Uproar over new Lego Friends sets

So, I've been hearing (well, mostly reading online.. and making myself) a lot of fussing especially from mostly Adult Fans of Lego (aka AFOL) about the new Lego brand "Friends" line that is targeted specifically at girls (read what you may into the fact that my biggest problem with it is NOT the gender stereotyping of the activities presented - my biggest issue has to do with functionality of the humanoid figurines. I've always been much more of a nerd than a feminist.). Even given that, I was still surprised to get the following email from change.org - and really bothered by the level of inaccuracy in the claims they make about the product. It concerns me because now I will be questioning the veracity of the claims they make about much more important issues than children's toys (though, as a sociologist-in-training specifically interested in child development and symbolic interactionism, toys are a VERY important issue to me - ESPECIALLY those that are targeted specifically to one traditional stereotype subset of gender).

The text of the email was:

Tell LEGO: Stop marketing sexist toys to girls Dear Ahmie, Iconic toy brand LEGO recently launched a new line of toys meant just for girls -- but two young women, Bailey Shoemaker-Richards and Stephanie Cole, think the products are unfairly "dumbed down" for girls. The new line is called LadyFigs, and it's made up ofbusty, pastel-colored figurines that come with interests like shopping, hair-dressing, and lounging at the beach. The uninspired toys even come with pre-assembled environments -- so there is no assembly (or imagination) required. Bailey and Stephanie say they're frustrated that LEGO is pushing outdated gender roles on girls and cheating them of the opportunity to build and discover. So they took to the internet, blogging about what they call the new "Barbielicious" LEGOs andpetitioning the toy company to lose the sexist LadyFigs line and go back to empowering both boys and girls with its original products. Click here to sign Bailey and Stephanie's petition today. LEGO hasn't always thought its toys were only for boys. In the 1980s, the company was actually celebrated for a major advertising campaign that spotlighted a young girl and her LEGO creation with the tagline "What it is is beautiful." But since then, LEGO reversed course and decided to market its products only to boys. The company claims its research shows girls just don't appreciate the original LEGO line. But Bailey and Stephanie argue that with LEGO's renewed emphasis on boys -- featuring only boys in its ads and stocking products in the boys' aisles of toy stores -- it's no wonder young girls wouldn't think LEGOs were meant for them. Bailey and Stephanie's fight to get LEGO to return to its gender-neutral toys is already making waves, with the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Time weighing in on the issue. But LEGO is stubbornly holding its ground and told Business Week that the LadyFigs launch is a "strategic" move to "reach the other 50 percent of the world's children," as if girls have never been part of LEGO's focus. Public pressure can prove LEGO wrong. If enough people sign Bailey and Stephanie's petition, it could convince LEGO that the new LadyFigs are bad business and the company should return its focus to empowering boys AND girls with toys that inspire creativity and innovation. Tell LEGO to stop selling out girls -- sign Bailey and Stephanie's petition today. Thanks for being a change-maker, - Shelby and the Change.org team

My reply (which I suspect may have gone to an unmonitored email address - I didn't research who to reach Shelby specifically yet and am unlikely to get a chance to tonight - hopefully I will remember to do so tomorrow) was:

I don't know if this message will ever be read, but I feel the need - as an Adult Female Fan of Legos and mother of three sons ages 7 and under, to clarify some inaccuracies in your email.

First, the sets do NOT come pre-assembled. Basic investigation reveals that they are full of standard bricks in addition to the human-esque figurine. The other parts are standard Lego products, and work fine with any of the other sets they've made in the last 30 years and beyond for the most part. The tools are the same size as standard minifig tools, in fact most of them are actually from the same molds as long-existing parts, just in new colors. The $10 sets have about 80 pieces each, of which only four are the humanoid figurine. Many AFOL (Adult Fans of Lego - gender neutral but mostly males) plan to buy the sets and get rid of the dolls, because the sets themselves are actually quite a nice assortment of parts. The Cafe set will be finding its way into our own expansive Lego village. These sets actually have more complex builds than many of the sets targeted to boys or gender-neutral over the years (many of which are in our own large personal Lego collection). For instance, the Harry Potter series sets often had large prefab wall pieces that offer much less repurposing flexibility than what is in much of these sets (though as a caveat: that's not apples-to-apples entirely, as I have not had chance to examine the most expensive set currently on offer on the Friends line - the house may have the same pre-fab walls like much of the Castle/Kingdom/Harry Potter sets used; I can't tell from pictures). They are comparable in complexity, from all appearances, with the currently offered Superheros line Lego is offering.

Secondly, Lego refers to them as "mini-dolls" not "LadyFigs".

