Once again, you do not speak for all girls. You do not speak for me. I have spent my life in STEM disciplines. I faced stereotyping. I over-came obstacles in male-dominated academic and professional careers. You do not speak for me.
Kids need to be exposed to examples of what their parents may perceive as gender-stereotyped messages in marketing, media and at point-of-purchase, so that they may know to recognize it. They need to be able to delineate for themselves if it is indeed a suggestion, or a trick telling them this is what society demands of them.
If you feel this is the issue -- then use this as a teachable moment for your own kids. Give them the skills to navigate through society's messages, so they may use those same problem-solving skills in application to other aspects in life. Whether inter-personal relationships, or in the virtual world, kids need to have the ability to think for themselves.
However, your campaign's tactics on the Internet, consisting of re-spinning half-truths and fact omissions is very unbecoming of any intellectual persuasion.
To the millions of girls who are thrilled about LEGO Friends and the new options which encourage them to manipulate bricks into their play & imagination time, I say: Build on girls!
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Besides, why would The LEGO Group give into demands by people who call them names like this:
Melissa Atkins Wardy 'aka' Pigtail Pals and her foul language (see above name she called TLG execs) have perpetuated so many falsehoods about LEGO Friends online, such as them being pre-fab (which they are not), it's hard to keep up with the drivel -- all the while she bought her first ever LEGO bricks in December. The only regret of covering her actions on this blog is that she is online as a business, masquerading as a "girl empowerment" group -- giving her any attention is a bad side-effect. The sacrifice is worth it -- documenting the tactics and actions of these petitioners is here for posterity.
Pigtail Pals pays bloggers to write up stories about perceived inequality in toys, apparel, media, etc., which she hopes to turn into outrage --and hopefully another "viral" effect for her little t-shirt business.
She confesses to never reading the actual public replies to controversial articles, because she considers the articles (and the emotional outrage they inspire) to be her "job security."
Now she teaches her 7-year-old daughter to use profanity too!
Please Melissa, just stay away from LEGO Friends, you don't deserve their awesomeness.
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