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Back when we were kids there was only one type of Lego, the type that was meant for everybody. Now they have their own line for girls, Lego Friends. And Lego Fr

Back when we were kids there was only one type of Lego, the type that was meant for everybody. Now they have their own line for girls, Lego Friends. And Lego Friends is just stupid http://seasonaldepressioncomic.com/2014/12/06/lego-friends/ http://seasonaldepressioncomic.com/2014/12/06/lego-friends/

ps4fanboy 12y ago
What comes first, the desire for gendered products or the gendered products?
- derwildemomo 12y ago
  gendered products.
- Xylakant 12y ago
  The kids desire for gendered products or the parents desire for gendered products?
- the_mitsuhiko 12y ago
  > What comes first, the desire for gendered products or the gendered products? Apparently the desire. Toddlers pick gendered products on their own (for some forms of them). There was some studies about this behavior.
  - ptaipale 12y ago
    Well, if the toddlers can pick, the gendered products were there first. But it is true that kids even make gendered toys out of practically nothing. For instance, a local kindergarten here: three-year-old boys were forbidden to have toy guns. So the kids took some flat crispbread at the midday meal and chewed edges off to make it gun-shaped, and then started playing cops and robbers. Bang bang.
    - DanBC 12y ago
      A child-made toy gun is not a gendered toy. A gendered toy would be a toy gun packaged in a blue box with only images of boys on the packaging.
      - corin_ 12y ago
        What makes blue more boy-specific than guns are, objectively? For whatever reasons, whether through child instincts or society, both are generally preferred by boys over girls.
        DanBC 12y ago
        The pictures of only boys on the blue boxes and the pictures of only girls on the pink boxes is something that needs to be considered. I don't care if more boys buy guns and more girls buy toy horses. I do care if those toys are packaged in rigidly gendered packaging and stocked in gendered sections of the toy store.
        facepalm 12y ago
        I recently saw Nerf guns for girls in the store. While my children are not yet of Nerf gun age, I think the Nerf gun for girls might significantly increase the odds that one day I'll be able to have Nerf battles with her. So yay for that. I would probably first try with a "normal" Nerf gun, but if that doesn't stick, why not try the girl variant.
        ashark 12y ago
        Nerf guns, or Nerf bows? I've seen a lot of girl-gendered bows lately, thanks to The Hunger Games, I guess.
    - warkid 12y ago
      I wonder how did they pick that "cops and robbers" game in the first place...
- oneeyedpigeon 12y ago
  The former is a generalisation, a trend that every right-minded thinker accepts. Deriving the latter from that, unfortunately, leads to a restriction. Witness the beauty of the free market which caters to the mass-appeal middle of the road, ignoring the beautiful anomalies at the edges.
  - facepalm 12y ago
    And yet now there are more Lego kits than 40 years ago. Maybe there is something among them for the anomal clients as well? Do you reckon socialism does a better job with providing individualistic toys? Or what alternative to free markets would you propose?
  - blfr 12y ago
    There are plenty of niche products on the market, from microbrews to eco-friendly dog accessories, whole specialty stores. Even more so now that you can order online. And you can have things custom made. For items like suits or furniture it's not that much more expensive than quality pre-made lines.
- kalleboo 12y ago
  A gendered society
- DanBC 12y ago
  We know that a lot of social psychology research is weak or wrong, and that a few mainstream researchers hold anti-science viewpoints. http://wjh.harvard.edu/~jmitchel/writing/failed_science.htm http://wjh.harvard.edu/~jmitchel/writing/failed_science.htm We know that toy manufacturers spend a lot of money on research. So, it's possible that they have a bunch of gently flawed research, and the flaws are magnified through poor reporting, poor understanding, and then implementation into product. And now we're here, with toyshops segregrated into pink aisles and blue aisles there's no way back.
proveanegative 12y ago
>Back when we were kids there was only one type of Lego A web search tells me that whether this is actually true depends on your age in a somewhat odd, nonlinear way. Lego has tried having a product range specifically for girls on and off since the late '70s. Their first attempt didn't last very long but the followups did better. Apparently Lego Friends is the most successful one yet.
the_mitsuhiko 12y ago
> Back when we were kids there was only one type of Lego, the type that was meant for everybody. Lego homemaker predates Lego City. Since there have been Lego themes there were some that were some who were preferred by one gender over another.
facepalm 12y ago
Just because somebody drew a cartoon doesn't make it true. What exactly is supposedly stupid about Lego friends? That it's not about robots and cars and Star Trek? But then Sarkeezian was really condescending about Lego ads that advertised building cars. So I guess we are limited to building gender neutral houses and random heaps of colored blocks to express our individuality? As for the truth of the cartoon: there are more "neutral" Lego kits than any average kid could possibly afford to buy. Presumably girls weren't buying, that's why Lego made "friends". I'd prefer my daughter to play with "friends" than no playing with Lego at all, although to be honest I am not really worried.
olavk 12y ago
Maybe classic Lego was meant for everyone, but actually it has always been far more popular among boys. While the old sets may seem gender neutral on the surface, the appealed much more to boys than girls. Lego have made many misguided attempts to sell to girls, but the recent "Friends"-line is the first time Lego have succeed in capturing a significant market of girls.
- kbart 12y ago
  I didn't do statistics, but at least I was fighting with my sister on who gets more Lego bricks to play with.
  - olavk 12y ago
    I'm not suggesting no girl ever liked Lego, I thought that would go without saying. But the discrepancy was very significant. Consistently something like 80% of Lego sets were purchased for boys, if I remember correctly. Of course that meant that there was a large untapped market of girls, and Lego have tried various approaches (mostly failures) to get at better hold in that market.

