Barbie STEM figure - so close, and yet...

[OlennasWimple]

Has anyone else seen the Barbie STEM figure pack? It's part of a wider range encouraging girls to be whatever they want to be, so on one hand that's great.

However...

Leaving aside the pink and the fact her lab coat outfit is still ridiculously tight and short, I'm so angry that the projects to make include a jewelry holder, wardrobe, shoe rack and a fucking washing machine!! How could they get it so wrong?

Probably the desire to make things that could be added to the Barbie dream house played a role in the selection of projects.

To be honest, it is more than I would have expected from them, and at least it will give girls the self-confidence to do STEM stuff?

The washing machine is tolerable. People need washing machines. But the other projects should have included something like a steampunk-levels weird toaster.
(Or, really, steampunk-style household applicances that are really useful for people who don't wear jewelry)

How could they get it so wrong?

Well, the economy is interested in more STEM workforce, but is NOT interested in women losing interest in jewelry and shoes. Seems like a solid tactical decision. (Perhaps I presume too much forethought here?)

LOL at steampunk Barbie! They have done quite a bit recently with different shaped dolls, and (here in the US - presume they aren't on sale in the UK?) things like the "All female ticket President and Running Mate" packs.

It's just depressing that they either haven't had the courage of their convictions to go all the way and make it properly gender neutral (a fridge? a TV? a go-cart? a desk and chair?) or they think that this is "good enough" for the target audience

It depends doesn't it: do we want girls and families who are interested in pink Barbies to realise you can still be interested in STEM if you like that stuff too, or do we want anything to do with STEM to be divorced from the ubiquitous pinkification (and thus appeal to a smaller/more discerning audience).
I think the kit is genius. It's actually considerably better than the stupid Hello Lego which has no construction element at all, and has a whole raft of tiny projects which can be used to dress up a Barbie world or just built for the satisfaction of getting the cogs to line up to make it go round. The fact that it turns clothes hangers isn't the point: the same thing could be hoisting bricks along a building site or children out of a sinking ship. First we draw them back in with softly softly engineering puzzles like this, and then we find them a secret place to play with meccano , and then ........

Patronising shite.
I suppose that if the poor kid has adults in the thrall of gender stereotypes who can't think outside the 'this toy is for girls' box, and who think that all girls would like barbies, it's better than some of the ones my DD was given (mostly by people who only had boys) - the one which came with about 20 pairs of sodding highheeled shoes deserves a special place in toy hell.

The fact that it turns clothes hangers isn't the point: the same thing could be hoisting bricks along a building site or children out of a sinking ship. First we draw them back in with softly softly engineering puzzles like this, and then we find them a secret place to play with meccano , and then .....

I would agree if it weren't for the fact that Barbie contributed a lot to the idea that girls should be interested in pink and clothes and shoes in the first place.
So I am not entirely sure that is their plan.

The plan is probably to improve their reputation and to target the parents who are against the pink bullshit, and then slowly pinkify those girls whose parents would not otherwise have started to buy them Barbie stuff.
With the end goal of being able to sell the whole Barbie dream house to those girls.

Maybe. DH did get DD a load of the pink 'Bellville' or whatever it was called Lego when she was about 6 - along with a load of normal stuff. It got all mixed up and if there was a pinkification agenda with that product it didn't stick to her.