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Original poster

Lego for girls and 'bring back beautiful'

64 replies

rlhoban · 22/12/2011 08:38

Hi there

I'm tiptoeing in as I'm new to the boards, but was just on the Lego Facebook page where lots of parents are getting upset about the new Lego sets for girls. I thought "I bet the guys on mumsnet will have an opinion or two on this". I've done a search and couldn't find it being discussed already so thought i'd start a thread.

Lots of people cross with Lego for falling into line with the whole 'girls can only cope with pink, purple and cupcake shops' thing. A few lone voices telling them to get over themselves.

I'm with team 'bring back beautiful' (coming from a 1981 LEGO advert with a girl in jeans proudly holding up her creation. My 4yo has lots of pink stuff in her life, but not LEGO, please. I hate the message this sends out.

What do you think?

Rosa x

OP posts:
Original poster
rlhoban · 22/12/2011 09:03

@nancerama noooooo. not the yellow teapot! Loved that.

OP posts:
Clossaintjacques · 22/12/2011 09:04

Well if we all stopped buying the pink girls stuff they might not keep making it. I try and mix it up and regularly take my DD to the boys department for toys and clothes as well as the girls and try to engage her in both 'colours'.
No one forces parents of girls to only buy pink, although I wish it wasn't all pink!

Original poster
rlhoban · 22/12/2011 09:06

Did you see that Hamleys has just changed all their signage so there are no 'boys' or 'girls' sections, but signposted by type/category of toy.

OP posts:
Clossaintjacques · 22/12/2011 09:11

Yes. rlhoban, bravo for that. When I used to take my DD to the boys floor she would say "but these toys are for boys" and I'd have to give a long explanation that they weren't exclusive to boys.
Well, done to the woman who campaigned for it, can't remember her name.

FreudianSlipper · 22/12/2011 09:12

ds lego set came in a green box with red, blue, yellow, black, brown, grey and green bricks so to me that is not aimed at boys or girls just to those like myself that love lego

i dislike everything pink its just marketing and with toys its so heavily marketed for girls to be pretty cute and girly at such a young influential age, still gets them ready for when they are older and they move on from pink toys to be sucked into the beauty industry.

i had a girl i would not be buying her this she would not be having everything pink. love the pink stinks website

www.pinkstinks.co.uk/

pinkstinks^^^

annoyingdevil · 22/12/2011 10:10

Do people honestly think that parents have much control over their daughters wanting everything pink.

My DD is the least 'girly' girl I know (Dr. Who geek, dislikes dolls etc.) But even she thinks that something isn't for girls if it is not in a pink or purple box.

It's all very well for people with toddlers to say they don't buy them anything pink, (I used to be one of those), but just you wait until they are six or seven and desperate to fit in with their peer group

Ismeyes · 22/12/2011 10:24

Just showed that to my lego loving 5 yo DD. She insisted it wasn't lego because it looks like Polly Pocket.

leeloo1 · 22/12/2011 10:33

I think the set that was linked to looks fab. There may be a couple of pink bricks, but the figure is holding a spanner and standing in front of a blackboard with calculations on it. Whats not to like?

btw I remember one Xmas when I was about 8? (so early 80s) getting a more girly lego set. From recollection it was a windmill with lots of flowers in the garden. The bricks were quickly consumed into my brother's the general lego collection so I only ever made it once.

minciepie · 22/12/2011 10:41

Just looked at the Lego Friends pics.

That's not Lego! It's all ready made! There are hardly any actual bricks involved. It's more like a dolls' house.

It's almost as if they think girls won't be interested in building stuff...?

FreudianSlipper · 22/12/2011 10:44

no sadly children are influenced by what is marketed to them but it is down to parents as to what they buy and teach their children

i appreciate that marketing is very different for boys than it is for girls but it is down to us to teach them that not everything is pink and fluffy and a girl needs to be like this to fit it. we seem to have taken a step back rather than forward girls know your place you will be judged on how you look remember to look pretty and wear pink not how intelligent you are ffs little girls shoes are sold with lipgloss sets to be more appealing it makes me angry and sad

andaPontyinaPearTreeeeee · 22/12/2011 10:51

i find it saddest that instead of using basic lego to build amazing stuff, you now just buy a specific lego kit to build a spaceship or a submarine, it seems a bit limiting somehow

Me too! My DCs are still on duplo but I only bought basic sets so it is just regular bricks with a couple of those windows/car base things. Hopefully I'll be able to do the same when we upgrade to Lego.

