0:00:00.766,0:00:06.525
“LEGO is here, hey kids, look a whole new world to build.”
0:00:06.525,0:00:10.194
LEGOS are one of the most fantastic and creative toys ever developed.
0:00:10.194,0:00:16.184
I mean check this out, it’s a LEGO stegosaurus, it even has light up eyes rawr
0:00:16.184,0:00:20.187
Research has consistently shown that playing with LEGOs accelerates childhood development,
0:00:20.187,0:00:28.111
and is upheld as a gateway to math, science and engineering fields, promoting spatial memory, spatial design and of course imagination.
0:00:28.111,0:00:34.034
Sadly, as a consequence of LEGOs decision to design and market their products almost exclusively to boys over the past few decades,
0:00:34.034,0:00:36.664
girls have been largely left out.
0:00:36.664,0:00:44.095
So when the LEGO Group announced that they were committed to expanding the LEGO experience for girls in 2012 in a significant way I was excited,
0:00:44.095,0:00:47.531
but a little skeptical. Here’s what LEGO had to say
0:00:47.531,0:00:53.104
“We actually see ourselves as duty bound to find a fantastic LEGO experience for Girls.
0:00:53.104,0:00:57.702
e are passionate about what the LEGO experience does to children around the world,
0:00:57.702,0:01:01.277
I mean, their development, great experience, ability to concentrate,
0:01:01.277,0:01:08.610
and it’s just not good enough that we cannot do something which is really appealing to girls and delivering that same great experience.”
0:01:08.610,0:01:17.531
LEGO claims to have spent millions of dollars and 4 years doing intensive research on this endeavor and they’ve even budgeted 40 million dollars to market to girls globally.
0:01:17.531,0:01:22.779
So with all that what has the company done to integrate girls back into the LEGO experience?
0:01:22.779,0:01:24.776
“LEGO Friends. New LEGO Friends.
0:01:24.776,0:01:31.928
Welcome to Beautiful Heartlake City. I’m Stephanie, I’m going to a party at the new café with my friend Olivia.
0:01:31.928,0:01:37.361
That’s me, I just finished decorating my house. Time to chill with the girls.
0:01:37.361,0:01:43.027
At the Beauty Shop, Emma is styled and ready to go. This is gonna be so much fun!
0:01:43.027,0:01:46.773
Welcome to the world of LEGO Friends. New LEGO Friends.
0:01:46.773,0:01:50.694
Sigh So where do we even begin?
0:01:50.694,0:01:58.259
This new LEGO collection features 23 sets that focus on the lives of 5 “Friends®” Mia, Emma, Andrea, Olivia and Stephanie
0:01:58.259,0:02:06.526
who all hang out and have fun in someplace called Heartlake City, not to be confused with the regular “City” which is LEGO’s longest running theme.
0:02:06.526,0:02:14.095
No, Heartlake City is a pastel colored gender segregated stereotypically female suburban paradise.
0:02:14.095,0:02:16.603
And to make it absolutely clear that these sets are for girls,
0:02:16.603,0:02:22.362
they’ve covered everything in pink and purple, from the branding to the boxes to the bricks themselves.
0:02:22.362,0:02:28.982
Another way LEGO has segregated the Friends theme from the rest of the LEGO universe is by creating a brand new LEGO person.
0:02:28.982,0:02:35.155
The traditional LEGO characters or “minifigs” as they’re called has become a recognizable icon world wide.
0:02:35.155,0:02:38.430
The minifigs are the center piece of the entire LEGO universe
0:02:38.430,0:02:43.677
featured in their videogame and movie franchises, extended merchandise, and even in their theme parks.
0:02:43.677,0:02:51.015
By contrast the new Bratz/Barbie style “Lady Fig” or “mini doll” featured in Heartlake City
0:02:51.015,0:02:53.131
is taller, curvier and they wear little skirts.
0:02:53.131,0:02:56.774
By essentially making the mini-doll an entirely separate species
0:02:56.774,0:03:01.603
it just works to further segregate the Friends theme from the rest of the LEGO universe.
0:03:01.603,0:03:04.854
The Friends theme sets focus on traditionally female identified tasks
0:03:04.854,0:03:06.728
including baking at the City Park Café,
0:03:06.728,0:03:09.189
getting your hair done at the Butterfly Beauty Shop,
0:03:09.189,0:03:11.483
taking care of pets at the Heartlake Vet,
0:03:11.483,0:03:13.819
or homemaking at Olivia’s House.
0:03:13.819,0:03:19.018
Out of the initial 14 offerings the only set that breaks out of this mold might be Olivia’s Inventor’s Workshop,
0:03:19.018,0:03:25.102
which would be really awesome if it weren’t for the inexplicable decision to make all of her tools purple.
0:03:25.102,0:03:30.164
Now there’s nothing inherently wrong with pink and purple, I’m sometimes fond of these colours, obviously,
0:03:30.164,0:03:34.854
pink and purple are just two options out of the rainbow of brick colors available in the LEGO universe.
