Live data from Hacker News

GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

kickstarter.com

51–60 of 113 posts

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#51
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?

In no way does it seem that this is the final product she will ever ship. This version is easy to manufacturer and easy to sell. She has an engineering degree: I'm sure this was not the first design and she whittled down from more complex designs, which she can get back to after she has a thriving business and marketing team. Personally, I think I would have been bored by this after one time at the age of 6 or 7, but it would have gotten my attention (and I was never a princess girl, I just liked puzzles). Think of the things that can spin from this: more technical puzzles, parts that the kids can use to invent their own games, story-telling and programming. I'm committing to her project because I see her as a long-term producer of products that could genuinely make a difference (and if not her, there's enough in here to spin a thousand ideas). Like someone commented on here: The Diamond Age could come from this, and who knows if it will be a girl in 25-50 years who builds it?

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#52
post #47

All the naysayers out there are neglecting an important viewpoint best explained by a personal anecdote. I have a 4 year old niece that is so into princesses, pink, high heals, the whole 9 yards, that any present that isn't themed pink and girly will just get ignored, yet she's very smart and likes playing with puzzles. Something like this might actually work for her, where gender neutral legos or erector sets would…

I almost wrote a comment about how it was basically just making erector sets pink, and what was the point of that. You've made me think twice. However, I feel like parents who are inclined to buy this might not be likely to have princess-obsessed kids. But I am not a parent, so I don't know.

I have two daughters ... both princess-obsessed. I trip over Barbies some days!

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#53
Wow. $100k pledged. For proposing to do something that LEGO's Pink sets are essentially already doing today, on the shelves, ready to buy.

Kickstarter is getting frothy. Reminds me of all the swill that was earning millions in the early days of the iOS App Store.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#55
Note: not all girls need pink and frills to love engineering toys, building things, or even LEGO. My 8yo daughter loves to tear apart electronics for the components and build new things, and so do several of her friends.

I get that she's not "typical", but I'm not sure that the problem is that LEGO and Erector are "for boys". I lean towards thinking that the problem is that we tell kids that, one way or another.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#56
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Why should girls have to be interested in bio-alien-robots? Gender differences are real, so instead of trying to overcome them, we should do what this toy is trying to do: recognize them and work within them.

Pink and blue toys are not about gender differences. They're about gender-based marketing.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#57
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.

Odds are, they'll want a Toy for Gender. It's not 100% and I would never push my kids to have a particular type of toy, but gender differences are real. I have four kids. I've bought many toys that matched stereotypes and several that didn't match. What surprised me the most was, even when we didn't buy toy guns or swords, my boys turned things into them; and no matter what game was being played (and how violent the…

> We tried very hard to not overly bias our kids, but the bias is in their genetic code.

Maybe you didn't mean this literally, but I think it's important not to promote this as-yet-unproven notion. There are tantalizing studies with conflicting conclusions here - we just don't know how much gender-stereotypical behavior is genetic.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#58
post #8
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.

My girls LOVE legos. They have a few of the new 'pink' ones but mostly play with our 20 year old lego collection. They don't think of the girly legos as 'real legos', for whatever reason. It _is_ disheartening to go into a lego store and see almost solely boy-oriented sets, though. I note kids in Lego stores are roughly 60/40 boys / girls, but the sets are boyish.

Some of us find it disheartening that Lego makes "sets" at all.

What happened to kids using their imaginations?

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#59
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.

Odds are, they'll want a Toy for Gender. It's not 100% and I would never push my kids to have a particular type of toy, but gender differences are real. I have four kids. I've bought many toys that matched stereotypes and several that didn't match. What surprised me the most was, even when we didn't buy toy guns or swords, my boys turned things into them; and no matter what game was being played (and how violent the…

There are differences, but so much is socialization. I.e. if green were a traditional girls' colour, and marketed as such, then girly girls would want to play with green toys. Parents would subtly encourage boys not to play with green toys.

Robots etc. are not inherently violent so an interest in / lack of interest in (non-weaponized) robots is better explained by socialization, rather than gender differences, IMHO.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#60
Mixed reaction.

As a father of two daughters, this makes me sick. I'm not a feminist, but I can't stand when people make "things for girls" that are pastel-ly and have ribbons. That does not help them, unless it is clothing or accessories.

To make girls want to play with tinkertoys, you make... tinkertoys. My youngest- she loves guns and trucks. I don't even own a gun or a truck!

Unfortunately, McDonalds sells "girl toys" and "boy toys". That makes me sick too. But they know their market. So- I think it is a good thing. There is a place for almost every toy. Just not with my daughters.

Post reply on HN