or empathizing with another human being, then yeah; that's the end of the discussion.
It matters because it's part of a larger cultural gender stereotyping. She just wants more minifigs with girl faces on them. Is this really that offensive to you?"

I love that you assume people are offended by this girl's opinions. It's not her, it's people like YOU who use something like this to condemn an entire demographic as if there's some sort of agenda to undo over a century of social progression. No one's offended, just tired of hearing the same song.

 

[144_v1legacy]

I'm not saying I don't think the kid wouldn't have written it, or even that the kid may have felt this way. Read the post again. I am saying that there are specific passages in the body of the text that seem suspicious to me, based on my own experiences. Red flags, I said. The guy I quoted claimed it was blatantly obvious, and I said not necessarily. Perhaps you didn't see those flags as a result of bilingual hampering, or maybe we don't pay attention to the same kinds and quantities of politics.

I'm also impressed at your comparable examples. I wonder if you mailed your letter by yourself? If not, I don't know if your mother looked at your letters before helping you send them. But Charlotte's mother did. And I think she "helped" her daughter "make them a bit better."

You think a 7-year-old can't figure out how to mail a letter? I think a lot of people are underestimating kids these days.

Well, maybe that's true now that all kids just hang out in the net and email each other and whatnot?

And I don't agree that those 'flags' you mentioned are any proof of anything.

"I want you to make more Lego girl people and let them go on adventures and have fun." It feels like someone attempting to use a child's voice to voice her opinion, which is exactly what's happening. But it needs to keep a balance between getting the message through and still sounding like a kid actually wrote it, so "OK!???" is as the end, just in case. And honey, I think when you write pink and blue, you should put girls and boys in little letters above that. It will help enforce the point that Lego is playing to gender stereotypes, sweetie.

???

It's very possible the kid was influenced by stuff she hears at home, maybe her parents or siblings talk about that stuff, maybe they even told her what to write.

But I think a lot of people are underestimating children here...

I learned to write when I was 4, and have kept stuff I wrote, so I have pretty good idea what my level of prose was at what age.

I worded a few spots carefully.
I didn't say a 7-year old couldn't figure out how to mail a letter (a 7-year old could also figure out how to cook an omelette, but there's nothing wrong with asking for advice anyway). I made a conditional statement, regarding your delivery of the letter to the recipient. But in the example of Charlotte's letter, we know her mother saw the letter because it was her mother who took the picture and posted it to Twitter.
Another thing I was careful about was, when talking about the wording and the red flags and all, to not use the word "proof," and instead say that I was just suspicious based on my own experiences. You've challenged my suspicions, and feel free to do so. I can further extrapolate from them, but I can't say it constitutes proof.

Reading the letter, I don't feel like Charlotte wrote it on her own, showed it to mom, and then mom took a picture and uploaded it, and that's because of the wording.

...

Also, and I tried not to say this before, but I have to now, I don't know why: your stories about your amazing childhood letter-writing abilities aren't giving you credibility in my eyes. If you want to make a point on the internet, do it through your argument and not through credentials. I could just as easily say that I mailed a letter to the President when I was 5, and that I disarmed a bomb and landed a plane when I was 6. It's the same as people saying they own all the consoles, as if it makes their argument better. It doesn't. It makes them sound like they can't think of a good response, which is usually true. If you want to give credibility to 7-year-old kids, you can't use yourself as an example and remain anonymous. I don't care how well you've filed your pre-K prose. Your Communism letter doesn't strengthen your argument, it weakens it.

...

And try reading the letter in Morgan Freeman's voice.

 

[Lieju]

Also, and I tried not to say this before, but I have to now, I don't know why: your stories about your amazing childhood letter-writing abilities aren't giving you credibility in my eyes. If you want to make a point on the internet, do it through your argument and not through credentials. I could just as easily say that I mailed a letter to the President when I was 5, and that I disarmed a bomb and landed a plane when I was 6. It's the same as people saying they own all the consoles, as if it makes their argument better. It doesn't. It makes them sound like they can't think of a good response, which is usually true. If you want to give credibility to 7-year-old kids, you can't use yourself as an example and remain anonymous. I don't care how well you've filed your pre-K prose. Your UN letter doesn't strengthen your argument, it weakens it.

My point was that it's hardly uncommon (or amazing) for a child of 7 years old to be able write letters of such nature.

It's just like mentioning you own all the consoles if someone doubts anyone does.

I think a lot of people forget how they used to be as kids and underestimate them.
This is hardly extraordinary, and I think it's weird how people are so eager to claim that it couldn't have possibly been child's work, because kids can't mail letters or think about these things.

 

[DjinnFor]

Pretty sure most LEGO people are genderless. Some small portion are specifically gendered.

Don't know which models she's buying.

 

[Foolery]

Better than Terraria.

The guys sound like they are doing something between sneezing and coughing while the girls sound... excited.

Huh. Players taking damage in Terraria always sounded like someone was kicking a turkey or some kind of bird to me.
Then again, I haven't played it for a bit.

Anyway, this story is pretty adorable. Why not have more female lego people going on sweet adventures? Sounds good to me.

 

[Jenvas1306]

come on, toy stores have been sexist for decandes. everything for girls is color coded pink and lego does the same now. they have simple sets with stuff that is more suited for playing dollhouse than to build fantasy worlds.
I had legos as a child and played a lot with them and the girls sets that came up were just lame to me. pink crap...

 

[Rect Pola]

Growing up, I've always wondered why they never designed a female minifigure until they came up with the pink line. There are "girls" but it's just have hair or paint apps on the face and torso to imply a female form. When they finally did make a true female design, they made it clear that these mini figures and all they do is utterly alien to the other products and their flights of fancy.

 

[bluefox755]

I'm sure the parent(s) had absolutely nothing to do with this, lol.

 

[MrFalconfly]

Don't worry, LEGO is slowly changing. More and more female figures are appearing, we aren't at a 50/50 rate yet but if we keep whining (and buying) we'll get there eventually.

We also need a little less pink in the girl sets. And normal LEGO figures in girl sets, not the unholy spawns that they have now.

Well, looking at the available sets now (excluding those horrible Barbie abominations, and the boring licensed crap), I'd say the gender distribution is at a 20% male, 10% female, 60% unspecified.

I'd prefer it to be 5% male, 5% female, 90% unspecified, because that is what LEGO was about, creativity.

However all this "sexist toys" to me just seems to be parents pushing their expectations on children. I frequently played with LEGO's with my baby sister (and it was usually the "boyish" stuff like astronauts and dinosaurs).

Let the kids decide what they're interested in. If your little girl doesn't like dolls and barbie then DON'T get her a doll or a barbie, simple as that.