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"What a load of scientific jargon." "Boooooring! Time to do some baking!"

Amber Thomas

Did anyone else see this? An issue of Lego Friends (a magazine that is targeted at girls aged between 7 - 11), has recently come under fire on twitter and the media. In the comic strip style story, the characters discuss going to a meeting that a (female) researcher is hosting. One says: ‘We won’t be able to just walk right in. A group of girls among researchers – we’ll stick out like sore thumbs.’


The girls decide to dress up as bakers and give out muffins as "nobody will suspect a thing."


"Yay! That means that I can design uniforms for us!" cheers one.


"We can sing songs while we're baking!" cries another.


At the meeting the researcher explains to the assembled audience "It goes without saying that this vision of the city's future requires a substantial amount of energy which should be generated with a combination of flux compression and solar power"


"What a load of scientific jargon." says one of the characters.


"Booooring! Time to do some baking!" says another.


"But that 3D model is shining so beautifully!" comments a third.


"I thought it was super-interesting! Innovative technology!" says the bespectacled character with STEM interests, before adding "Huh, OK, if you say so..." as they all go off to bake.

This is from the December 2019 issue.


A spokesperson for Lego said: ‘We believe that LEGO play is for everyone and our magazines should reflect that. With this story, we were trying to show that girls have lots of different interests and passions including science and STEM but we appreciate that some of the language we used missed the mark this time and we apologise. ‘We will certainly learn from this and do better in future.’


So do Lego get points for having a female researcher? Or for having a story about STEM topics in the first place? Or is that overshadowed by the conversations and attitudes portrayed by their main characters? I haven't seen the whole magazine so I'm hoping that there is some sort of a twist before the story ended, but the wording used certainly raises some questions! What are your thoughts? Would you want your 7-11 year old daughters/nieces reading this?



Follow the comments on Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/lettoysbetoys/status/1207238891033518080 or read more here: https://metro.co.uk/2019/12/18/lego-kids-magazine-branded-sexist-saying-girls-stick-among-scientists-11927086/


  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    What fresh hell is this?!
  • 0
    I read the articles about this and thought.... well I can't write what I actually thought as this forum's profanity filter would kick in... ?


    I really can't understand why, when there are those that are trying soooo very hard to elevate women in the workplace and in society that there are those who are happy to put us right back into our gender stereotypical roles. The perpetrators are not only men but other women as well!


    I saw this in one of my social media feeds this morning so thought I'd snaffle and share here. 

    e45fc4f89dd253519419eeed391149c5-huge-be-the-woman.jpg

  • 0
    Wish we can just allow everyone to be themselves...for heaven's sake, just be you, yourself and be happy.
  • 0
    I was speaking to a friend about the Lego Friends magazine thing, and she told me about another Lego Magazine story, this time from earlier in 2019, from "Lego City" magazine ("Full of puzzles, comics, posters and competitions, Lego City is perfect for any kids who are crazy about Lego. It comes with a free Lego gift to continue building up their collection and is choc full of Lego adventures inside"). Someone noticed that of the 29 people who speak in the magazine's April issue, only one is female. She speaks once, to agree with a man ("Yes, let's do this!")

    The person who noticed this was 4 years old! 


    Here's hoping that 2020 is the year for better representation (for all!) and that 4 year olds don't have to keep pointing these things out to adults who should know better!


    Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/lego-magazine-female-characters-letter-girl-twitter-sexism-samuel-west-a8875786.html
  • 0

    Abimbola Akanwo-Hood:

    Wish we can just allow everyone to be themselves...for heaven's sake, just be you, yourself and be happy.




     

    Abi,

    Everyone can of course be themselves. However, organisations sending out messages about how girls and boys think and behave have a responsibility to society. I'm afraid that these message sent out to girls and boys, and parents, and anyone else that reads them, will set expectations of what girls like and how they are expected to behave and how society should view them. So I'm afraid I disagree, strongly, about what we should expect from these companies and the messages they send. Lego is particularly surprising since their advertising used to be neutral, with little girls and boys looking so delighted at building weird and unusual structures from the toy. Now, we have a pink branded set of Friends Lego (with nail bars and other lovely lady things) and the magazine was just shocking sexism.

    All these little subtle messages make a difference and tell girls their little pink brains shouldn't be worried with difficult likes engineering and should just focus on baking a cake.


    Maria

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