1
00:00:00,417 --> 00:00:06,256
“LEGO is here, hey kids, look a whole new world to build.”
2
00:00:06,256 --> 00:00:09,850
LEGOs are one of the most fantastic and creative toys ever developed.
3
00:00:09,850 --> 00:00:15,922
I mean check this out, it’s a LEGO stegosaurus, it even has light up eyes rawr
4
00:00:15,922 --> 00:00:20,039
Research has consistently shown that playing with LEGOs accelerates childhood development,
5
00:00:20,039 --> 00:00:28,058
and is upheld as a gateway to math, science and engineering fields, promoting spatial memory, spatial design and of course imagination.
6
00:00:28,058 --> 00:00:34,296
Sadly, as a consequence of LEGOs decision to design and market their products almost exclusively to boys over the past few decades,
7
00:00:34,296 --> 00:00:36,328
girls have been largely left out.
8
00:00:36,328 --> 00:00:43,585
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,
9
00:00:43,585 --> 00:00:47,256
but a little skeptical. Here’s what LEGO had to say
10
00:00:47,256 --> 00:00:52,219
“We actually see ourselves as duty bound to find a fantastic LEGO experience for Girls.
11
00:00:52,219 --> 00:00:57,377
we are passionate about what the LEGO experience does to children around the world,
12
00:00:57,377 --> 00:01:01,045
I mean, their development, great experience, ability to concentrate,
13
00:01:01,045 --> 00:01:08,290
and it’s just not good enough that we cannot do something which is really appealing to girls and delivering that same great experience.”
14
00:01:08,290 --> 00:01:17,486
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.
15
00:01:17,486 --> 00:01:22,291
So with all that what has the company done to integrate girls back into the LEGO experience?
16
00:01:22,291 --> 00:01:24,501
“LEGO Friends. New LEGO Friends.
17
00:01:24,501 --> 00:01:31,842
Welcome to Beautiful Heartlake City. I’m Stephanie, I’m going to a party at the new café with my friend Olivia.
18
00:01:31,842 --> 00:01:37,361
That’s me, I just finished decorating my house. Time to chill with the girls.
19
00:01:37,361 --> 00:01:42,781
At the Beauty Shop, Emma is styled and ready to go. This is gonna be so much fun!
20
00:01:42,781 --> 00:01:46,789
Welcome to the world of LEGO Friends. New LEGO Friends.
21
00:01:46,789 --> 00:01:50,485
Sigh So where do we even begin?
22
00:01:50,485 --> 00:01:58,631
This new LEGO collection features 23 sets that focus on the lives of 5 “Friends” Mia, Emma, Andrea, Olivia and Stephanie
23
00:01:58,631 --> 00:02:06,084
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.
24
00:02:06,084 --> 00:02:12,966
No, Heartlake City is a pastel colored gender segregated stereotypically female suburban paradise.
25
00:02:13,166 --> 00:02:16,404
And to make it absolutely clear that these sets are for girls,
26
00:02:16,404 --> 00:02:22,129
they’ve covered everything in pink and purple, from the branding to the boxes to the bricks themselves.
27
00:02:22,129 --> 00:02:29,072
Another way LEGO has segregated the Friends theme from the rest of the LEGO universe is by creating a brand new LEGO person.
28
00:02:29,072 --> 00:02:35,040
The traditional LEGO characters or “minifigs” as they’re called has become a recognizable icon world wide.
29
00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,290
The minifigs are the center piece of the entire LEGO universe
30
00:02:38,290 --> 00:02:44,164
featured in their videogame and movie franchises, extended merchandise, and even in their theme parks.
31
00:02:44,164 --> 00:02:49,211
By contrast the new Bratz/Barbie style “Lady Fig” or “mini doll” featured in Heartlake City
32
00:02:49,211 --> 00:02:52,780
is taller, curvier and they wear little skirts.
33
00:02:52,780 --> 00:02:56,134
By essentially making the mini-doll an entirely separate species
34
00:02:56,134 --> 00:03:01,371
it just works to further segregate the Friends theme from the rest of the LEGO universe.
35
00:03:01,371 --> 00:03:04,529
The Friends theme sets focus on traditionally female identified tasks
36
00:03:04,529 --> 00:03:06,645
including baking at the City Park Café,
37
00:03:06,645 --> 00:03:09,452
getting your hair done at the Butterfly Beauty Shop,
38
00:03:09,452 --> 00:03:11,866
taking care of pets at the Heartlake Vet,
39
00:03:11,866 --> 00:03:13,956
or homemaking at Olivia’s House.
40
00:03:13,956 --> 00:03:18,879
Out of the initial 14 offerings the only set that breaks out of this mold might be Olivia’s Inventor’s Workshop,
41
00:03:18,879 --> 00:03:24,079
which would be really awesome if it weren’t for the inexplicable decision to make all of her tools purple.
