A new line of Legos for girls that will feature more realistic looking figures and a fictional town called “Heartlake City,” has piqued the annoyance of “Whoa! Momma” bloggers for the Tampa Bay Times. The Lego Friends, as the new line is called, is the result of the Danish companies research into what girls would be interested in, including more real features than the Simpsons-yellow Everymen and “interior building and role-play opportunities,” the Sydney Morning Herald reports. They wear pinks and purples and have that girly-girl vibe but their interests still include invention and design. The girls’ toy market was $267 million last year and, the SMH says, Lego would like a brick of that.
“Does anyone feel their feminist hackles rising?” Sharon Kennedy Wynne, a blogger at “Whoa! Momma,” asked in a post about the little Lego girls. It was the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana who sponsored a First Lego League tournament recently, she reminds us. The Girl Scouts sponsored half the teams and the two girls on the winning team in the competition – who, by the way, built Lego robots – reports the Chicago Herald-News.
Wynne quoted a tweet from internet software developer Michael Labriola “Lego is launching a product line for girls,” he says. “Someone should tell them that they already have one; it’s called Legos.”
Huh. Well, we’re stumped. What’re your thoughts?
“Does anyone feel their feminist hackles rising?” Sharon Kennedy Wynne, a blogger at “Whoa! Momma,” asked in a post about the little Lego girls. It was the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana who sponsored a First Lego League tournament recently, she reminds us. The Girl Scouts sponsored half the teams and the two girls on the winning team in the competition – who, by the way, built Lego robots – reports the Chicago Herald-News.
Wynne quoted a tweet from internet software developer Michael Labriola “Lego is launching a product line for girls,” he says. “Someone should tell them that they already have one; it’s called Legos.”
Huh. Well, we’re stumped. What’re your thoughts?
While I understand in principle that many feminists might object to a line specifically geared to be "girly" and that has lots of pinks and purples...the fact is that girls and boys TEND to gravitate to different things. Socialization and gender "norms" that are promoted and taught in school and in families contribute to that, but studies have also shown that boys and girls tend to play differently and have different interests.
I don't gender-type my girl...and she has action figures AND Barbie dolls...princess dresses AND swords...etc. Still, I see that her desires tend toward "girly" things. I suspect that even if I home-schooled her and shielded her from TV commercials, she STILL would like pink and purple and dress-up.
LEGO wouldn't be doing this if girls were, en masse, buying and playing with their products. They are doing that precisely because their sales are geared toward boys and they want more girls to use their products. You market to a group's interests if you're a business.
It's the job of the rest of us to ensure that our kids don't get pigeonholed into gender roles or told that they can't play with "girl" toys if they're boy or "boy" toys if they're girls,.
I'm sorry, but when did it become a problem to encourage young girls to explore science by any means necessary? I get really annoyed with feminists sticking their noses into these types of issues on "behalf" of all women. Speak for yourself, and don't start fights for me, because your brand of feminism is outdated and annoying. You long ago stopped liberating women and started oppressing men. But I digress...
Yes, regular legos are available, and girls play with them all the time. I was one of them. But really, what's so wrong for having fun new colors and a feminine spin? At one point in my life, I wore nothing but dresses and built volcanoes and studied dinosaurs, and I would have really grooved on pink and purple Legos.
Do we really need to judge a company that in the end will be encouraging more girls to explore science, design and engineering with a product that might be more appealing to their current tastes? I think Lego is making the right move trying to introduce a version of their toy that will appeal to more kids, male and female.
Also, I don't see Wynne fussing that boys who prefer pinks and purples don't have Legos that might truly appeal to them. Maybe this Negative Nancy can stop for 5 seconds to point out in really positive way that now everyone, regardless of gender and stereotypes, has a Lego they like.
Apologies for the rant.