GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls • Hacker News Board

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#21

Post by Tichy » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 11:04 PM UTC

jlgreco wrote: post #12

timr wrote: post #5

I get the desire for narrative and different colors...but this looks awfully simple-minded. Why can a boy age 5-9 play with erector sets and legos, but a "girl's" engineering toy must comprise such a primitive set of components?

I can see the concerns some people have with legos clearly focusing on marketing to boys, but erector set stuff does seem rather un-gendered to me. I don't know if it has changed, but the erector set stuff I had as a child was just a bunch of stamped out metal parts with nuts/bolts. Not much "themeing" at all. I suppose you can just buy "vanilla" lego blocks too of course. Anyway, parents know what their kids want mo…

That's what I get for switching from watching =3 to HN: can't help thinking that maybe that kit would sell better to girls if it wasn't called "erector set".

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#22

Post by ck2 » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 11:10 PM UTC

Building what you see on the video is very clever.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#23

Post by jlgreco » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 11:11 PM UTC

Tichy wrote: post #21

jlgreco wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see the concerns some people have with legos clearly focusing on marketing to boys, but erector set stuff does seem rather un-gendered to me. I don't know if it has changed, but the erector set stuff I had as a child was just a bunch of stamped out metal parts with nuts/bolts. Not much "themeing" at all. I suppose you can just buy "vanilla" lego blocks too of course. Anyway, parents know what their kids want mo…

That's what I get for switching from watching =3 to HN: can't help thinking that maybe that kit would sell better to girls if it wasn't called "erector set".

Ha, that never occurred to me before.

"Erector Sets" sold in the us are actually rebranded "Meccano". I'm not sure when that change happened, but it seems like that is what I actually had. I guess they bought the brand for marketing reasons.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#24

Post by MartinCron » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 11:16 PM UTC

Tichy wrote: post #10

jpxxx wrote: post #7

Can't hate, I love it. Even the pink and cuddly bits. If this product instead had a blue ribbon and alien figurines with the title "Cyber Drivetrain Blast Kit" it wouldn't raise an eyebrow as a gendered or pandering toy. Legos are for boys when 95% of what's on the Lego shelf is boy pirates, boy laserbros, boy Batman, boy bio-alien-robots tearing the shit out of boy bio-dino-robots, etc.

So only 15% of girls liking engineering is a problem, but girls not liking pirates, batman and bio-alien-robots isn't? Where is the movement to get girls interested in bio-alien-robots?

It would be a problem if there were a profound shortage of talent and diversity in the pirate, batman, and bio-alien-robot industries.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#25

Post by greendestiny » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 11:19 PM UTC

timr wrote: post #5

I get the desire for narrative and different colors...but this looks awfully simple-minded. Why can a boy age 5-9 play with erector sets and legos, but a "girl's" engineering toy must comprise such a primitive set of components?

There is girls themed lego and duplo these days.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#26

Post by MartinCron » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 11:19 PM UTC

pnathan wrote: post #14

I really hope that when I have kids, their interests and my location coincide so I don't have to buy them a Toy for Gender. I'd like to let them find out what they like to do.

What if what they like to do aligns with what is specific to their gender? Or even if what they like is specific to the opposite gender.

My son and my daughter both like My Little Pony (as do I, it's awesome) and I don't see anything that I could do to stop it, even if I wanted to.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#27

Post by alanfalcon » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 11:32 PM UTC

One step closer to the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer from Stephenson's Diamond Age. I approve.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#28

Post by bunkat » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 11:35 PM UTC

I think the toy is pretty cool and I'm sure lots of little girls will enjoy playing with it, but I'm not sure how this is supposed to get girls interested in engineering. There are none of the aspects of legos and erector sets that make those toys a stepping stone to becoming an engineer.

Legos let you build whatever you can imagine, including things like houses, bridges, buildings, cars, planes, etc that exist in the real world. This allows little kids to emulate real engineers which is critical to creating excitement in the discipline. It also promotes skills like math (2x4 blocks = 8 dots), physics (how tall can you go before it falls over, where should wheels be to make a car stable), symmetry, organization (keeping 3000 parts in order), and instruction comprehension. I don't see any of that with a toy where you put a ribbon around 5 spools.

It's almost like saying Easy Bake Ovens create more female chefs. Thing is, they don't. Girls that spend lots of time in the kitchen building skills and creating on their own become chefs, not girls that put brownies under a light bulb. I also thought it was funny that they couldn't even move away from the Barbie syndrome. Can't girls have any other role models than blonde hair, blue eyed, thin Caucasian women?

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#29

Post by antihero » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 11:41 PM UTC

I initially made a more crass comment, and then deleted to it, but what I'll say is that this got my feminist heckles up, and it seems like a pragmatic approach. However, in this case the pragmatic approach seems like building a castle on a swamp, as opposed to making any attempt to deal with said swamp.

Give girls lego.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#30

Post by egillie » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 11:45 PM UTC

jlgreco wrote: post #12

timr wrote: post #5

I get the desire for narrative and different colors...but this looks awfully simple-minded. Why can a boy age 5-9 play with erector sets and legos, but a "girl's" engineering toy must comprise such a primitive set of components?

I can see the concerns some people have with legos clearly focusing on marketing to boys, but erector set stuff does seem rather un-gendered to me. I don't know if it has changed, but the erector set stuff I had as a child was just a bunch of stamped out metal parts with nuts/bolts. Not much "themeing" at all. I suppose you can just buy "vanilla" lego blocks too of course. Anyway, parents know what their kids want mo…

If anything, the kids may not care, but adults picking out toys for a little girl will feel more comfortable buying this. People are always happier if they feel their choices were more "customized" for the person they're buying for.

Personal anecdote: when I was a girl I wanted this $50 erector set for Christmas which my dad said was too expensive, but then he bought me a some $50 stuffed animal for Christmas anyways. I guess he felt like it was a better gift.