I too find it really really sad that unisex toys are being manipulated into gendered sets and packaging. There is of course nothing wrong with pink Lego bricks but why can't they just be included in regular sets (will it scar boys for life or something?) instead of making specific sets 'for girls'.

aldiwhore · 22/12/2011 10:54

I don't think 'girls lego' is required, but possibly less male targeted sets would be a good thing. Although girls LIKE star wars there doesn't seem to be any choices for lego sets that aren't guns inclusive, so maybe its not boys that love them and not girls rather only boys who're into shootemups love them. (I love Star Wars).

I remember my brother getting a Lego set that wasn't 'branded' to any particular film, the instruction booklet showed about 50 different things to make from one set, from cars to houses, space stations to animals. You can't get these sets anymore, they're all sponsored by one film or another, and the random lego sets don't give enough ideas. (My kids like me, like to follow instructions!)

I remember my brother making a huge spooky house type thing, and me, being a girly girl with a twinkly in her eye dotted the garden with Lego flowers and booby traps.

I suppose the current Lego is something I object to in many ways, but not purely because of gender targeting.

BertieBotts · 22/12/2011 10:58

"legos" = american term for "lego bricks". Not sure why.

I am not old and I agree that the sets which are just bricks are the best. except Harry Potter lego

StealthPolarBear · 22/12/2011 10:59

I do find this depressing. I have no problems if my dd or my ds wants to play with pink stuff, but I do wish it wasn;t shoved down DD's throat, and DS wasn't made to feel slightly awkward when playing with it.

andaPontyinaPearTreeeeee · 22/12/2011 11:02

Minciepie if they reckon girls don't like building stuff they clearly haven't met my 4yo :o she LOVES building and I can't wait til she is older and we can get more challenging materials like knex/meccano.

However even that is being tested now, since she started school. She got really confused and thought she wasn't allowed to play with trains and that boys shouldn't dress up in princess stuff. Her amazing teacher had a chat with the class about it purely because we mentioned it once, and that did help, but peer pressure still continues.

She is getting quite princessy and she's only been there a term! At home she plays with trains/cars/dinosaurs etc but if a friend comes over she won't. It's not TV in her case, at least, not advertising as we don't have any TV channels.

andaPontyinaPearTreeeeee · 22/12/2011 11:05

Good point about guns. I haven't really looked closely at Lego sets, but I'm sure I've seen some Halo stuff. Isn't Halo an 18+ game, or am I confusing it with something else?

cantspel · 22/12/2011 11:11

Halo isn't lego. It is mega bloks

andaPontyinaPearTreeeeee · 22/12/2011 11:18

Ah I see. But isn't megabloks for kids and isn't halo an adult game? Confused

Ciske · 22/12/2011 11:19

I don't mind the introduction of new 'homely' sets with pink bricks, that's fine. It's the labelling 'for boys' and 'for girls' that really annoys me. Little houses are for kids who like little houses, regardless of gender.

For those who feel the choice is limited in shops, you can always go directly to the lego website. It stocks a much wider range, including the very advanced sets marketed at adults. I've got an adult friend who builds massive Lego structures and I don't think he's restricted by the type of bricks that are being manufactured. It's the shops that limit their stock to Harry Potter type sets, not Lego.

Cherriesarelovely · 22/12/2011 11:22

the hot tub sounds a bit weird!!!!! I just cannot get into lego anyway though and never could. Am very jealous of my SIL who can make the most brilliant models with it to impress her DCs!

cantspel · 22/12/2011 11:22

Halo game is a 15 but there is nothing wrong with the halo maga bloks for younger kids. yes they have guns but it is all space themed and also have cars, aircraft, drop pods etc.

irregularegular · 22/12/2011 11:23

I dislike the idea in principle but some of it is actually quite cool: see the scientist below

crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/lego-friends-range-patronises-girls-with-dull-stereotypes-50006457/

belgo · 22/12/2011 11:25

My girls will love it.

BandOMothers · 22/12/2011 11:28

I just want a big bucket of various colours and shapes...not pink...not battle ship and aliens crap....my DDs love lego but don't want to make a frigging pink crappy whatsit...or a pirate ship...they want to make BUILDINGS mr Lego...houses, tower blocks, hotels....that' all....and not pink ones either.

belgo · 22/12/2011 11:29

BandofMothers there are plenty of boxes with just Lego bricks. We've got huge amounts of general Lego.

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