ps4fanboy 12y ago

What comes first, the desire for gendered products or the gendered products?

derwildemomo 12y ago
gendered products.
Xylakant 12y ago
The kids desire for gendered products or the parents desire for gendered products?
the_mitsuhiko 12y ago
> What comes first, the desire for gendered products or the gendered products? Apparently the desire. Toddlers pick gendered products on their own (for some forms of them). There was some studies about this behavior.
- ptaipale 12y ago
  Well, if the toddlers can pick, the gendered products were there first. But it is true that kids even make gendered toys out of practically nothing. For instance, a local kindergarten here: three-year-old boys were forbidden to have toy guns. So the kids took some flat crispbread at the midday meal and chewed edges off to make it gun-shaped, and then started playing cops and robbers. Bang bang.
  - DanBC 12y ago
    A child-made toy gun is not a gendered toy. A gendered toy would be a toy gun packaged in a blue box with only images of boys on the packaging.
    - corin_ 12y ago
      What makes blue more boy-specific than guns are, objectively? For whatever reasons, whether through child instincts or society, both are generally preferred by boys over girls.
      - DanBC 12y ago
        The pictures of only boys on the blue boxes and the pictures of only girls on the pink boxes is something that needs to be considered. I don't care if more boys buy guns and more girls buy toy horses. I do care if those toys are packaged in rigidly gendered packaging and stocked in gendered sections of the toy store.
        facepalm 12y ago
        I recently saw Nerf guns for girls in the store. While my children are not yet of Nerf gun age, I think the Nerf gun for girls might significantly increase the odds that one day I'll be able to have Nerf battles with her. So yay for that. I would probably first try with a "normal" Nerf gun, but if that doesn't stick, why not try the girl variant.
        ashark 12y ago
        Nerf guns, or Nerf bows? I've seen a lot of girl-gendered bows lately, thanks to The Hunger Games, I guess.
  - warkid 12y ago
    I wonder how did they pick that "cops and robbers" game in the first place...
oneeyedpigeon 12y ago
The former is a generalisation, a trend that every right-minded thinker accepts. Deriving the latter from that, unfortunately, leads to a restriction. Witness the beauty of the free market which caters to the mass-appeal middle of the road, ignoring the beautiful anomalies at the edges.
- facepalm 12y ago
  And yet now there are more Lego kits than 40 years ago. Maybe there is something among them for the anomal clients as well? Do you reckon socialism does a better job with providing individualistic toys? Or what alternative to free markets would you propose?
- blfr 12y ago
  There are plenty of niche products on the market, from microbrews to eco-friendly dog accessories, whole specialty stores. Even more so now that you can order online. And you can have things custom made. For items like suits or furniture it's not that much more expensive than quality pre-made lines.
kalleboo 12y ago
A gendered society
DanBC 12y ago
We know that a lot of social psychology research is weak or wrong, and that a few mainstream researchers hold anti-science viewpoints. http://wjh.harvard.edu/~jmitchel/writing/failed_science.htm http://wjh.harvard.edu/~jmitchel/writing/failed_science.htm We know that toy manufacturers spend a lot of money on research. So, it's possible that they have a bunch of gently flawed research, and the flaws are magnified through poor reporting, poor understanding, and then implementation into product. And now we're here, with toyshops segregrated into pink aisles and blue aisles there's no way back.

proveanegative 12y ago

>Back when we were kids there was only one type of Lego A web search tells me that whether this is actually true depends on your age in a somewhat odd, nonlinear way. Lego has tried having a product range specifically for girls on and off since the late '70s. Their first attempt didn't last very long but the followups did better. Apparently Lego Friends is the most successful one yet.

the_mitsuhiko 12y ago

> Back when we were kids there was only one type of Lego, the type that was meant for everybody. Lego homemaker predates Lego City. Since there have been Lego themes there were some that were some who were preferred by one gender over another.

facepalm 12y ago

Just because somebody drew a cartoon doesn't make it true. What exactly is supposedly stupid about Lego friends? That it's not about robots and cars and Star Trek? But then Sarkeezian was really condescending about Lego ads that advertised building cars. So I guess we are limited to building gender neutral houses and random heaps of colored blocks to express our individuality? As for the truth of the cartoon: there are more "neutral" Lego kits than any average kid could possibly afford to buy. Presumably girls weren't buying, that's why Lego made "friends". I'd prefer my daughter to play with "friends" than no playing with Lego at all, although to be honest I am not really worried.

olavk 12y ago

Maybe classic Lego was meant for everyone, but actually it has always been far more popular among boys. While the old sets may seem gender neutral on the surface, the appealed much more to boys than girls. Lego have made many misguided attempts to sell to girls, but the recent "Friends"-line is the first time Lego have succeed in capturing a significant market of girls.

kbart 12y ago
I didn't do statistics, but at least I was fighting with my sister on who gets more Lego bricks to play with.
- olavk 12y ago
  I'm not suggesting no girl ever liked Lego, I thought that would go without saying. But the discrepancy was very significant. Consistently something like 80% of Lego sets were purchased for boys, if I remember correctly. Of course that meant that there was a large untapped market of girls, and Lego have tried various approaches (mostly failures) to get at better hold in that market.