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Lego - how depressing

217 replies

EverybodysSnowyEyed · 05/01/2012 23:53

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!

OP posts:
FreddoBaggyMac · 12/01/2012 13:07

I don't agree with magazines for children full stop (but that's another thread!) They're all full of drivel, whether it's girlish or boyish or gender neutral drivel doesn't matter much imo Grin

FreddoBaggyMac · 12/01/2012 13:08

Glad I'm not alone lollygag, really hope the mother of the child I've bought Lego friends as a birthday present for feels the same way... I wasn't aware til now that it was so controversial!!

lollygag · 12/01/2012 13:25

As Lego Friends has just been launched we'll have the opportunity to see what the toy buying public thinks of them when we get some sales figures later in the year.My guess is that if the feminists are against them they'll probably be a sure fire hit.Buy shares now.

belgo · 12/01/2012 13:30

I don't have any objection to the Lego Friends, in fact I will probably buy it for my children.

But it annoys me that the girls' Lego magazine doesn't have any building instructions in it. Certainly won't buy that.

OddBoots · 12/01/2012 13:33

This feminist (that's the first time I have called myself that 'out loud') is not against Lego friends. I just don't see why they have to be all female and why their introduction means that Lego divides its once open club into regular and girl when girls have been playing with 'regular' Lego for many years.

FreddoBaggyMac · 12/01/2012 13:41

Perhaps there will be some male figures if the range expands? All of the other lego ranges seem to be predominantly male (I'd guess around 80% or more of the figures are male??) so this provides a bit of a balance imo.

belgo · 12/01/2012 13:44

I think one of the Friends figures is male. I will look it up.

belgo · 12/01/2012 13:46

here the father figure is male.

The figures look very similar to the Doctor Who figures we have here which are compatible with Lego.

mammanetta · 12/01/2012 14:17

SnowyEyed no you are def not alone - find it so depressing that a formerly genderless toy (well, it was in the 70's when we were kids) now has to be sexualised, like so many other things today.
Sick.

FreddoBaggyMac · 12/01/2012 14:24

Is sexualised the opposite of genderless? I wouldn't say so. I don't think making it gender specific makes it 'sexualised'.

Also, while lego probably was genderless in the 70s when it was just coloured bricks, I think in more recent years it has been aimed more at boys (based on the high percentage of the minifigures that are boys) so this new range is just evening out the balance. My thoughts are it's a new range of toys aimed at girls which is actually getting them to think and construct things (rather than just dress dolls and comb their hair) which is a step forward (imo!!)

ByTheWay1 · 12/01/2012 14:24

ermmmm Lego Scala was from the 70's and was definitely girl based!

gazzalw · 12/01/2012 15:16

Maybe we should ask MNHQ if the DCs can try it out - hint ;-)

DS and therefore DD have got into Lego in a big way in the past six months and although she's happy to play with Star Wars stuff as soon as she saw the Lego Friends in the shops (which was just after Christmas) she was asking if she could have it for her next birthday.

I agree with all your concerns but think most girls love pink and lilac and if they do they will just naturally gravitate to those type of products.

DD has been socialised with an older brother but nevertheless loves dressing up in a very girlie manner, likes making up her doll's head, playing with dolls and everything that is frou-frou and on the pink/purple spectrum BUT she will equally play with Dr Who characters, with brother's vast collection of cars, his drumkit etc, Harry Potter computer games etc....

Without wishing to rain on your parade, I'm pretty sure that when DS first subscribed to the Lego Club magazine some 8/9 years ago, there were princess palace type Lego products for sale. And the Lego website certainly had a girls'-oriented online games section that DS used to play on in his toddler years....

exexpat · 12/01/2012 15:22

Freddo - I think 'sexualised' here means that the figures have unrealistic model-type figures (long legs, tiny waists etc), wear mini-skirts, appear to be wearing make-up etc. Recognisably female is fine (gendered) but they look like teenagers trying to be attractive to the opposite sex (sexualised).