Third, this is just the first few sets to come out. Barbie didn't become a doctor or an astronaut for a LONG time after she hit shelves, I would predict that Lego will be having its Friends in space much sooner (and the new Series 6 Collectible Minifig set features a female surgeon along with the uber-pink blond-bombshell-in-space that I affectionately refer to as "astrobimbo"... baby steps, I guess...). Given that Lego is headquartered in a country that is lightyears ahead of the US in pretty much every indicator of social inequalities (I say this as a sociologist-in-training), I trust them to advance the cause of women pretty rapidly. The "Olivia" character seems a pretty competent budding scientist with a well-stocked personal lab (including microscope) in which she appears to have built her own robot, "Mia" with a little imagination becomes an animal rights activist, and "Emma" has a nice complex design studio that is NOT dumbed-down (yes, she appears to be designing fashions, but swap out the "whiteboard" piece - it is a standard shape available without the printing on it - and she could be a budding architect with the rest of the stuff in the $10 set... this would be the ONE time I am sorry to NOT have had a sticker instead of a pre-printed brick come out of the box).

As for Lego being in the "boys" part of stores, every Target and Toys R Us I have been in in the last decade has a "Lego aisle" (if not several) that has nothing but Lego products, many of which I, as a female, have considered as interesting as my husband and other Lego fans in my social circles have.

I do not hold Lego innocent in this at all - I am actually working on an academic research project that will hopefully be a published academic journal article about what I believe are the REAL roots of the "lack of affection" girls have for the standard minifigs - number one problem being the horrible gender imbalance in the Lego Minifig population (it's less than 20% female, and the female offerings generally are not as interesting and detailed as the average for the male offerings). I do believe Lego made many missteps in this new Friends line. I am severely irritated that they have less articulation in their joints than the minifigures do (their wrists don't turn, their legs don't move independently, and they can't lean backwards - I do not believe that evolution should reduce functionality) and the shape of the feet is problematic with positioning in relation to built components on baseplates, and they can't sit on the studs/pegs of the bricks and be locked into position like the minifigs can - all of these are functional design problems that they should have solved before going to market if they wanted to prevent the severe negative response they've gotten.

My personal opinion is that the company AND consumer base would have been better served by first bringing the standard minifig population into gender-balance via offering all-female minifig packs (similar to how they offer "battle packs" for various lines), making some new female face and torso designs, and releasing those as well as the already-available minifig hair pieces in every color option through their online pick-a-brick store at minimum (as a box set assortment similar to they have done with "community workers" and the "fairytale figures" sets for retail shelf purchase would be a good move too). THEN work on evolving the minifig - taller, rounder, more humanly shaped like the mini-dolls without losing the functionality of the minifigs, ESPECIALLY if it meant they didn't look somewhat anorexic (I do commend them on giving the mini-dolls a more realistic breast size than many other dolls-with-breasts on the market over the years, but those arms are scary-skinny in relation to the hand size, and the skinniness of the arms is why the physics of a functional wrist don't work). It is the lack of functionality that makes these mini-dolls less appealing to my 7 year old son (who, when given free reign to build three minifigs for $10 at our local Lego store generally goes for female minifig parts without prompting since he knows intuitively that he doesn't have as many of those as the male parts on offer). When looking at the Friends sets on the shelves at our local Target, once he realized they were actually Lego products (he was more confused by them not being in the Lego aisle and mini-dolls than by the actual content of the sets or color of the boxes), he was actually quite interested in playing with them. I have video recorded his initial impression at the store as well as his initial reaction to the mini-dolls themselves, and have his permission to share those publicly.

I will be reposting this message on my blog. I believe more discussion is better, all around, and that nothing is furthered by folks going off on a crusade based upon faulty first impressions.

Thank you for reading.

Ahmie

Mom, writer, Sociology graduate student, and AFOL - amongst other things.

I will be uploading the videos of my eldest child Liam (age 7.5 years) and his reaction to the products shortly and will edit this post to include the link when I do. If you have thoughts to share with me about this, please do so here on my Blogger blog (http://dragonmama.blogspot.com) instead of on Facebook or Google+ or wherever this might be reposted, so that the conversation stays in one place visible to all interested participants.

Ahmie

edit: update - after kids fell asleep I did some googling and sent a @ message on Twitter to ShelbyKnox with a link to this blog post, hopefully she sees it and comes to engage here, if time allows. She sounds like a busy woman.

Reflections on living with a stamina disability

For background, if you haven't read it already, you should read the wonderful "Spoon Theory" that is out there on the internets, written by a woman with Lupus. I'll be referencing it a lot though this post.

This is my first-ever post using the Blogger app on my Android, so if it's glitchy please let me know. If I know people are reading this then maybe I might possibly be encouraged to use more spoons on posting here a bit more often. Or not. My spoon supply is very limited.

