Hey Lego, say 'yes' to that female-scientist minifig setBy Amanda KooserLego says it wants to appeal to girls, so Crave writer Amanda Kooser asks the company togive the green light to a female-scientist set it's considering.Last week, a letter from 7-year-old Charlotte Benjamin addressed to the Lego company garnered a lot ofattention and became a social-media sensation. So, what did Charlotte have to say that attracted suchinterest? She took Lego to task for skewing its products toward boys."I love Legos but I don't like that there are more Lego boypeople and barely any Lego girls," the young Lego fan wrote.She also shares her observations that Lego girl toys just go tothe beach and have no jobs, while Lego boy toys get to go onadventures, save people, and swim with sharks.Charlotte has a point. This is not a new issue when it comesto Lego, but it's worth revisiting.Lego added its own response to the gender toy discussion,287 She Culture CRT: Genderization
titled "Lego Group commentary on its Female Lego Minifigures offering." It reads, "We believe that Legoplay appeals to children of both genders and all ages." It continues with, "Lego play has often been moreappealing to boys, but we have been very focused on including more female characters and themes thatinvite even more girls to build, and in the last few years, we are thrilled that we have dramatically increasedthe number of girls who are choosing to build."Lego acknowledges its preponderance of male characters and gives shout-outs to a few of its femalecharacters. Here's the thing. Lego has an opportunity to really back this statement up. There's a relevantproject on the CUUSOO site, a fan-oriented community where builders can share custom sets, gather votes,and have a chance at their projects turning into real Lego kits.The project is a female minifigure set currently under review for possible production. It has nothing to dowith beaches or the color pink. It's a set of female scientists, including an astronomer, a paleontologist, anda laboratory worker. It's a bunch of ladies doing awesome science stuff, just like real women scientists. Thedesigns were created by CUUSOO user "Alatariel" back in 2012, but just recently entered Lego's officialreview process.Related storiesLego finally releases a female-scientist minifigGender-bending Lego ad remixer mashes up ninjas, puppiesLego for girls: Wait, what?Lego Bill Murray prayers answered: 'Ghostbusters' set comingLego already has a token Erlenmeyer flask-toting female-scientist minifig, Professor C. Bodin. The professorcould really use some company.On behalf of Charlotte, girls, women, men, and boys everywhere, I'm asking Lego to get off the fence andmake the decision to produce the female-scientist set. I'm pledging my dollars to go out and buy it as soonas it hits shelves, and I'm betting I'm not the only one.Lego was a big part of my childhood. My brother and I built whole cities and societies together.Interestingly enough, we rarely played with minifigs. Instead, we created our own creatures. They all hadstandard shapes, but they were pretty much gender-neutral. They weren't slotted into predefined roleswhere boy figures got to fight battles and girl figures got to sit in a cafe sipping skinny mocha latte frappes.Imagination should have free reign in the Lego realm. But, sometimes, like for Charlotte, we want toys wecan relate to.288 She Culture CRT: Genderization
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