I found this image while searching around on the internet, and it really grabbed my attention. As you can see here there is a young girl, who is dressed in 'boy-ish' clothing and is playing with Legos. This magazine ad was published back in 1981, which was when Legos were known as a gender neutral toy, this ad was fairly acceptable. Over the past couple decades, Legos have become more known to be a toy that only boys should be playing with. The main audience of the advertisements for Legos has been directed towards boys in more recent decades. If someone were to find this ad in a magazine today, I'm sure that a lot of controversy would be created over it. In fact, Legos has now even started making its own line of Legos meant just for girls. These Legos come with kitchen sets, and feminine looking Lego people. A huge gender barrier is being created here.
Legos were originally created as a mean of play for children of any gender. The toy is a way for children to learn about themselves by creating whatever comes to their ever expanding mind. Playing is how kids learn to express themselves. Gender is what a person thinks themselves to be. In order to learn about themselves, kids need to be able to freely express themselves, which is done greatly through play. Here we have an adorable little girl, who isn't dressed in frilly clothes, or playing with dolls. She is playing with Legos. She isn't being defined and restricted to only doing 'girly' things. She is proud of herself for building something that she feels is special. Today, so many parents try to modify how their children behave by dressing their kids to look a certain gender, buying toys meant to a specific gender, and making them act in a particular way. These body practices restrict a lot of freedom of expression for kids. I believe that this ad argues that children need to be able to express themselves without specific gender restrictions to find happiness in themselves. Today it seems to be so important that there is a boy, and girl version of toys. Truly though, is that what we need? I think that this ad covers things well. When this ad was first published I am sure that people probably hardly even though twice about the fact this girl isn't dressed in pink. Today, this article would get a lot of negative attention because of the gender mindset people have now.
Wow great ad! I haven't seen anything like this and it certainly grabbed my attention (I don't know if it is cause of the vintage filter it has on it or simply the fact a girl in overalls is a lego spokesman). I personally think legos are pretty gender neutral, or at least they are the most gender neutral toy that parents can buy these days. I played with legos when I was little and it was often something my guy friends and I agreed on to play with during recess. I congratulate you on the fact on pointing out how the girl is dressed. I find it very interesting how a culture can steer and direct the progression of a manufactured goods' future with placing discourses developed within a society. Legos, like you pointed out, originally gender neutral, have become distinct gender separated toys. You have the Star Wars themed lego set (intentionally sold for boys) and the Disney and shopping mall lego themed lego set (intentionally sold for girls). It does seem like we are placing gender roles and the pressure of whats acceptable and what is inappropriate for kids at a young age. What we need are more "yellow colored" toys for children to begin with. (Yellow is typically a gender neutral color parents paint bedrooms before they know the sex of the baby)
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