0:03:34.854,0:03:43.640
The problem is pink and purple hardly ever appear in the sets marketed to boys and Heartlake city is dominated entirely by soft pastel colours.
0:03:43.640,0:03:47.519
There is also nothing inherently wrong with LEGO sets that include
0:03:47.519,0:03:51.189
places to live, places to eat, beauty salons, entertainment venues etc.
0:03:51.189,0:03:54.401
These are all establishments that you’d expect to find in pretty much any city.
0:03:54.401,0:03:58.028
But here is where LEGO starts to go horribly wrong
0:03:58.028,0:04:05.597
First, the activities featured in the Friends theme such as baking, cooking, caregiving, homemaking, decorating, hair styling
0:04:05.597,0:04:12.127
are rooted in deeply stereotypical and limiting roles for women in children’s toys and sadly, in society in general.
0:04:12.127,0:04:16.256
Second, these types of establishments only exist in the girls’ world of Heartlake city.
0:04:16.256,0:04:23.105
The real LEGO city, on the other hand, you know, the ones that come in the blue boxes, that’s marketed almost exclusively to boys
0:04:23.105,0:04:29.770
has dozens of CITY subthemes including Search and Rescue, Police, Firefighters, Construction, the Space Port
0:04:29.770,0:04:35.567
which are all traditionally male identified occupations (though they shouldn’t be).
0:04:35.567,0:04:40.197
Noticeably absent are any places for the LEGO city minifigures to live or eat.
0:04:40.197,0:04:46.279
Isn’t it curious that there are almost no housing, entertainment or restaurant subthemes in LEGO city?
0:04:46.279,0:04:49.762
So what happens when something in Heartlake City catches on fire?
0:04:49.762,0:04:54.592
I guess you have to call the boys to put it out, similarly what happens when someone in LEGO city gets hungry?
0:04:54.592,0:04:59.841
I guess you’d have to call the girls to bake them something. This is just absurd.
0:04:59.841,0:05:05.691
Now you may be thinking to yourself that kids don’t have to follow the instructions, they could build whatever they want out of the LEGO set,
0:05:05.691,0:05:08.725
girls could build spaceships out of the beauty salon for example.
0:05:08.725,0:05:13.522
The problem is that the Friends theme was developed from the ground up based on a story of five friends
0:05:13.522,0:05:18.109
and everything that girls are meant to do with the sets revolves around that specific story.
0:05:18.109,0:05:22.270
This severely limits the possibilities of what most girls will do with the sets.
0:05:22.270,0:05:29.004
And there’s nothing else in the rest of the LEGO universe that will encourage girls to think outside of the gendered walls of Heartlake City.
0:05:29.004,0:05:33.601
It seems as though LEGO is convinced that boys and girls just naturally have different interests,
0:05:33.601,0:05:41.357
the LEGO Group CEO said “We focused on creating a play experience centered on the joy of creation, while heeding the way girls naturally build and play.”
0:05:41.357,0:05:45.428
Using the language of “natural” or “nature” in reference to gender infers
0:05:45.428,0:05:49.975
that girls are biologically predisposed to like dolls and pink things.
0:05:49.975,0:05:53.270
As noted by Peggy Orenstein in her book Cinderella Ate My Daughter,
0:05:53.270,0:05:57.357
if we look to the turn of the century this gendered color dynamic was actually reversed,
0:05:57.357,0:06:04.019
in the early 1900s blue was associated with baby girls and pink with baby boys, really,
0:06:04.019,0:06:06.759
it might be hard to believe but you can look it up.
0:06:06.759,0:06:10.521
This demonstrates that colour association with gender is a social construct,
0:06:10.521,0:06:15.769
it’s not biological, it’s not genetic, it’s not natural. It’s made up.
0:06:15.769,0:06:24.592
Contrary to LEGO’s press release that states that “LEGO Friends is the first 100 percent LEGO building experience fully optimized to girls’ tastes and interests.”
0:06:24.592,0:06:27.518
LEGO has tried this type of gender stereotyping before.
0:06:27.518,0:06:30.265
Here’s a quick history of LEGO’s ridiculous attempts to market to girls.
0:06:30.265,0:06:38.481
In 1979 LEGO released SCALA, a jewelry making kit that featured little plastic pieces with birds and flowers painted on them.
0:06:38.481,0:06:43.168
In 1992 LEGO released the PARADISA collection, which to their credit,
0:06:43.168,0:06:48.091
was meant to fit together with the larger TOWN LEGO theme (which is now renamed CITY).
0:06:48.091,0:06:52.085
“Paradisa, Paradisa, sun is shining all day.
0:06:52.085,0:06:57.100
Let us ride down to the beach, go surfing, camping and play.
0:06:57.100,0:07:01.605
We can do anything we like at the house with the sun.