42
00:03:24,079 --> 00:03:29,777
Now there’s nothing inherently wrong with pink and purple, I’m sometimes fond of these colours, obviously,
43
00:03:29,777 --> 00:03:34,947
pink and purple are just two options out of the rainbow of brick colors available in the LEGO universe.
44
00:03:34,947 --> 00:03:43,121
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.
45
00:03:43,121 --> 00:03:46,186
There is also nothing inherently wrong with LEGO sets that include
46
00:03:46,186 --> 00:03:51,273
places to live, places to eat, beauty salons, entertainment venues etc.
47
00:03:51,273 --> 00:03:54,870
These are all establishments that you’d expect to find in pretty much any city.
48
00:03:54,870 --> 00:03:58,013
But here is where LEGO starts to go horribly wrong
49
00:03:58,013 --> 00:04:04,745
First, the activities featured in the Friends theme such as baking, cooking, caregiving, homemaking, decorating, hair styling
50
00:04:04,745 --> 00:04:12,002
are rooted in deeply stereotypical and limiting roles for women in children’s toys and sadly, in society in general.
51
00:04:12,002 --> 00:04:16,339
Second, these types of establishments only exist in the girls’ world of Heartlake city.
52
00:04:16,339 --> 00:04:23,012
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
53
00:04:23,012 --> 00:04:30,025
has dozens of CITY subthemes including Search and Rescue, Police, Firefighters, Construction, the Space Port
54
00:04:30,025 --> 00:04:35,400
which are all traditionally male identified occupations (though they shouldn’t be).
55
00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:39,821
Noticeably absent are any places for the LEGO city minifigures to live or eat.
56
00:04:39,821 --> 00:04:46,140
Isn’t it curious that there are almost no housing, entertainment or restaurant subthemes in LEGO city?
57
00:04:46,140 --> 00:04:48,872
So what happens when something in Heartlake City catches on fire?
58
00:04:48,872 --> 00:04:54,359
I guess you have to call the boys to put it out, similarly what happens when someone in LEGO city gets hungry?
59
00:04:54,359 --> 00:04:59,561
I guess you’d have to call the girls to bake them something. This is just absurd.
60
00:04:59,561 --> 00:05:04,855
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,
61
00:05:04,855 --> 00:05:08,616
girls could build spaceships out of the beauty salon for example.
62
00:05:08,616 --> 00:05:13,864
The problem is that the Friends theme was developed from the ground up based on a story of five friends
63
00:05:13,864 --> 00:05:18,077
and everything that girls are meant to do with the sets revolves around that specific story.
64
00:05:18,077 --> 00:05:21,988
This severely limits the possibilities of what most girls will do with the sets.
65
00:05:21,988 --> 00:05:28,495
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.
66
00:05:28,495 --> 00:05:33,276
It seems as though LEGO is convinced that boys and girls just naturally have different interests,
67
00:05:33,276 --> 00:05:41,449
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.”
68
00:05:41,449 --> 00:05:45,443
Using the language of “natural” or “nature” in reference to gender infers
69
00:05:45,443 --> 00:05:49,825
that girls are biologically predisposed to like dolls and pink things.
70
00:05:49,825 --> 00:05:53,199
As noted by Peggy Orenstein in her book Cinderella Ate My Daughter,
71
00:05:53,199 --> 00:05:57,285
if we look to the turn of the century this gendered color dynamic was actually reversed,
72
00:05:57,285 --> 00:06:03,738
in the early 1900s blue was associated with baby girls and pink with baby boys, really,
73
00:06:03,738 --> 00:06:06,527
it might be hard to believe but you can look it up.
74
00:06:06,527 --> 00:06:10,370
This demonstrates that colour association with gender is a social construct,
75
00:06:10,370 --> 00:06:15,769
it’s not biological, it’s not genetic, it’s not natural. It’s made up.
76
00:06:15,769 --> 00:06:23,967
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.”
77
00:06:23,967 --> 00:06:27,193
LEGO has tried this type of gender stereotyping before.
78
00:06:27,193 --> 00:06:30,861
Here’s a quick history of LEGO’s ridiculous attempts to market to girls.
79
00:06:30,861 --> 00:06:37,856
In 1979 LEGO released SCALA, a jewelry making kit that featured little plastic pieces with birds and flowers painted on them.
80
00:06:38,548 --> 00:06:42,820
In 1992 LEGO released the PARADISA collection, which to their credit,
81
00:06:42,820 --> 00:06:47,213
was meant to fit together with the larger TOWN LEGO theme (which is now renamed CITY).
82
00:06:47,213 --> 00:06:50,994
“Paradisa, Paradisa, sun is shining all day.
83
00:06:50,994 --> 00:06:57,007
Let us ride down to the beach, go surfing, camping and play.
84
00:06:57,007 --> 00:07:01,930
We can do anything we like at the house with the sun.
85
00:07:01,930 --> 00:07:06,342
Paradisa, Paradisa, this is where we have fun.”
