Lego - how depressing

[EverybodysSnowyEyed]

I've always loved Lego as a 'genderless' toy

And now they have launched Lego friends - aimed at the little ladies in your life. And guess what, there's a beauty parlour!

Even DH finds this depressing! Are we alone in this?

I thought toy manufacturers might be starting to realise how bad this all looks!

how are we the gay agenda? I am so glad you pinted me in the direction of that FB page - I can feel another rant coming on.

It is depressing, I find it really difficult not to get angry when toy shops have clearly marked 'girls toys' and 'boy toys' section - how is this even allowed?!!

My dd got the lego pirate ship for her bday last year and loves it, she also (shock horror) loves cars and her garage as well as her sullvainian family and dolls.

It makes me mad that everything is so gender specific and if a girl shows an interest in any toy from the 'boys section' is automatically labelled a tomboy!!!

Grrr

Don't make me rant about the ELC pink globe again ....... Luckily I think they have withdrawn it.

I don't do FB so can't read the context... is the 'gay agenda' that we who want non-trashy toys for our girls are obviously all lesbians, or that by making their pink glitter clearly for girls they are protecting boys who might be turned gay by exposure to effeminate lego? . Or was the person who wrote that simply an ignorant twat [light dawns]

YANBU at all, it's ridiculous.

Agreed. Bloody ridiculous. I grew up on my brother's old toys and preferred them to my dolls.

This was the post on the LEGO FB page about those questioning "Lego Friends," (for those that can't see it.)

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I am a woman. I love shopping, doing my hair and lounging on the beach when I get the opportunity. These are things that girls like to do, and will enjoy playing with them. They can also buy the builder sets. I think this petition is about taking away the gender difference. Whether people like it or accept it or not, we are created male and female by God. We are NOT one gender. I feel that this petition supports the gay agenda in their thinking that we sexually are all interchangeable.

Nothing is further from the truth.

Women have boobs and women love pastel colors. The fact that you are upset that toys would also portray this is the definition of INSANITY.

I'm writing Lego in support of the toys right now.

I'm also starting a petition to end the attack on femininity of women.

I am also hitting all my social network sites to expose this agenda you are pushing on women. Shame on you!

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It's depressing the number of people in the group who are having a pop at those saying they are unhappy about LEGO gender-stereotype toys. They're either being told they don't know what they're talking about or if they don't like them, they don't have to buy them, hard cheese. Some are being mega rude.

i think it looks crap and i wont be buying it for my dd, she will just play with her brothers lego, they have ten million tonnes of it!

my sister and i had loads of lego, inparticular i rememer a really cool technic set i had, it never occured to me, my sister or my parents that it was a 'boy' toy! but then we had carpentry tools for kids and scaelextric etc as well, plus the usual dolls, sylvannians etc, just a mix of toys the same as my boys have!

Sorry, I meant to say the post quoted above was the one about the "gay agenda."

Thanks - ah, so my 3rd option was the correct one. Loon.

I have just phoned the Lego customer number to change my daughters subscription back to the other magazine, I was horrified to discover the girls club one on the doormat today.

I had a long chat with the lady on the phone, I would urge you to call as apparently all of the feedback is going to be written down and collated. Tbh the woman I spoke to sounded like she agreed with me!

I am disgusted at Lego, as is my DH.

As I put on the other "girl lego" thread - the staff in the Lego Shop at Bluewater also agree with us! Or the ones I spoke to did anyway.

It could all have been done so differently - and I suspect even internally at Lego this wasn't completely endorsed - after all it is called LEGO Friends, not LGO Girls or something - why didn't they just call it that, slightly tone down all the pink accessories, put a couple of boy figures in (don't little girls play with little boys? My dc do) - and the subtext could have been it was predominantly aimed at girls without being so blatant and offending a large segment parents who have had enough of this kind of thing.

I had initially given them the benefit of the doubt - they have to keep up with what competitors are doing, sell mor Lego, keep owners happy etc - but I think sending all the girls on their database a different magazine (with no building instructions in!), uninvited, and not even in addition to the standard version, really is a step too far. I am offended and I have boys.

my dd1 has pink hello kitty lego
dd2 has pink mega bloks and a princess set

down all the pink accessories, put a couple of boy figures in

• yes - would be nicer for the little boys who want the puppy set or whatever too.

Since they called it 'Friends', shouldn't they have had a clue to have 3 girls and 3 boys?

EXACTLY! That is why I bought the one with the puppy in it today! My son saw it and is into puppies at the moment and wanted a lego puppy! He plays with girls at school - how stupid to have packaging that only has girls on it! What is that saying to them? Even Barbie has Ken ffs! And it's not called LEGO Girls, it's called LEGO Friends .....

Can I just ask why is there so much anti-pink-for-girls sentiment but I don't think I have ever seen an anti blue for boys equivalent thread?

