6 ms·

The latest 'Friends' range targeted at girls has received some bad press. Not much construction to do, all nail bars and shopping sort of sexism. Not the most

The latest 'Friends' range targeted at girls has received some bad press. Not much construction to do, all nail bars and shopping sort of sexism. Not the most serious bad press but its something.

nicholassmith 14y ago
I will admit I'd forgotten that, but mostly as it was complaints from consumer action groups rather than consumers, if I remember rightly Lego introduced it after parental request/requests from girls and saw a profit spike. I don't particularly like the idea of Lego falling into gender categories as it's a toy for creative minds, but if the market wants something then the market wants something.
- koide 14y ago
  Some creative minds are more interested in nurseries and tea parties than in trains or robots. And it's natural for it to be so. It's evident once you have some kids. I truly wanted that not to be the case, but reality bites. For the PC crowd: This of course doesn't mean that girls will never play with robots or cars or that boys won't play with nurseries or tea parties. Of course a mix is healthy and should be encouraged. But the stereotypical preferences are truly marked in most cases, before parental intervention.
  - josephlord 14y ago
    To be honest I think my biggest complaints about lego are cost and that it is hard just to get a big bag of basic bricks. However I think the 'Friends' thing could have been better handled with modest tweaks. Why aren't there any boys/men in 'Friends'? What if boys want to play nurseries or tea parties. When I was young the lego characters were mostly gender free but it seems increasingly that the 'boys' lego increasingly has male characters (even outside the branded Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings stuff). All the Firefighters and Police seem to be men when they could have been much more gender neutral (or mixed genders) without loss of fun to boys or girls.
  - ceol 14y ago
    That's not exactly true. Kids will play with whatever they want until they feel pressure to conform from either parents (if a girl asks for a toy, she's handed a Barbie) or society (marketing only showing girls playing with dolls, kitchen sets.) You might think your child had no parental intervention, but parents are only one factor in enforcing gender roles. Are you sure you've kept them from watching TV, reading, and playing with other kids whose parents are not like you?
    - koide 14y ago
      > with whatever they want That's the key point. I've observed that ones tend to want one things and the others tend to want other things. Of course there's cultural intervention, people do not live in bubbles, but it's much more subtle and, I believe, innate than what you think before having children (one data point: my daughter that I swore would never wear pink, actively prefers pink clothes, she wears other colors as well, but given a choice, usually chooses pink and from a really early age)
      - ceol 14y ago
        But there's nothing genetic that determines girls like pink more. It's all social. Your daughter probably saw all the toys and clothes directed at her being pink, all the positive attention she got when she wore that "cute" dress that happened to be pink, and all the little girls her age on television who she looked up to also wearing it. I meant kids will play with anything. Dolls, trucks, anything their hands can get ahold of. It's only once their parents or society starts subtly and not-so-subtly telling them they should be playing with these toys and not those toys do they start having a noticeable preference. Boys aren't hard-wired to like trucks and girls aren't hard-wired to like EZ Bake Ovens. That's all society.
        koide 14y ago
        All I'm trying to say is that I was of your same opinion, but facts do not support that opinion in my experience. Of course I have not done an actual controlled experiment, just some observations and little tests along the years. Yes, they will play with anything, but they still show preferences. Are those purely social? I'm not sure. That said, I am still of the opinion that it is indeed mainly social, but that it is less social than one thinks it is, before. I'd love to see some actual science about this, got any?
debacle 14y ago
Really? There's also zoos and a camping set, a few pet-oriented set, a farm, and a horse truck thing. It's the best in-road they've made into "Legos for Girls" ever. I can finally buy my nieces sets that they're interested in.
- bonaldi 14y ago
  "Legos for Girls" isn't a road that should even be on their map. Legos for Kids is their destination. If your nieces weren't interested in the sets Lego should have focused on better sets that were still gender-neutral. That doesn't exclude zoos, camping, or pet orientation. What it does exclude is antics like cancelling my friend's "tomboy"ish daughter's subscription to Lego magazine and sending her Lego For Girls Magazine instead, to her great upset. Toy gendering is stupid and inane. Lego should have nothing to do with it.
  - yummyfajitas 14y ago
    If your nieces weren't interested in the sets Lego should have focused on better sets that were still gender-neutral. That doesn't exclude zoos, camping, or pet orientation. Near as I can tell, the pet shop is gender neutral, and the "Lego Friends" sets don't appear particularly gendered: http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Pet-Shop-10218 http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Pet-Shop-10218 http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-Friends-Mias-Skateboard?icmp=COUS49HomeSH2FriendsGWP http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-Friends-Mias-Skateboard?icmp... Similarly, Farnsworth House (http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Farnsworth-House-21009 http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Farnsworth-House-21009), the 4x4 crawler (http://technic.lego.com/en-us/Products/default.aspx#9398 http://technic.lego.com/en-us/Products/default.aspx#9398) and mindstorms (http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/products/default.aspx http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/products/default.aspx). The fundamental difference between Friends and the rest of lego seems to be that Friends is about people, whereas the rest of lego is about building stuff.
    - pixdamix 14y ago
      > "Lego Friends" sets don't appear particularly gendered: > The fundamental difference between Friends and the rest of lego seems to be that Friends is about people, whereas the rest of lego is about building stuff. You can't say that Lego Friends marketing isn't seriously targeted at girls. http://friends.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx http://friends.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx
kjeldsendk 14y ago
In that regard almost everything was sexism up and until the released of the friends series. Weapons, firemen, policemen etc etc.. I am happy that my daughter got to experience Lego like a girl.. and look, it works with the sons Lego as well.. Millinium Falcon meets Friends: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ia-V08uRi6Y/T8Mi2SzWVaI/AAAAAAADN0I/V52pAHPsyHU/s1600/_OS_8195.jpg https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ia-V08uRi6Y/T8Mi2SzWVaI/A... Jack Sparrow kisses before he enters the Beauty Salon https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lODix9_sQBM/T5sLmfnEcMI/AAAAAAADEG0/3xj0-BnlsVE/s1600/_OS_4089.jpg https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lODix9_sQBM/T5sLmfnEcMI/A... And just like many girls wants it, accessories in every shape and color: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-12WsmYNOILY/T5sLjk6O3_I/AAAAAAADEGg/uEI8MlJPb0U/s800/_OS_4040.jpg https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-12WsmYNOILY/T5sLjk6O3_I/A...
- josephlord 14y ago
  Back in the day the lego figures were pretty much gender free but the current firemen and policemen are exactly that (men) which is a little disappointing and completely unnecessary in my view.

