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GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

kickstarter.com

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Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#71

Post by bengoodger »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #58
vessenes wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I see the sets as a way of defining constraint, i.e. establishing what an approved construction standard is. It then becomes possible for someone with extra bricks to invent a new model that fits in with the same scale/standards. Look at the fan-created models that scale to the modular building standard established by the Cafe Corner/Greengrocer sets for example. Sometimes a set of reasonable constraints leads to more creativity than there would be in a completely open environment.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#73

Post by sanswork »

no_more_death wrote: post #69
sanswork wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even with the sets there is still learning involved in lego or at least skill/work involved for some(the same people with the imagination before I would imagine). I'm young enough that I grew up with lego sets(actually I grew up with construx and built many a string controlled robot with them!) my favourites were the pirates ones and I still have them in a big box at my parents house. The lego sets I had came with a…

The big problem is the movie-themed sets where all the children do is reconstruct scenes from a movie, instead of using their imagination to create novel scenes.

I still wouldn't call that a waste though anymore than I'd call model building a waste. They may not be using their imagination but that does not mean they aren't learning or developing other skills.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#74

Post by icebraining »

binaryseed wrote: post #70

I think this very in depth look at the history of gender targeting in Legos will help anyone think through these tough issues... http://www.feministfrequency.com/2012/01/lego-gender-part-1-... A key critique of what Legos have become is that they enforce oppressive gender roles - boys build fire trucks; girls build hair salons - and that goes much deeper than the color of the blocks. To my eyes, this toy looks empowe…

How could Lego gone so wrong. In 1981: http://www.thekidworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Leg...

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#75

Post by peteretep »

mkramlich wrote: post #54

Now if we could solve the other great crime against humanity: why aren't there more dressup dolls and baby toys aimed at boys? That gender-biased oppression has got to end.

Have you thought about writing to the Lego corp and suggesting inch-high dolls? You could give them things like interchangeable heads and hair, or even legs. Maybe even tiny little hands that can grip on to things? I guess you could even do them themed ... pirates, knights, soldiers. Amazed Lego have never considered doing miniature dress up dolls for boys before. You could call them ... Hrm ... Lego Men?

But I guess that's not all! Think about all the fun people could have with dress up soldiers! "Men of Action", or, gee, "Joe who's a GI". You could give him a whole range of accessories and outfits and and and...

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#76

Post by vidarh »

icebraining wrote: post #74
binaryseed wrote: post #70

I think this very in depth look at the history of gender targeting in Legos will help anyone think through these tough issues... http://www.feministfrequency.com/2012/01/lego-gender-part-1-... A key critique of what Legos have become is that they enforce oppressive gender roles - boys build fire trucks; girls build hair salons - and that goes much deeper than the color of the blocks. To my eyes, this toy looks empowe…

How could Lego gone so wrong. In 1981: http://www.thekidworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Leg...

They've gone so "wrong" because they've been chasing sales. And it's working - the newest "Lego Friends" range is massively outselling their expectations.

So don't blame Lego - they're not the ones deciding what people actually want to buy.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#77

Post by justinhj »

sanswork wrote: post #73
no_more_death wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big problem is the movie-themed sets where all the children do is reconstruct scenes from a movie, instead of using their imagination to create novel scenes.

I still wouldn't call that a waste though anymore than I'd call model building a waste. They may not be using their imagination but that does not mean they aren't learning or developing other skills.

They are learning to follow instructions. Sure that's a useful skill, but 98% of school is teaching them that. What the more open ended lego kits teach is that you are free to create things constrained only by your imagination and the bricks you have. That surely is far more valuable than reconstructing a movie scene and having it gather dust on a shelf.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#78

Post by modernerd »

GoldieBlox is exactly the sort of project that Kickstarter should be used for. Stories like, "I'm a talented engineer who's identified a real problem and used my life savings to develop a prototype that could fix it; I've tested it rigorously and gotten great feedback. Now I just need your cash to put in my first order of 5,000 sets." are easy to get behind.

Stories like "We've got an idea that seems pretty neat, and we'd like your cash to help us support ourselves while we flesh it out a bit; without your money we'll probably just make a few sacrifices, live a little less comfortably, and build it in our spare time anyway." are harder to rally behind.

Both of the female engineers I know got into engineering because their parents were engineers. It would be great to see people with more diverse sources of inspiration entering the field, and toys like GoldieBlox could be a great step in this direction.

Re: GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

#79

Post by mkramlich »

peteretep wrote: post #75
mkramlich wrote: post #54

Now if we could solve the other great crime against humanity: why aren't there more dressup dolls and baby toys aimed at boys? That gender-biased oppression has got to end.

Have you thought about writing to the Lego corp and suggesting inch-high dolls? You could give them things like interchangeable heads and hair, or even legs. Maybe even tiny little hands that can grip on to things? I guess you could even do them themed ... pirates, knights, soldiers. Amazed Lego have never considered doing miniature dress up dolls for boys before. You could call them ... Hrm ... Lego Men? But I guess…

Dressup dolls != action figures or LEGO figs.

By dressup dolls I thought I clearly conveyed the idea of dolls whose design and accessories are all about dressing them up with clothing, makeup and fashion accessories. Not guns. Not tools. Not Batman-like gadgets/vehicles. Dressup dolls. Think Barbie dolls. The point being that dressup dolls and babies appeals to a large percentage of (but not necessarily all) actual real-life girls whereas action figures and guns appeal to a large percentage of (but not necessarily all) actual real-life boys. But you don't see people complaining about the lack of the latter for girls.

"Why aren't there more toy Glocks marketed for girls like my little Suzy?" - a concerned suburban mom, nowhere

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