This way to the pink ghetto!

[taste_is_sweet]

Thank you, Lego, for really, really missing the point.

Lego Introduces Ladyfigs, Yes, That's Minifigs For Girls | The Mary Sue

The thing is, and oddly what no one seems to get, is that if you actually marketed the regular Lego toys to girls as well as boys, girls would--drumroll, please--play with it too! But when they're inundated with advertisements on the Cartoon Network that only ever have boys playing with regular Lego, why should they feel it's also for them? I remember how weird I felt as a child, wanting something like a Star Wars toy and having the intrinsic knowledge that I wasn't 'allowed' to have it, because it wasn't marketed to me.

Seriously, though, if this trend of gender segregation continues, I figure this is what the future will look like:

Mother: Doctor! Doctor! Please help me! It's my son...he...::chokes:: He likes the color pink!

Doctor: Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad.

Mother: What do I do? I've tried to tell him boys can only wear navy blue, black and dark green, but he won't listen! He stole his father's salmon dress shirt and wore it to school! It looked like a dress! ::sobs::

Doctor: Get a hold of yourself, woman! Do you think you're the only person with these kind of problems? I have a woman back there whose daughter only wants to wear pants! Without rhinestones or piping! How do you think she feels?

Mother: ::sobs::

Doctor: Nurse! I have another patient here, presenting the same symptoms as the last one! Bring me a lobotomy kit and DVDs for the Disney Channel! Stat! And this time make sure they're the right colors, you dunderhead! The pink lobotomy kit is for the girl!

Comments

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

I had legos when I was a youngster and I really loved them. I played with them all the time...It's weird that it's considered a "boy" thing...

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Really not sure when that happened.

[sholio]

Oh, for cryin' out loud. This sort of thing annoys me SO BAD. And the worst part is this crap actually works on a lot of parents, aunts & uncles, grandparents and so forth, who would never dream of buying toys for their kids that aren't the proper, socially approved color!

I don't think I used to believe that early childhood upbringing makes that much difference, until people in my age group started having kids and I started noticing the incredible, obvious differences in the way they treated their little boys and girls, from the time they were tiny infants.

My 3-year-old niece is at that age where she loves making things move, turn and come apart. She adores Legos, and anything else that works similarly, including all kinds of machines, and she's really bright at figuring out how to make things go and move and turn on. Her parents (my cousin and her husband) are pretty cool and I know she's getting a bunch of Legos for Christmas, but even with all the good intentions in the world, I can't help thinking that if she were a boy, she'd be getting a lot more encouragement of her "taking things apart" tendencies, especially from her grampa, who's a carpenter. But since she's a girl, she's getting a lot of encouragement to do her other favorite things -- quiet things like drawing and having books read to her. Her mom asked me to get her some books for Christmas -- which I was happy to do; always happy to encourage a budding bibliophile *g* -- but I also hope that she gets encouraged in her spatial-perception, fitting-things-together tendencies.

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

I hope that they indulge her in both of her joys. I remember how much my son surprised me when he started grouping his toys together into families, regardless of what they were actually 'meant' for. (We had plenty of Mommy, Daddy and Baby trucks for example.) I will say that I never encouraged him towards the more typical, violent toys marketed to boys (seriously, who wants their three year-old watching the Iron Man or Transformers movies?), and maybe he was more into families than death squads because of that, but he's still very 'boy', you know? One of the biggest things I discovered about gender as a parent is that if you let the kid alone, as long as they're CIS they'll end up showing all the normal behaviours of their gender anyway--just maybe not all the culturally sanctioned ones.

[reddwarfer.livejournal.com]

My daughter rants at any fastfood place that assumes she wants a toy based on her gender. She really gets upset about it.

Lego was the best thing ever. I had so much as a kid. I just told my kid it was okay to like what she likes and dislikes what she dislikes.

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

I'm totally with you there. My son is very proud to say that boys can play with girl toys and girls can play with boy toys. I get him whatever the heck toy he wants at a fast food joint, and he has My Little Ponies and Zhu Zhu pets 'meant' for girls. I love it. :D

[mckaysmonkey.livejournal.com]

I think all kids adore Lego if you give it to them, as it's a toy you can build other toys out of.

My brother and I both had it, although the sets had different themes. My adored it more than any other toy. I visited LegoLand in Windsor a few times with him, and there were as many girls as boys there, so I don't think Lego is considered just for boys here.

There may be more boys who get the Star Wars sets, but I'm sure there are plenty of girls asking for the Harry Potter Lego this xmas.

As a child, I never coveted my brother's war toys or construction sets, but I really wanted all the wonderful toy cars. Needless to say, my son had lots!

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

I remember playing with what we called 'dinky cars' and dinosaurs as a kid. As well as Star Wars action figures. I know for sure that my sister and I weren't encouraged towards the more typical 'girl' toys though, which in retrospect might've had more of an influence than I'd thought at the time. But I've always preferred boy toys for the most part because you can play adventures with them. So many of the toys for girls only encourage limited storytelling. You can't even find Barbie a practical outfit.

[mckaysmonkey.livejournal.com]

It's easier with brothers. Sooner or later you end up sharing stuff so you can play together. So I got to play with his cars. And he once made little toy guns for my dolls so we could use them in some sort of army game he invented. (my brother invented a lot of games, most of them were war games).

[brockulfsen.livejournal.com]

I threw up in my mouth a bit.

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Yeah. This kind of stuff makes me that much happier that I have a son. Things are so much easier for him in so many ways.

[katzchen24.livejournal.com]

I agree with you totally. I loved Meccano and Lego and all of those things as a kid. I also loved dolls and stuffed toys..... This segregation of things for boys and girls is ridiculous and insulting to their creativity and sense of self.

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Very well put and sadly true. What the manufacturers also don't understand (and what the parents don't seem to get either) is that if all girls are encouraged to do by their toys is be a vet or run a hair salon, that's all they'll think they can do. And while there's nothing wrong with either of those choices, it's telling that I've never seen any such activities for boys. (I've seen one unisex dress-up type veterinary clinic toy, but no Legos or anything else.)