Agree RE the lego.

potter i think you do get mums moaning about blue/brown etc esp when it comes to the choice of clothes for boys! but with toys there are more colours for boys, not just blue, think of traditional lego which lots of people see as aboys toy, it has red, blue, green, white, yellow etc and toys like transformers, action figures again thought of as more 'boys' toys but it ISNT predominantly blue, yet LOTS of girls toys ARE predominantly pink.

i have 4 boys and one baby girl and i have been amazed at the amount of pinkness everywhere that you can get for girls, i dont mind a bit of pink but it can get overwhelming tbh. boys it seems can have more of a choice with colours, yet lots of stuff for girls is mainly pink, look at the barbie toy range!

Potter, if you look at toys and clothes marketed at boys you don't see a sea of blue in the same way you get a sea of pink for things marketed at girls. There is nothing wrong with pink, what is wrong is how overwhelming it is and the way that removes choice and makes non pink-liking girls seem abnormal.

There have been some threads about boys though, I remember a couple about the slogans on t-shirts marketed at boys, things like 'here comes trouble' and the like. There are also comments like those above about how the marketing pushes boys out of toys that are about relationships and caring.

havea quick look at baby toys in the argos catalogue? they have toys that to me are pretty gender neutral, rattles, things for baby gyms etc but they also have the SAME toys done in pinks for girls? why is there any need? surely a baby gym is a baby gym and a rattle is a rattle why the need for a 'girly' pink version? oh and there isnt a 'boys' version of these things, just the gender neutral bright cheerful colours, which would be fine for either sex and then the pink which is obviously aimed at baby girls who quite frankly wouldnt give a shit what colour their baby gym was!

Potter, I think there is. It's not that folks have a beef with the colours pink or blue, per se, but that these are becoming "codes" for toys, games, etc. that are designated for either boys or girls. I think this can be equally restricting and in fact damaging for both boys and girls.

Things for girls tend to follow the stereotype of looking pretty, being interested in fashion, hair, make up and clothing, going shopping, caring for others and increasingly are also sexualised (e.g. the cartoons that go with Lego Friends are reed thin, long legs, short skirts, tiny waists, make up - not as bad as Bratz or Monster High, but still sexualised,)

Things for boys tend to follow the stereotype of being active, making thinks, doing things, leading - which is mostly good, but shouldn't JUST be for boys. One of the concerns about Lego Friends is that the sets don't allow as much creativity or require as much construction as other sets - reinforcing this idea of what girls "should" do. However, I've noticed that alot of toys, games, etc. targeted at boys tends to be "hypermasculine" if you will. For example, it's about getting dirty, being competitive, being aggressive, sometimes even being violent, often encouraging naughtiness or "getting one over" on your mum. I don't think this is always the right kind of message to be giving to boys!

Okay, none of that is entirely new, but my worry is that it's becoming more and more marked, now colour coded even. It makes it harder for girls who don't want to fit the stereotype of pretty passive princess to engage in alternatives. It's probably even MORE difficult for boys who want to play with dolls and tea sets, act out stories with princesses and fairies, etc. to incorporate this in their play.

A mum friend just a few weeks ago said she was sad that her son (I think he's 7) stopped playing with a girl who'd been his best buddy since they were toddlers. He told her he couldn't play with her anymore because "she's a girl." Yes, girls and boys have always to a certain degree pursued different interests, but now that's being pushed on children almost from birth. I don't think this pressure to go separate ways so young is good for either boys or girls, or for the future to be frank.

I really hate how the 'girl toy' 'boy toy' is creeping into my DC's vocabulary, we've had a few chats about it over the last few weeks, depressing.

I did buy DD some 'girl's' lego for Christmas as I was very keen for her to get into the wonders of lego but the shop was laid out in such a way she didn't want it as it was in the 'boys' section. I plan to slowly add plain old lego to the pot, but yes I find it very depressing.

its hard to escape it i think, we have always just had a variety of toys, so my boys have lego and scaelextric and action figures etc but also a toy cooker and dolls and a pushchair etc, my elder 3 boys are all v different, one sciencey and geeky, the next football mad and then the 3rd loves tinkerbell and fairies and all things pink! he also likes more 'boy' things as well, then ds4 is three and at the moment has become very ANTI pink and girls! i have no idea where he gets it as we have never defined toys in that way, and his brothers dont. i think its coming from pre-school buts its very annoying, i just try and ignore it as much as possible and hopefully he will grow out of it, his fave toy bizarrely is lotso bear from toy story 3, who is of course PINK!

or make the pink / Hello Kitty / LEGO Friends / Dolls House etc - liking boys seem abnormal - tbh, as soon as they get to school that is ironed out of them anyway which i think is a shame - all kids should be free to choose which toys they like playing with out of the whole range (and it will be different for different children and boys and girls may, in general, have different ways of playing with them) - without the relentless and over-bearing influence of marketing and advertising that tries to segregate them purely to sell more stuff (I assume - wha other reason is there)

I think the situation with girls now in th eUK is slightly worse because they are made to feel different, separate, other. There are no Lego ranges "just for boys" afaik - not marketed in the same way with boy-only characters, blue-only packaging etc. Even Lego Star Wars, Lego Minifigures, Lego Superheroes etc have some female characters (obviously in the case of Star Wars, Harry Potter etc as the original source movies/books did).

Actually, not sure Lego Ninjago has any female characters