{"id":46788,"date":"2012-05-22T11:31:45","date_gmt":"2012-05-22T16:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/?p=46788"},"modified":"2017-09-17T14:54:21","modified_gmt":"2017-09-17T19:54:21","slug":"part-iii-historical-perspective-on-the-lego-gender-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2012\/05\/22\/part-iii-historical-perspective-on-the-lego-gender-gap\/","title":{"rendered":"Part III: Historical Perspective on the LEGO Gender Gap"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessweek.com\/magazine\/lego-is-for-girls-12142011.html\">splashy introduction<\/a>\u00a0of the new LEGO friends line earlier this year\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424052970203513604577143034143271506.html\">stirred up a lot of controversy<\/a>. My goal with this set of posts is to provide some historical perspective for the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.themarysue.com\/legos-for-girls-a-reprise\/\">valid concerns<\/a>\u00a0raised in this heated debate.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This is Part III, see also:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2012\/05\/08\/part-i-historical-perspective-on-the-lego-gender-gap\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Part I: The Brick Era (1932-1977) and\u00a0The Golden Era (1978-1988)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2012\/05\/15\/part-ii-historical-perspective-on-the-lego-gender-gap\/\">Part II:\u00a0Gender Ahoy! (1989-2003)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>2004-2011: Lean LEGO Fighting Machine<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As discussed in <a href=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2012\/05\/15\/part-ii-historical-perspective-on-the-lego-gender-gap\/\">Part II<\/a>, between 1989 and 2003, LEGO had introduced a stream of lines aimed specifically at girls.\u00a0 None were particularly successful and the company was in trouble.\u00a0 So, what next?<\/p>\n<p>Those of us who follow every move TLG makes are well familiar with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/home\/moslive\/article-1234465\/When-Lego-lost-head--toy-story-got-happy-ending.html\">the company\u2019s near collapse in 2004<\/a> and subsequent renaissance. This is a really important moment for our story, because this is the year when TLG stopped being a family run business and brought in a non-Kristiansen CEO, Jorgen Vig Knudstorp. With Knudstorp\u2019s arrival came a change in philosophy. Quoted from the DailyMail article linked above:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Instead of &#8220;nurturing the child&#8221; &#8211; as Knudstorp puts it &#8211; [employees&#8217;] primary goal now had to be, &#8220;I am here to make money for the company.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I, like many LEGO fans, am very grateful for what Knudstorp did to save and revitalize the company. The post-2004 era has seen a flourishing of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/browse\/themes\/?theme=Large%20Scale%20Models\">LEGO<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/browse\/themes\/?theme=Architecture\">themes<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/browse\/themes\/?theme=Town&amp;subtheme=Modular%20Buildings\">and<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/detail\/?set=10193-1\">sets<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/detail\/?set=10210-1\">aimed<\/a> at advanced builders. The LEGO minifig has been injected with more\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/browse\/themes\/?theme=Collectable%20Minifigures\">personality and variety<\/a>\u00a0than ever before. However, part of TLG\u2019s new strategy also involved abandoning efforts the girl market and focusing exclusively on boys.<\/p>\n<p>Abandoning schlock like Belville and Clikits is not a bad thing, but the push toward conflict and hyper-masculinity in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/browse\/themes\/?theme=Castle&amp;subtheme=Fantasy%20Era\">classic<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/browse\/themes\/?theme=Space&amp;subtheme=Space%20Police%203\">themes<\/a>\u00a0(and a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/browse\/themes\/?theme=Ninjago\">whole<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/browse\/themes\/?theme=Power%20Miners\">host<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/browse\/themes\/?theme=Vikings\">of<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/browse\/themes\/?theme=Dino%20Attack\">new<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/browse\/themes\/?theme=Agents\">ones<\/a>) made LEGOLAND inhospitable for femininity. \u00a0Here are a couple more telling quotes from the Daily Mail article:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>As always with Lego, this [action-oriented theme] was developed at every stage&#8230; with the help of focus groups, mostly comprising boys aged between six and 12.<\/p>\n<p>In this new world focused on profit, the company sees no shame in admitting that, like it or not, what most excites little boys is conflict.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Which is to say,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/browse\/themes\/?theme=City\">LEGO City<\/a>\u00a0is not the tranquil place\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brickset.com\/browse\/themes\/?theme=Town\">LEGO Town<\/a>\u00a0was.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2012\/05\/61.png\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-46878\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2012\/05\/61.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"573\" height=\"302\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Notice the substantial hike in the m\/f ratio in 2007. This ratio had been gradually approaching 1 throughout the 90s, but jumped back up to 1992 levels in 2007 (male\/female ratio = 8).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2012\/04\/38.png\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-1\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-46798\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2012\/04\/38.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"346\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2012\/04\/38.png 600w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2012\/04\/38-500x309.png 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 346px) 100vw, 346px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Girls also disappeared from LEGO commercials and marketing collateral. LEGO produced a series of commercials encouraging fathers and sons to build together; the utter lack of anything similar for girls sends a clear message about who is expected to play with LEGO, it has entirely entered the masculine domain. With girls being actively excluded from TLG\u2019s marketing efforts it&#8217;s no surprise that we see such a low percentage playing with them now.<\/p>\n<p>In the <a href=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2012\/05\/29\/part-iv-historical-perspective-on-the-lego-gender-gap\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">final installment of this series<\/a>, I\u2019ll offer my perspective on the controversy over the new line aimed at girls, LEGO Friends.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>David Pickett is a social media marketer by day and a LEGO animator by night.\u00a0 He is fanatical about LEGO and proud to be a nerd. Read more from David at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/thinkingbrickly.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Thinking Brickly<\/a>.<\/p>\n<span class=\"ft_signature\"><em><a href=\"http:\/\/lisa-wade.com\/\">Lisa Wade, PhD<\/a> is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/American-Hookup-New-Culture-Campus\/dp\/039328509X?ie=UTF8&amp;*Version*=1&amp;*entries*=0\">American Hookup<\/a><em>, a book about college sexual culture; a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Gender-Interactions-Institutions-Lisa-Wade\/dp\/0393931072?ie=UTF8&amp;*Version*=1&amp;*entries*=0\">textbook about gender<\/a>; and a forthcoming introductory text: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/lisa-wade.com\/intro\/\">Terrible Magnificent Sociology<\/a><em>.\u00a0You can follow her on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lisawade\">Twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/lisawadephd\/\">Instagram<\/a>.<\/em><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0splashy introduction\u00a0of the new LEGO friends line earlier this year\u00a0stirred up a lot of controversy. My goal with this set of posts is to provide some historical perspective for the\u00a0valid concerns\u00a0raised in this heated debate.\u00a0 This is Part III, see also: Part I: The Brick Era (1932-1977) and\u00a0The Golden Era (1978-1988) Part II:\u00a0Gender Ahoy! (1989-2003) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[55,2102,253,1711],"class_list":["post-46788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gender","tag-gender-history","tag-history","tag-toysgames"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46788"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71525,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46788\/revisions\/71525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}