The latest 'Friends' range targeted at girls has received some bad press. Not much construction to do, all nail bars and shopping sort of sexism. Not the most serious bad press but its something.

nicholassmith 14y ago

I will admit I'd forgotten that, but mostly as it was complaints from consumer action groups rather than consumers, if I remember rightly Lego introduced it after parental request/requests from girls and saw a profit spike. I don't particularly like the idea of Lego falling into gender categories as it's a toy for creative minds, but if the market wants something then the market wants something.

koide 14y ago
Some creative minds are more interested in nurseries and tea parties than in trains or robots. And it's natural for it to be so. It's evident once you have some kids. I truly wanted that not to be the case, but reality bites. For the PC crowd: This of course doesn't mean that girls will never play with robots or cars or that boys won't play with nurseries or tea parties. Of course a mix is healthy and should be encouraged. But the stereotypical preferences are truly marked in most cases, before parental intervention.
- josephlord 14y ago
  To be honest I think my biggest complaints about lego are cost and that it is hard just to get a big bag of basic bricks. However I think the 'Friends' thing could have been better handled with modest tweaks. Why aren't there any boys/men in 'Friends'? What if boys want to play nurseries or tea parties. When I was young the lego characters were mostly gender free but it seems increasingly that the 'boys' lego increasingly has male characters (even outside the branded Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings stuff). All the Firefighters and Police seem to be men when they could have been much more gender neutral (or mixed genders) without loss of fun to boys or girls.
- ceol 14y ago
  That's not exactly true. Kids will play with whatever they want until they feel pressure to conform from either parents (if a girl asks for a toy, she's handed a Barbie) or society (marketing only showing girls playing with dolls, kitchen sets.) You might think your child had no parental intervention, but parents are only one factor in enforcing gender roles. Are you sure you've kept them from watching TV, reading, and playing with other kids whose parents are not like you?
  - koide 14y ago
    > with whatever they want That's the key point. I've observed that ones tend to want one things and the others tend to want other things. Of course there's cultural intervention, people do not live in bubbles, but it's much more subtle and, I believe, innate than what you think before having children (one data point: my daughter that I swore would never wear pink, actively prefers pink clothes, she wears other colors as well, but given a choice, usually chooses pink and from a really early age)
    - ceol 14y ago
      But there's nothing genetic that determines girls like pink more. It's all social. Your daughter probably saw all the toys and clothes directed at her being pink, all the positive attention she got when she wore that "cute" dress that happened to be pink, and all the little girls her age on television who she looked up to also wearing it. I meant kids will play with anything. Dolls, trucks, anything their hands can get ahold of. It's only once their parents or society starts subtly and not-so-subtly telling them they should be playing with these toys and not those toys do they start having a noticeable preference. Boys aren't hard-wired to like trucks and girls aren't hard-wired to like EZ Bake Ovens. That's all society.
      - koide 14y ago
        All I'm trying to say is that I was of your same opinion, but facts do not support that opinion in my experience. Of course I have not done an actual controlled experiment, just some observations and little tests along the years. Yes, they will play with anything, but they still show preferences. Are those purely social? I'm not sure. That said, I am still of the opinion that it is indeed mainly social, but that it is less social than one thinks it is, before. I'd love to see some actual science about this, got any?