FreddoBaggyMac · 12/01/2012 15:43

Yes see your point exexpat. I don't think the lego figures look too much that way though - they're certainly not Bratz! Smile

jjkm · 12/01/2012 16:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

jjkm · 12/01/2012 16:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

KRITIQ · 12/01/2012 16:19

Freddo, the figures themselves aren't as "sexualised" as most doll-figures aimed at girls. But, the cartoon that goes with the figures does depict them all has having impossibly long legs, short skirts, thin waists, busts and made up faces.

Bishopstonmum · 12/01/2012 16:20

My 10 year old daughter burst into furious tears yesterday when the Lego club magazines arrived for her and her 7 year old brother. He got the 'normal' magazine and she had been sent a new 'girls' Lego magazine: pink and purple and minus many of the Lego features she was interested in eg Lego Ninjago which she loves. Thumbs down to Lego for teaching my daughter that she is excluded from the good stuff by virtue if her gender: thumbs up to her for being angry about it.

QueenRunningGeekMum · 12/01/2012 16:25

jjkm completely agree with you. It was always the assumption that because I was a girl, presents, toys and clothes had to be pink. 'Oh it's a pink toy, she'll love it!'

And now there's a 'range' that has predominantly pink bricks. Why not just introduce a pink brick as part of the standard range? Why does it have to be available as part of a 'special' range aimed at girls? Why can't a beauty parlour just be part of the 'city' range? It's the assumption that these have to be separate and not part of the normal range to appeal to girls that I find sexist.

Yes, there are gender differences. Yes, there are toys that will appeal to predominantly boys and some to girls. But it's a shame that what I consider to be a great 'unisex' toy feels it has to create special pieces for girls when the standard range can appeal to girls anyway. But Lego are responding to market forces I presume, and the majority of parents cling to gender specific ideas of toys. We can but fight the tide here.

lollygag · 12/01/2012 16:48

jjkm: Surely it's not that difficult for adults to work out which girls actually want 'girlie' toys.If they can't then they are not really trying.

vesela · 12/01/2012 17:28

It's not so much the shape of the figures IMO as the fact that, especially in the marketing, they're vacuous and simpering - the overall effect is just weedy. And the beauty salon stuff is pretty bad for a toy aimed at five year olds and up - definitely sexualisation. The science lab is a lame but ineffective effort at redeeming it. The house looks all right, so does the treehouse if you take away the fact that the branches seem to be whole, but the whole concept of a different kind of Lego for girls and the way it's being marketed is vomit-worthy.

(re. pink - pink is a great colour, so is purple, but IMO they look terrible together!)

The petition (here) to Lego against it has over 35,000 signatures now. Hopefully all the bad feedback will end up causing other toymakers to look back in future and say "Let's not make the mistake Lego made."

lollygag · 12/01/2012 17:35

Unless,of course,sales rocket and other toymakers say 'let's do what lego did'.

crunchbag · 12/01/2012 17:41

jjkm the same does apply to boys as in 'he is a boy so therefore must like lego star wars'

I quite like the lego for girls and more importantly DD likes it and I am sure that doesn't mean that she now won't play with her other lego anymore or will decide that all other lego is for boys. Like I said in a previous post, I played with lego in the 70's that was specifically aimed at girls (or 'little homemakers') so nothing new there.

GrimmaTheNome · 12/01/2012 17:46

Surely it's not that difficult for adults to work out which girls actually want 'girlie' toys

Lego is the sort of thing frequently bought as gifts by relatives or as birthday gifts by the parents of their daughters friends. My DD who despised Dnsney princess and Barbie-type dolls was given quite a few. Also a Bratz (urghhh) and pink clothes - parents who only had sons were always the worst for getting this wrong. (some got it brilliantly right with magic sets or Men in Black kit).

Luckily DD has a friend in a non-overlapping set with a birthday a week later who was girlie so we were able to discreetly regift items DD really didn't want.

GrimmaTheNome · 12/01/2012 17:47

belgo : 'the father figure is male.'

There you go, bloody patriarchy! (not sure whether I want a Grin here or Angry here)