Christine, author of Spoon Theory, does a very good job of explaining the stamina issues that come with chronic pain. I. Really wish more healthy people who care about those of us who are disabled would read that post, and review it frequently if needed. Recently I have had community members I care about deeply making demands on spoons that I just do not have to give them. At the moment, I am in the middle of a semester from hell in my graduate program. I barely see my eldest child because he is in full time school during the day, getting out after 3pm, and I have to leave for class by 5:30 three nights a week, to be out past his bedtime. In that scant 2 hours, I need to recover from taking my other son to and from his half-day pre-k and picking them both up (my youngest stays with my caregiver while I stay out of the house between dropping off and picking up my 2nd son -  dropoff is at 12:30 and then I am back in the line for pickup no later than 2:30 even though he doesn't get out until 2:55ish because otherwise I'm too far back in the line to have any hope of getting to my eldest near the time he's dismissed). I have been sleeping poorly due to the stress of school, kids' school issues, husband's school issues, community issues, and general health issues that hit me like clockwork this time of year (quite litterally, I generally feel like a two story tall clocktower may have fallen on me overnight most mornings starting around Autumn Equinox and letting up if I'm lucky sometime before Spring Equinox - this would be why I've been so drawn to the Persephone myth for so long, this has been my reality since some time in elementary school).

I keep trying to explain to people that I need to reserve my stamina, my spoons, for my studies and my children. I haven't been able to work on my novel much for over a month because of other life stuff interfering and taking the little time I have for THAT beloved activity away from me, which means I'm not recharging very well either.

To help people understand, here are a list of things that take one "spoon" worth of energy from me:
§ Going up a flight of stairs OR down two flights of stairs (in other words, I can go downstairs, realized I forgot something, go back up to get it, then back down and I'll have used two spoons)
§ brushing my hair (it's a holding my arms over my head thing - braiding it takes about half a spoon, putting it in a bun maybe a third of a spoon)... This is why I keep my hair long. If I keep it braided, I don't have to brush it as much as I do when it's short. The texture of my hair is such that it tangles very easily when it's loose (which means if you see me wearing my hair down, it's a sign that I think the event is worthy of several spoons above and beyond actually attending).
§ walking approximately 100ft.
§ getting in and out of a vehicle, especially without down-time between (long drives with cruise control on are much less demanding on me than running several errands in a row).
§ sitting in an unpadded chair for an hour (i.e. in class, at a restaurant, pew, my own dinner table...).
§ because I am also dyslexic - reading certain types of text, especially "footed" fonts and certain text sizes, or with columns or tables or other visual tracking distractions - costs about a spoon per hour. The same is not true of reading when I can adjust the font and keep the visual distractions around the text to a miniumum, which is why I am so fond of ebooks on my portable devices - that is a way to recharge and recover spoon for me.
§ washing my hair. I'm not able to do this independantly at this time because my knees, pelvis, and shoulders are all too unstable. I need to sit on a shower chair, which I can't always get into the tub on my own (that will cost me a spoon alone). If I have to stand in the shower, it will be more like 5 spoons and I will likely need several hours to recover to be able to do anything that requires me to be more upright than sitting in a recliner (in otherwords - this turns into Facebook or recharge reading time, or very grumpy Ahmie from being annoyed that she's not getting ANYTHING accomplished time). It also is dependant on temperature control - if one of my kids opens the bathroom door and hits me with a gust of cold air mid-shower, that will cost an extra unexpected spoon (I can't lock the bathroom door because it is very old, just a slide lock, which would prevent someone from being able to come in and help me if I needed assistance getting out or if I were to fall). Not being able to shower at will without having to put a lot of thought into it is something I do kinda resent about my disability.
§ washing a sink full of dishes (though I actually generally enjoy washing dishes, the standing and arm movements are painful).
§ vacuuming, if the floor is already clear of toys and such
§ Standing still on a hard surface, or in shoes, for more than a few minutes (this one generally hits me later and is why I use my scooter at church so much - by the time I realize how long I've been standing while engaged in a good conversation, I've spent almost all my spoons for the day and need a nap).
§ since my right knee went out in June, driving where I need to switch from accelorator to brake pedal frequently such as downtown driving or rush hour costs me about a spoon every 10minutes.
§ cuddling with my kids in a way that keeps me from changing positions for more than about 10min. I always try to keep several spoons reserved for them anyway, or invite them to snuggle me while I'm laying in bed (which recharges spoons instead of costing them, but my day doesn't generally allow me to have enough downtime to fill their snuggle needs that way exclusively, especially with being out past their bedtimes three nights per week)