86
00:07:06,342 --> 00:07:10,614
It included female minifigs so that’s good but all the boxes were bright pink,
87
00:07:10,614 --> 00:07:16,390
and all the activities were leisure activities like the poolside paradise, the fun fair, and the country club.
88
00:07:16,390 --> 00:07:20,815
In 1994 LEGO reduced the building experience to almost nothing with the Belville theme.
89
00:07:20,815 --> 00:07:23,610
And similar to the ladyfigs of the Friends theme,
90
00:07:23,610 --> 00:07:28,365
the characters of Belville looked a lot more like Barbie then Lego’s traditional minifigs.
91
00:07:28,365 --> 00:07:34,704
The play focused on fairy tales where girls could play house with prince charming or have magical tea parties.
92
00:07:34,704 --> 00:07:38,757
A few years later LEGO brought back the Scala theme, in name only,
93
00:07:38,757 --> 00:07:45,444
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.
94
00:07:45,444 --> 00:07:48,602
And finally, in 2003 this happened.
95
00:07:48,602 --> 00:07:50,964
“You’re a very stylish girl,
96
00:07:50,964 --> 00:07:53,525
just click to change your style,
97
00:07:53,525 --> 00:07:55,939
you’re a very stylish girl,
98
00:07:55,939 --> 00:07:58,447
your way, your style.
99
00:07:58,447 --> 00:08:04,368
Clickits, click it your way. Clickits.”
100
00:08:04,368 --> 00:08:07,696
So they brought back customized jewelry making with Clikits.
101
00:08:07,696 --> 00:08:13,354
I have no idea how this product is associated with LEGO since it has none of the iconic LEGO elements.
102
00:08:13,354 --> 00:08:16,303
This brings us back to 2012 and the new Friends theme.
103
00:08:16,303 --> 00:08:18,727
“LEGO Friends. New LEGO Friends.
104
00:08:18,727 --> 00:08:21,110
Welcome to beautiful Heartlake City.
105
00:08:21,110 --> 00:08:28,772
We’re here! Let’s all help out, make burgers, shakes, bake the cupcakes. It’s perfect.
106
00:08:28,772 --> 00:08:31,280
Welcome to the world of LEGO Friends.”
107
00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:33,695
Yeaaaa….
108
00:08:33,695 --> 00:08:36,933
But moving on, LEGO’s press release on the Friends theme states that,
109
00:08:36,933 --> 00:08:42,731
“LEGO Friends delivers on a girl’s desire for realistic role-play, creativity, and a highly-detailed, character-based world”
110
00:08:42,731 --> 00:08:47,360
and apparently girl’s also desire “more beauty… accessories… and interior building.”
111
00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:54,686
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.
112
00:08:54,686 --> 00:09:00,770
The Medieval Market Village is extremely detailed as is the Death Star which has 13 separate interiors.
113
00:09:00,770 --> 00:09:02,302
Or what about Hogwart’s Castle?
114
00:09:02,302 --> 00:09:08,107
It comes with Dumbledore’s office, the Slytherin and Gryffindor common rooms, the Astronomy Tower, the Great Hall.
115
00:09:08,107 --> 00:09:15,770
It has 11 different minifigs and for accessories you get the Sorting Hat, Tom Riddle’s book, a Basilisk fang, various wands.
116
00:09:15,770 --> 00:09:18,183
You even get a little Mrs. Norris!
117
00:09:18,183 --> 00:09:24,272
If this isn’t a highly detailed, creative, role playing, interior building world then I don’t know what is.
118
00:09:24,272 --> 00:09:28,401
Setting aside the “desire for beauty” which I guess just means pink.
119
00:09:28,401 --> 00:09:36,575
It appears LEGO already makes toys that offer creative, role playing, character based, accessorized, interior building, construction experiences
120
00:09:36,575 --> 00:09:40,538
so there must be something else keeping girls from embracing the LEGO experience.
121
00:09:40,538 --> 00:09:45,561
The real reason girls aren’t interested in LEGOs as a whole is because for the last quarter of a century
122
00:09:45,561 --> 00:09:49,881
the LEGO Group has been telling girls repeatedly that bricks are for boys.
123
00:09:49,881 --> 00:09:58,473
How did LEGO’s products shift from its initial relatively, gender neutral, universal building experience to a more male dominated, male identified one?
124
00:09:58,473 --> 00:10:00,433
Well, it didn’t happen by accident.
125
00:10:00,433 --> 00:10:04,979
Join me for Part 2 of my LEGO and Gender video series where I’ll dig into exactly how this happened,
126
00:10:04,979 --> 00:10:10,443
starting with a brief history of LEGO’s TV commercials including Zack the LEGO Maniac.
127
00:10:10,443 --> 00:10:14,748
I’ll also offer LEGO a couple of suggestion to fix their gender segregation problem.
128
00:10:14,748 --> 00:10:23,433
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,
129
00:10:23,433 --> 00:10:29,838
please help keep Feminist Frequency going by donating today. You can visit feministfrequency.com/donate