January 2, 2012

The LEGO Gender Gap: A Historical Perspective


Why does all the girls have to buy pink stuff?

Even a child can see something is wrong in our toy stores. The gender gap* that frustrates Riley in the above video does more than tell her which toys it socially appropriate for her to play with, it separates her from a whole realm of experience - masculinity. As Riley grows older and decides what sort of person she wants to be, she will encounter this gap again and again. While crossing the gender gap is not impossible, it is difficult and doing so risks stigma and ostracism, just ask the boy who dressed up as Daphne or the girl with the Star Wars water bottle. The gender gap is evident in nearly every aspect of our society, but one of the first and most striking examples is toy choice



The LEGO Gender Gap: A Historical Perspective

Last month’s splashy introduction of the new LEGO** friends line has stirred up a lot of controversy. My goal with this article is to provide some historical perspective for the valid concerns raised in this heated debate. First, I will trace the history of the LEGO Group (TLG) and its various attempts to market products based on gender (of which, LEGO Friends is neither the first nor the most egregious.) Second, I will analyse the LEGO Friends sets and the arguments levelled against them with both empirical and anecdotal evidence. Finally, I will suggest courses of action for those who want to do something about reducing the gender gap in LEGO products, toy stores, and culture at large. My focus throughout will be on TLG’s marketing images and the human-like figures included in LEGO sets. Some are content to ignore these aspects to focus on the LEGO bricks in Friends, but these elements are the crux of the complaints leveled against LEGO Friends so we have to talk about them if we are interested in having an honest debate about this issue.

1932-1977: The Brick Era

The LEGO Group started as a family business with the motto “only the best is good enough.” The company produced primarily wooden toys for the first two decades of its existence. It wasn’t until 1958 that the iconic LEGO brick was patented as we know it today. LEGO bricks were originally marketed as toys for both boys and girls. The 60s saw the introduction of new elements to the LEGO system like wheels, windows and hinges. Marketing images*** from this era tend to feature boys and girls equally.

In the 70s we encounter the first LEGO theme marketed specifically at girls: Homemaker. The sets aren’t very different from the rest of the products offered at that time (there’s some bricks and you build stuff), but the pictures of smiling girls (sorry boys!) playing with the sets clearly mark them as "girls only." Homemaker sets are clearly meant to be furniture for dolls. Dolls are probably the oldest toy in existence, so finding ways to integrate the LEGO experience into this existing model of play was a shrewd business strategy for TLG. The desire to integrate dolls and LEGO will be a recurring theme. At this point I want to address an argument that could be used to defend TLG's stereotypical marketing. The idea that only girls play with dolls doubtlessly existed before the LEGO Homemaker sets, so one can argue that TLG is just being smart by marketing these sets to girls. Here's the problem with that argument, as free actors we are all responsible for the consequences of our actions as individuals or corporations  So even if we didn't start it, when we perpetuate a stereotype, we are responsible for spreading it. So whatever the business rationale, and however slight the marketing bias TLG is responsible for the clear message sent by the LEGO Homemaker sets: the house is the domain of the feminine. 

The 70s also saw TLG experimenting with different types of human-like figures. The first figures (sometimes called maxifigs to contrast with their later mini brethren) were built from regular LEGO bricks and new head pieces. These appeared in a line of sets with the uninspired name “LEGO Building Sets with People.” These line as a whole was marketed at both boys and girls, but some sets were more targeted. Co-existing for a brief period with the maxifig was a proto-minifigure. Then in 1978 the minifigure (minifig) first appeared as we know it today, and after an awkward period of co-existence with the maxifigs became the standard for tiny plastic people. The minifig is now as iconic as the LEGO brick and equally important in defining the LEGO brand, over the years has tried to introduce other types of figures, but none of them have the staying power of the minifig.


1978-1988: The Golden Era

For a decade LEGO minifigs existed in a gender neutral utopia. One can argue that the hairstyles are slightly gendered, but keep in mind that unisex hairstyles were all the rage at the time. When people talk about wanting to get back to the “good old days” of LEGO, this is generally the decade they are referring to. The LEGO Town, Space, and Castle sets from this time are classics. In the LEGO fan community there are even some fervent Neoclassicists.

