to be MAD about bloody Lego Friends airport, where the pilot is a MAN.

[changeshow]

Got Lego Catalogue today. Looking through at all the exciting and colourful stuff for boys. Got to the Lego Friends page. Looking at the nice plane, check the figures.........

FLIGHT ATTENDANT SANDRA and PILOT DAVID. WTAF! Why is the pilot a bloke?!

Did no one at Lego has the wit to say 'errr women can be pilots'?

AIBU to be seriously unimpressed by this? Makes me bloody cross.

He drives the boat and flys the plane in the cartoons!! You are really getting worked up over nothing!

I'm a stats machine today.

In Sweden around 71% of women are in the workforce, in the UK it's 67%.

So not a significant difference...

The highest proportion of women engineers in the EU tend to be in Eastern Europe - Latvia and Hungary both over 30%.

Italy is another that is around triple the UK rate.

To me these figures really put paid to the 'girls just aren't interested' line. If it was innate, you wouldn't see such huge disparities.

Well done on the stats, they clearly blow massive holes in the idea that boys and girls gravitate towards "boy things and girl things".

I've also never seen blue sections and pink sections in anything other than UK toy shops...

I like numbers.

I've seen it starting in Australia too, which is really irritating. The STEM issue seems to be most pronounced in Western Anglophone countries though to different levels - I'm sure I read something about the US as well which I'll try to track down.

Feels like quite an interesting 'shared culture' issue.

Canada is RIFE with pink and blue shite. so I imagine the States is too.

well hello, I got a reply from Lego. I asked 'why is the pilot in Heartlake (puketastic name) a boy?

Their reply is weird and patronising. And doesn't answer the question but full marks for avoidance. I nearly threw up while reading it.

They said:

Thank you for contacting LEGO® Service, it’s always nice to hear from our LEGO fans.

It is wonderful to hear that you have the new LEGO Friends Heartlake Airport set, 41109. I hope you had great fun building it with your little LEGO fan. It is such a cool set, filled with all kinds of little details to delight any traveller.

Did you know that Stephanie’s friend Olivia is a pilot? You can find her in set 41100 – Heartlake Private Jet. She has great fun flying it, and she is studying to get her license to fly commercial airlines as well as the smaller jets. She has inspired her friend Stephanie, whom is now training to become a pilot too.

She has enlisted the assistance of her friend Sandra, whom also likes to fly and wants to be a pilot herself. She has promised Stephanie that she will help her, and has gotten her dad to give her flying lessons. Sandra’s dad happens to be a pilot and is more than happy to help out the girls with their training. So although David, Sandra’s father, is the one with the license, it is actually Stephanie who’s flying the airplane.

We have had requests from our LEGO fans to bring in a few more adults into the series. For this release we have Susan whom is running the new Heartlake Grand Hotel – 41101, and doing a smashing job too. And we also wanted a male adult for this release and so he ended up being the pilot. However, he should watch his job carefully as the three little women, Olivia, Stephanie and Sandra are learning fast, and I don’t think it will take long until they all have their pilot’s license.

I hope this answers your question, but please get back to us if there is anything else we can help you with.

FUCK OFF LEGO. YOU ARE LATE TO THE PARTY and have obviously GOT LOST ALONG THE WAY.

Fuck me, that nearly made me puke.

Mwah ha ha.
Are they taking the piss?

I'll bet they gathered around the computer and pissed themselves laughing while concocting that utter nonsense.

That reply is utterly bizarre!

HANG ON HANG ON, The "three little women"??!!

My thoughts exactly ubik - hours if fun were had while coming up with that monstrosity of a reply!

Tweet it OP.

What a bunch of dickheads.

Yes, good idea to tweet it.

It makes me even more certain that I'm never allowing Lego friends into the house.

Sweet Jesus.

Why the fuck does lego need a complex and restrictive backstory anyway? Why can't they just leave it to kids to make up their own stories?

Female engineer here.

I don't see a problem. If that is the only message your children receive then fine, its an issue. But if you're relying on Lego to in still a sense of worth and value into your kids then you've gone wrong.

Losing

You mean I can't let Lego bring up my children.Dammit it's down to Minecraft then.

They sell what sells. They know what the majority want and that's what they offer

Not on the tweets. But isn't it weird patronising? And the little women bit, and the bit about watch out soon they'll get their liscenses. I think the technical term is 'jam tomorrow'

I spent my childhood playing with Barbie. I couldn't get enough of it. I loved pink, glittery shite too. My dream present as a child was always some sort of dress up, make up stuff. There's always been pink and blue as long as I remember. But my parents and teachers always made me believe I could choose whatever path I wanted.

I always had a very strong aptitude for tech and sciences. In my school I was the only girl in my year who chose systems and control for my tech. Most chose graphics and food tech. Why? Because they just weren't interested. It wasn't something relevant to them. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that! But the option was always there, and the encouragement.

In my role now, I take part in engineering and manufacturing roadshows for kids. Mostly the boys think my job is very cool and the girls think it's boring because it just doesn't interest. Nothing wrong with that either. But the encouragement is there for those girls.

There are many sexist ways of making more money. Are they all OK because "that's what sells"?