There are a lot of other little unexpected things that quickly deplete my resources in ways that surprise others (even my husband of 12 years). Personally, I prefer to focus on ways that I gain spoons instead. A few of those are:
§ crocheting... For some reason the movements involved are something I can sustain for extended periods of time, and it's so good for my mental health to have a physical SOMETHING that comes out of it.
§ writing via computer (handwriting is something I avoid as much as possible, it is not worth the spoons with as illegible as my handwriting is). This is anything from participating in an online community via Facebook or email lists, to writing fiction or even non-fiction (but only if the non-fiction doesn't involve having to move around a lot to search out references in physically printed materials - the movements of that drain me quickly). Feeling like I understand others, and that I am understood, is invigorating to me.
§ getting a chance to practice compassion for others instead of always being on the receiving end. This is what I love about my church community so much - I feel called to practice unconditional compassion there... I do wish sometimes that certain members wouldn't make it such a challenge to follow the line of compassion without being taken advantage of and potentially abused...
§ receiving feedback that something I've done has made a positive difference in someone else's life - this of course is made more likely by the above behaviors, but sometimes it comes entirely out of the blue and that random feeling of being valued is so good at recharging me that I try to make sure I give others honest positive feedback as often as I can.  I don't do empty compliments, but if I can give a kind, personal word and brighten someone's day just a little I know how big an impact that has on me personally so I try to do it for others when I'm not too wrapped up in how many spoons I still have compared to how many I would need to get through the rest of what I want to accomplish that day.
§ sleep, of course... Though the restlessness of sleep with chronic pain makes that one a little hit-or-miss... Sometimes a nap will help me recover a few spoons and make it through the rest of the day before bed, sometimes I'm down for the count. I can't generally predict which it will be when I lay down.  And some mornings it takes me close to an hour to really have my body cooperating with the whole getting-out-of-bed-without-falling-on-the-floor concept.
§ caffeine... But this one is dangerous. I love coffee but I can only have caffeine certain times of the day, or I will have even more problems sleeping at night.  On average, it takes about 7 hours for a cup of coffee to wear off enough for me to sleep. Coffee feeds my muse, if I drink it too close to when I need to be asleep, I will feel a near compulsive urge to write as my brain starts getting close to dreaming. I've tried writing in bed to solve that, but that does bad things to my back.
§ problem-solving, but only if the problem is REALLY resolved. Tengram puzzles, troubleshooting a problem (personal, technological, physical, etc - doesn't matter) through to resolution, that kind of stuff leaves me feeling energized. Feeling like stuff is still at loose ends after repeated efforts to solve the problem would be exactly the opposite though, so I am wary of using this one.
§ watching my children play... Unfortunately it doesn't recharge me as fast as some physical environments deplete me, so it's a careful balance too...

I hope this gives some insight into what my life is like... And maybe a little inkling into what life is like for others who have stamina-limiting disabilities (yes, my friends with mental health issues, I mean you too!). If you care to share your own drains and recharges, or ones that you've noted about me that I haven't listed here even, please do. A more full understanding of the world around us is what I'm aiming for here, after all. It recharges me. :)

Symbolic Interactionism (original poem)

meant to post this yesterday when I wrote it but was battling migraines (and still am, I've been hiding in a dark room for the last 6 hours and am too wired up from the caffeine that helps with the migraine pain to have any hope of getting to sleep anytime soon), then more crap hit the fan today that added a few lines to this from a totally different direction. I share this response to the forces that keep trying to hold me down, in hopes that others who feel that they're being held down and back might find it and find strength to push back through my words.

Whoever you are, you are not what others present you to be. You are more than the sum total of their opinions of you. Find your inner core reality, find something to LOVE about yourself, and stand upon that foundation when they try to knock you down. Then go look for that inner core reality worth loving in those around you, help them find it and stand with them. This is the way to real strength, from what I've lived.

Here's the poem:

Symbolic Interactionism

"You're so stubborn" you declared
as if not knowing where
I came from - this dissolution
of dissatisfaction
is not a symptom of mule-headedness.
I cannot confess
upon my knees,
nor begging will you see
for the scraps you've ever thrown my way.
I have put away those days
where I longed for you
and not some substitute
teacher, role model worth
the intentionality of my birth.
Decades of my always being the one
to bring the olive branch home
only to have you turn it into a switch
- the scars still itch
when I forget my self
and allow ghosts to dwell
within my heart crying "if only..."
but that path got too lonely
and I left it long ago
when I decided to blaze my own -
who cares if bridges burn
if they lead nowhere? So I learned
to release my hate, sadness, and resentment.
Now all you are to me is a disappointment,
a distraction from other priorities
that have taken over my loyalties.
Looking my way, you see
what you always wished to be
but you were unwilling to do the work
so resent my reminder of your worth.
I stopped crying for you a lifetime ago,
yet there is one more thing you should know.
When you called me stubborn, you were wrong.
I'm not JUST stubborn, I am strong,
beautiful, intelligent and kind.
And you can no longer claim what's mine.

(started 201110261401 added to 201110272338 - those are date/time marks for the curious YYYYMMDDHHMM)