On October 11th of this column’s posting, the Danish company LEGO made an announcement that I’m sure shocked a lot of folks.
The executives at LEGO announced that they will work to eliminate “gender bias” and gender stereotypes in their products. According to a study they released, they believed that there is gender bias when it comes to play and that boys would not to play with toys considered “feminine” and that girls are encouraged to steer more for things like dance and dress-up while boys would be pushed more towards things like sports.
So this commentator knows a lot of my generation – Generation X – would look at this and say “well, duh! Of course!” And they’d also probably scoff at the idea that LEGO would have a “gender bias”.
And, to be honest, I did as well. I grew up with LEGO. I used to be creative, or try to be, with LEGO blocks. Of course, I had little choice as the sets back then really didn’t have minifigures. They were just blocks of various shapes, sizes, and colors. Then, later on in life, I was encouraged through a cheap Christmas season to go back into that world, which I treated as a form of puzzles. Put together this set. Assemble this vehicle. See how it all fits. It’s one of my renewed hobbies, second only to creating comic books.
On the surface, it does seem that LEGO does all it can to be gender-inclusive. There are multiple sets for girls under the “LEGO Friends” series, including sets themed for Disney characters and – until recently - for the young women of DC Comics. The fire chief of LEGO City is a woman! How many real-world municipalities can say that?
And yet, if you dig a little deeper, you’ll see LEGO does have a gender bias problem.
For starters, while they do have a section for girls called “Friends”, and they use the same kinds of bricks, their figures are different from the normal minifigures. They’re not blocky. They are slightly taller and leaner. They’re also more restrictive. Their arms are further away from the torso and their legs cannot individually move. If you were to get a “Friends” set to supplement a normal LEGO collection, you’d have to make some adjustments for it to conform to a regular minifigure.
Now let’s get to the main LEGO series.
Yes, the fire chief in the LEGO series is a woman, and there are plenty of female characters as store owners, scientists, surfers, mothers, lifeguards, doctors, criminals, a few police officers, plus a really nice (retired) series dedicated to the women of NASA. But... they can’t bake pizza? They can serve ice cream but they can’t serve hamburgers?
It’s even worse when it comes to the themed sets, with the exception of the Harry Potter series. Both Marvel and DC themes are heavy into male characters, often connected to whatever movie is about to be in theatres.
For Marvel there is Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Captain America. For the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are several sets for each movie with a male-centered character. But when it came to the “Captain Marvel” movie? Only two sets, and one was a polybag after the movie came out. For the recently-released “Black Widow” movie? Just one, and that came out a year before the movie thanks to a certain global pandemic.
It’s worse when it comes to DC, because literally everything is about Batman. LEGO seemingly cannot do a DC-themed set without putting Batman in it. Undersea adventure with Aquaman? Only two sets do not feature Batman in it. Outer space adventure with Green Lantern? Nope, you have to have Batman in a bat-spacesuit.
There were three sets available when “Man of Steel” came out. Two for “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”. Three for “Justice League” (not the Snyder Cut). But when it comes to “Wonder Woman”? One. And “Wonder Woman 1984”? Also, one.
By the way, why no SHAZAM themed sets? There’s one movie out and another on the way, and yet the Big Red Cheese and his diverse adopted family don’t get even one LEGO set?
And looking at the non-cinematic sets, you see a slight gender bias as well.
While one Batman-themed set has plenty of opportunity for Batgirl to drive some kind of vehicle, a more recent set has Batgirl riding... a skateboard. Batgirl is about the same age as Nightwing, the first Robin, but she gets a skateboard. In the comics she has her own custom bat-cycle, and is even featured in the 1966 “Batman” live-action TV series. But in the world of LEGO, if she’s not bumming off Batman’s toys, she gets a skateboard.
The latest Robin, Damian Wayne, is still a teenager, but he gets a motorcycle. Red Hood, who used to be Robin, gets a motorcycle. 30-something Batgirl... gets a skateboard.
Supergirl obviously doesn’t need a vehicle any more than her super-powered cousin, unless you’re interested in a “Lego Mighty Micro” set. But in the “LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Cosmic Clash” animated movie, Supergirl is seen as a super-powered cheerleader, giving cheers as she uses her powers. Talk about gender stereotypes!
Same situation with the Marvel sets. Spider-Man can drive all sorts of vehicles, including a few mechs. But in one set, Spider-Man is piloting a helicopter and Ghost-Spider, a female spider-themed hero, gets... a skateboard. Spider-Man gets a helicopter, the villain has a mech, and Ghost-Spider gets a skateboard. At least Black Widow has a few choices, but none themed towards her, and thankfully none of them being a skateboard.
Now I know some of you would chime in with “well they’re just creating these with marketability in mind, because not enough parents will get LEGO sets for sons that feature female characters in them,” and you’d actually be proving their point.
Let’s get brutally honest here... LEGO does have a gender bias problem with their products, even if it’s not overt. And the solution isn’t to make their products absolutely gender-neutral, as in no gender at all, but it is to make things more inclusive for female characters and for their products to appeal to both boys and girls equally.
Yes, female LEGO figures should be pizza cooks and be mechanics and sell hamburgers. They should be more than just fire chiefs. Let the grown-up Batgirl ride the motorcycle and have the teenage Robin use the skateboard. Give Ghost-Spider her own mech like the other spider-themed characters and give Black Widow her own vehicle instead of bumming off the Avengers and SHIELD. Disney’s female-dominated sets should be brought into the rest of the LEGO world along with the rest of the “LEGO Friends” sets. Hell, some of the Disney characters have already appeared as regular minifigures.
I should probably point out that this is, by all appearances, something that the LEGO company is doing by itself. This is not something being imposed by the Danish government, or the European Union, or even the United States. They saw an issue, and they announced they will fix it. No regulation. No legislation. And if they do it right, they will get even more people involved with their product, which is a plus for capitalism, right?
Anyone who has ever seen the TV series “LEGO Masters” knows that adult women are LEGO builders as well as adult men. LEGO allows people of all ages, of all generations, to be creative, to come up with new ideas, and to make those ideas into something really incredible to see. They have done much for adults, but they have to work on doing the same for parents as well as their children. If there is any product that can reflect the message that you can be what you want to be, no matter who you are, this is it.
No comments:
Post a Comment