Tumbling about on the internet, I came across a great post in which someone I don’t know expounded on the topic why I’m a feminist. As a child, this lover of Legos was distraught by the ratio of male to female Lego people.
And so, a letter was dispatched pointing out the disparity and suggesting some gender parity. The story goes:
So she [the author’s mother] helped me write a letter to Lego explaining that I was girl who loved Legos, and that I had many other female friends who loved Legos, and well darn it we wanted more girl Legos in our sets!
I didn’t know it, but I was a little feminist back then by starting to put women into a conversation and a context they’d been left out of. (FYI: Lego send me back a personalized and hand signed letter kindly explaining that their sales showed that boys buy Legos far more often than girls, so the figures that come with the sets reflect that. But, they apologized for my feelings of alienation and sent me a load of free Lego ladies, which quickly replaced the hoards of Lego men I had.)
I recall Legos being fairly gender-neutral when I was into them, which was probably a function of the fact that they were not as often cross-branded with movies, cartoons, and other toys. Then again, I certainly played with medieval and pirate Legos, and I can guarantee you that there weren’t many pirate women on the ship.
I am very fond of the sweat equity of the Lego delivery people, so much so that I will not quibble with the fact that the distinguishing feature seems to be, apart from long hair, gigantic red lips:
Photo courtesy of RobethK from Flickr
I’m not entirely sure what to think about Lego Geisha, however:
Photo courtesy of Alicia Guerrero Vanevery a.k.a. TX JOE MAMA on Flickr
I am completely in favor of “mathematical genius/pioneer computer programmer Ada Lovelace” Lego.* Plus, she gets a gun! Or proton zapper! (I’m not up on my Lovelace & Babbage comics, so please pardon me if I get her weapon wrong):
Photo courtesy of Alan a.k.a. Kaptain Kobold on Flickr
*Ada Lovelace was an actual historical woman who wrote was is considered to be the first computer program. In the early 19th century. Look it up!
nonsequiteuse 