0:07:01.605,0:07:06.434
Paradisa, Paradisa, this is where we have fun.”
0:07:06.434,0:07:10.764
It included female minifigs so that’s good but all the boxes were bright pink,
0:07:10.764,0:07:16.645
and all the activities were leisure activities like the poolside paradise, the fun fair, and the country club.
0:07:16.645,0:07:21.249
In 1994 LEGO reduced the building experience to almost nothing with the Belville theme.
0:07:21.249,0:07:24.267
And similar to the ladyfigs of the Friends theme,
0:07:24.267,0:07:29.157
the characters of Belville looked a lot more like Barbie then Lego’s traditional minifigs.
0:07:29.157,0:07:35.181
The play focused on fairy tales where girls could play house with prince charming or have magical tea parties.
0:07:35.181,0:07:39.685
A few years later LEGO brought back the Scala theme, in name only,
0:07:39.685,0:07:45.769
this time there was virtually nothing to build and the core of the theme was to play with and dress up the Barbie knock off dolls.
0:07:45.769,0:07:47.884
And finally, in 2003 this happened.
0:07:47.884,0:07:50.178
“You’re a very stylish girl,
0:07:50.178,0:07:53.515
just click to change your style,
0:07:53.515,0:07:56.184
you’re a very stylish girl,
0:07:56.184,0:07:58.603
your way, your style.
0:07:58.603,0:08:00.939
Clickits, click it your way. Clickits.”
0:08:00.939,0:08:08.246
So they brought back customized jewelry making with Clikits.
0:08:08.246,0:08:13.261
I have no idea how this product is associated with LEGO since it has none of the iconic LEGO elements.
0:08:13.261,0:08:16.930
This brings us back to 2012 and the new Friends theme.
0:08:16.930,0:08:19.020
“LEGO Friends. New LEGO Friends.
0:08:19.020,0:08:21.042
Welcome to beautiful Heartlake City.
0:08:21.042,0:08:23.378
We’re here! Let’s all help out, make burgers, shakes, bake the cupcakes. It’s perfect.
0:08:23.378,0:08:31.136
Welcome to the world of LEGO Friends.”
0:08:31.136,0:08:33.304
Yeaaaa….
0:08:33.304,0:08:36.891
But moving on, LEGO’s press release on the Friends theme states that,
0:08:36.891,0:08:43.169
“LEGO Friends delivers on a girl’s desire for realistic role-play, creativity, and a highly-detailed, character-based world”
0:08:43.169,0:08:48.091
and apparently girl’s also desire “more beauty… accessories… and interior building.”
0:08:48.091,0:08:54.918
I’m slightly confused because all of those things are also true about the other existing LEGO sets. Let’s take a look at a few of examples.[br]
0:08:54.918,0:09:01.002
The Medieval Market Village is extremely detailed as is the Death Star which has 13 separate interiors.
0:09:01.002,0:09:03.092
Or what about Hogwart’s Castle?
0:09:03.092,0:09:08.131
It comes with Dumbledore’s office, the Slytherin and Gryffindor common rooms, the Astronomy Tower, the Great Hall.
0:09:08.131,0:09:15.972
It has 11 different minifigs and for accessories you get the Sorting Hat, Tom Riddle’s book, a Basilisk fang, various wands.
0:09:15.972,0:09:17.974
You even get a little Mrs. Norris!
0:09:17.974,0:09:24.500
If this isn’t a highly detailed, creative, role playing, interior building world then I don’t know what is.
0:09:24.500,0:09:28.680
Setting aside the “desire for beauty” which I guess just means pink.
0:09:28.680,0:09:36.435
It appears LEGO already makes toys that offer creative, role playing, character based, accessorized, interior building, construction experiences
0:09:36.435,0:09:40.847
so there must be something else keeping girls from embracing the LEGO experience.
0:09:40.847,0:09:46.252
The real reason girls aren’t interested in LEGOs as a whole is because for the last quarter of a century
0:09:46.252,0:09:49.756
the LEGO Group has been telling girls repeatedly that bricks are for boys.
0:09:49.756,0:09:58.139
How did LEGO’s products shift from its initial relatively, gender neutral, universal building experience to a more male dominated, male identified one?
0:09:58.139,0:10:01.002
Well, it didn’t happen by accident.
0:10:01.002,0:10:05.414
Join me for Part 2 of my LEGO and Gender video series where I’ll dig into exactly how this happened,
0:10:05.414,0:10:10.754
starting with a brief history of LEGO’s TV commercials including Zack the LEGO Maniac.
0:10:10.754,0:10:14.841
I’ll also offer LEGO a couple of suggestion to fix their gender segregation problem.
0:10:14.841,0:10:23.340
I hope you enjoyed that video, it was probably my most ambitious project to date and took an enormous amount of time to put together,
0:10:23.340,0:10:29.754
please help keep Feminist Frequency going by donating today. You can visit feministfrequency.com/donate