debacle 14y ago

Really? There's also zoos and a camping set, a few pet-oriented set, a farm, and a horse truck thing. It's the best in-road they've made into "Legos for Girls" ever. I can finally buy my nieces sets that they're interested in.

bonaldi 14y ago
"Legos for Girls" isn't a road that should even be on their map. Legos for Kids is their destination. If your nieces weren't interested in the sets Lego should have focused on better sets that were still gender-neutral. That doesn't exclude zoos, camping, or pet orientation. What it does exclude is antics like cancelling my friend's "tomboy"ish daughter's subscription to Lego magazine and sending her Lego For Girls Magazine instead, to her great upset. Toy gendering is stupid and inane. Lego should have nothing to do with it.
- yummyfajitas 14y ago
  If your nieces weren't interested in the sets Lego should have focused on better sets that were still gender-neutral. That doesn't exclude zoos, camping, or pet orientation. Near as I can tell, the pet shop is gender neutral, and the "Lego Friends" sets don't appear particularly gendered: http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Pet-Shop-10218 http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Pet-Shop-10218 http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-Friends-Mias-Skateboard?icmp=COUS49HomeSH2FriendsGWP http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-Friends-Mias-Skateboard?icmp... Similarly, Farnsworth House (http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Farnsworth-House-21009 http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Farnsworth-House-21009), the 4x4 crawler (http://technic.lego.com/en-us/Products/default.aspx#9398 http://technic.lego.com/en-us/Products/default.aspx#9398) and mindstorms (http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/products/default.aspx http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/products/default.aspx). The fundamental difference between Friends and the rest of lego seems to be that Friends is about people, whereas the rest of lego is about building stuff.
  - pixdamix 14y ago
    > "Lego Friends" sets don't appear particularly gendered: > The fundamental difference between Friends and the rest of lego seems to be that Friends is about people, whereas the rest of lego is about building stuff. You can't say that Lego Friends marketing isn't seriously targeted at girls. http://friends.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx http://friends.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx

kjeldsendk 14y ago

In that regard almost everything was sexism up and until the released of the friends series. Weapons, firemen, policemen etc etc.. I am happy that my daughter got to experience Lego like a girl.. and look, it works with the sons Lego as well.. Millinium Falcon meets Friends: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ia-V08uRi6Y/T8Mi2SzWVaI/AAAAAAADN0I/V52pAHPsyHU/s1600/_OS_8195.jpg https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ia-V08uRi6Y/T8Mi2SzWVaI/A... Jack Sparrow kisses before he enters the Beauty Salon https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lODix9_sQBM/T5sLmfnEcMI/AAAAAAADEG0/3xj0-BnlsVE/s1600/_OS_4089.jpg https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lODix9_sQBM/T5sLmfnEcMI/A... And just like many girls wants it, accessories in every shape and color: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-12WsmYNOILY/T5sLjk6O3_I/AAAAAAADEGg/uEI8MlJPb0U/s800/_OS_4040.jpg https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-12WsmYNOILY/T5sLjk6O3_I/A...

josephlord 14y ago
Back in the day the lego figures were pretty much gender free but the current firemen and policemen are exactly that (men) which is a little disappointing and completely unnecessary in my view.