Feminists freak out over LEGO Friends: Oh, Peggy

This blog is in response to a petition & spam campaign of a few feminists

Some radical feminist groups realized they can advance their own agenda by launching a "No pink aisle, bring back beautiful" social media campaign by claiming The LEGO Group offers no "gender equity" in the new theme "Friends" and its marketing. They created an online petition, then proceeded encouraging their followers to SPAM the LEGO Facebook page with one of TLG's own ads. Laced with false dramatic information, they convinced the petition site to include their "cause" in its membership mailing notice.
This blog sheds light on their omissions, skewed facts & images.

Oh, Peggy

   Peggy Orenstein thinks LEGO Friends sets have "not much building" while truly knowledgeable LEGO parents know they offer the exact same building experience as *any* other LEGO set. Heck, even the flagship set of the Friends theme - Olivia's House - has over 700 bricks which come loose in the box!

   Yes, a girl has to build it.

   Even the mini-dolls must be constructed by assembling 4 parts!

   Peggy has been spewing conjecture since news of the new theme, which was created to bring more girls into LEGO building, was announced last year. Yet, she leaves interacting with her own daughter during LEGO time to her husband. How is that setting an example to a girl, when a Mom (female) doesn't even engage in constructive play? No wonder more girls weren't building with LEGO before!

   Let's address other statements she made in her interview:

   If a study she cited is correct that "girls without older brothers have less spatial skills" -- then LEGO Friends has the capacity to narrow that developmental gap. With Friends being a gateway into construction toys for those girls who choose it -- their building experience can continue by integrating into other LEGO themes. (LEGO Friends sets consist of the exact same interlocking bricks as any other set.)

   As for the nostalgic charm of the 1981 ad showing a pigtailed girl building with basic bricks -- it is a keepsake no doubt, yet yields to progression.

   What is obviously lost on these types of people is the damage they do to the psyche of so many young girls. Many young girls who do identify with LEGO Friends don't need Peggy telling them their choices are ill-fitted of a girl today. Millions of girls who are proud of themselves to finally be building with LEGO bricks and gaining STEM skills -- because of LEGO Friends -- need our encouragement. They certainly don't need mis-informed talking-heads purporting false data.

   Let's just hope no girl goes without an opportunity to build with LEGO Friends because a parent or grandparent believed what Peggy said. If a girl asks for LEGO Friends because she already wanted a toy she could identify with during imaginative play, the dogma of these self-serving writers should not dissuade her chances.

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Note: Referencing the NYT OP-ED: Bionicle was replaced by HERO Factory, not any princess theme. Yet, another erroneous statement by Peggy.
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   Apparently, creating controversy by issuing false, inflammatory statements about LEGO products and other companies who try to include female equity is considered "job security" by her ilk by selling books and merchandise.

   Ironically hypocritical is that Peggy writes about loathing the color pink, even though she uses that color on her own media. She criticizes The LEGO Group for providing a gateway line into construction toys for girls who otherwise would not be interested. Peggy calls this gender stereotyping -- all the while she spends her time promoting many "girl-only" organizations and causes.

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FACTS & Myths

FACT: Friends sets contain 'loose' bricks which must be connected together to build the model on the box-art (instructions included) or any other creation a girl can imagine with those bricks. The models seen in images DO NOT come out of the box pre-assembled.

Myth: LEGO Friends sets come pre-fabricated = a myth!

FACT: Pink bricks have been around for about a decade.

Myth: LEGO Friends set bricks are mostly pink = a myth!
(Only about 10% of the bricks found in each set box are of the color pink; the rest are comprised of Azure Blue {a LEGO Friends unique color}, White, Tan, Lime Green, Medium Lavender, Dark Lavender, Magenta {dark bright pink}, Red, Yellow-Green, Black, Brown, Light Aqua {new color to LEGO, due to Friends}, Orange, Yellow, Grey, Light Pink, Bright Orange, Bright Pink, and several shades of Green.)

FACT: Girls who where not already building & playing with LEGO bricks took part in the 4-year anthropological research study across the globe. They are the girls for whom the Friends Mini-Dolls were developed; those girls wanted a more realistic "avatar" to represent them. They were not interested in the classic yellow minifigure.

Myth: If only TLG made more girls as minifigures then more girls would be building with LEGO bricks and therefore no need for the Friends line = a myth!

FACT: In 2011 girls were only 9% of The LEGO Group's customers; after Friends release and by 2013 girls comprise 28% of the toy company's customers. Although many girls who built with LEGO bricks prior to Friends enjoyed other lines, such as Creator, Harry Potter, Architecture, the overall number of girls building was less than boys. Friends serves as a bridge by appealing to some girls to engage them with construction toy building -- then hopefully follow interests into additional themes, such as Modular, Monster Fighters, NinjaGO, Architecture, Chima, CITY and more ...

Myth: Girls have been segregated withing the LEGO building experience = a myth!

FACT: The LEGO Group had severe profit loss in 2003; then after releasing licensed tie-in (such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter) sets, their profits rose.

Myth: If TLG reverts to gender-less buckets of red, blue & green bricks, then everything will be just fine = a myth!
~This is a sentimental notion which does not take into account the very rapid growth of technology and competition for kids' attention in engaged play.

About Paradisa:

The LEGO Paradisa System for girls was introduced in 1992. These sets included parts for making buildings with pink and white accents. Many of these sets had either beach or riding themes. Therre were also a pair of basic sets, called “Freestyle” in 1995 that were in a box or a pink suitcase. These were very similar to the actually produced Paradisa System sets, except these were not model sets, but mainly spare parts basic sets.

There were a number of unique baseplates produced for the Paradisa line, many having beach and water features, and very light green grassy areas. There were also several parts not found in other systems in pink or dark pink. So some parts in these sets are somewhat rare.

The Paradisa System of sets were retired circa 1998, and other LEGO systems, such as the Scala System (dollhouse type sets) and Belville.

Paradisa Sets were sold in continental Europe, Britain, Australia, USA and Canada.

LEGO Homemaker sets Story

This was the beginning of the Homemaker series of sets, which were produced from 1971 until 1982. The early Homemaker sets from 1971-73 predated the first LEGO people, which were first introduced in 1974. Even after 1974 many of the smaller sets still did not have LEGO people included in the sets.

The first LEGO people were not the small minifigs that we know of today, but were large yellow 2x2x2 round heads and neck attached to a 2x2 brick. There were bendable arms that attached to the sides of the 2x2 bricks. At the end of each arm was a round hand with a hollow stud on top. This allowed the people to hold LEGO accessories. The remainder of the big head peoples’ body was made up of regular and sloped LEGO bricks. There were also LEGO hair pieces (male and female) as well as LEGO hats (male and female). The yellow heads had several different expressions painted on them. Some looked young with freckles; others looked old with glasses painted on. And there were several different hair colors and hair styles for the large heads. The hats varied in color and styles. There was even one American Indian set that had the heads made of red LEGO. But all other sets had yellow heads.

Feminists freak out over LEGO Friends

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This blog is in response to a petition & spam campaign of a few feminists

Oh, Peggy

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