In response to the LEGO Friends launch a lot of people have been passing around this image from 1981 as a call for a return to a simpler time (don’t miss the other two images from the same ad campaign.) The clever juxtaposition of this poster-girl with the line “the greatest concern for girls really was beauty” from the Businessweek article is apt and richly ironic. Some of that irony is unintentional though and only becomes clear when you consider what else TLG was doing when this ad ran in 1981. Not only were the “LEGO building sets with people” still promoting gendered play but LEGO had yet another “girls only” theme and a couple “boys only” themes as well.

The short-lived Scala Jewelry theme is a major deviation from the core LEGO product line. There is virtually no building in these sets, they are completely superficial - a triumph of style over substance. Contrast this with Technic, which is all substance and no style. These complicated sets (originally called Expert builder sets) are clearly for boys. Boys also seem to have taken over LEGO trains. It’s great that TLG provides a range of products for builders of all skill levels, but why is it that the products for girls are always on the low-skill side of the spectrum and the high-skill side always reserved for boys?


1989-2003: Gender Ahoy!

1989 marked the introduction of the Pirates themes which gave minifigs more facial options than the standard smiley face for the first time ever. While faces in later years would add variety (freckles, glasses, scars) while remaining gender neutral, this first batch of faces was highly gendered. The masculine figs sported copious facial hair and the lone feminine pirate had lipstick and a curved shirt that implied a busty chest. This pioneering pirate was the first in a long line of token females in otherwise male-dominated action-centric themes.
1989: m/f = 13.5

To chart the genderization of the minifg from 1989 to the present, I tallied**** the identifiably feminine and masculine minifigs across all sets for certain key years. The following graphs represent masculine minifigs in blue, feminine minifigs in red, and gender neutral minifigs in gray. I have also calculated the masculine to feminine ratio (m/f ratio) for each year (rounded to two decimal places). Ideally this should be 1, indicating that there are equal number of masculine and feminine figures. In 1989 it is pretty far from that ideal at 13.5.



1992: m/f = 8.6
In 1992 gendered faces spread from the Pirate theme into Town Castle and Space sets. Though the basic smiley face co-existed with the stylized faces for years, now it only shows up in vintage collections and expensive sets aimed at older LEGO fans. A modern version of the smiley appeared following TLG’s near collapse in 2004 but is strictly relegated to basic building sets and the City theme. The five feminine figures in 1992 are all thanks to the next “girls only” theme: Paradisa.

Paradisa is an anomaly in many respects. A subtheme of town, this island resort theme is the only “girls only” theme that uses standard minifigs. Of all the themes I investigated it is the one with a m/f ratio closest to 1. It is relatively well respected by LEGO fans and I personally have fond memories of it. What’s good about using standard minifigs is that unlike many other "girls only" themes, Paradisa feels like part of LEGOLAND. The pastel color scheme is excusable because tropical resorts are one place pink architecture actually exists in the real world. Paradisa isn’t without its problems though.
Paradisa (all years): m/f = .64

The building experience in Paradisa is simplified compared to other LEGO sets released the same year. Compare the Sand Dollar Cafe with Wolf Pack Tower. The m/f ratio may be close to one, but the percentage of neutral figs is incredibly low, so playing with Paradisa reinforces the either/or of gender roles. Also, most of the figures clearly depicted as having jobs in Paradisa are masculine. In Paradisa, men are butlers, chefs, ice cream men, and life guards. Women mostly relax, surf, and go horseback riding. Overall, Paradisa isn’t perfect, but considering the "girls only" themes that followed, it’s no wonder fans are petitioning for its return.

1994: m/f = 4.36
1994 brought cleavage to LEGOLAND when the Pirates encountered the Islanders, while the pastel islands of Paradisa continued to fulfill little girls' (and boys') fantasies of escaping the hustle and bustle of LEGO town. But just outside the borders of LEGOLAND a pink shadow was overtaking the land. Imagine yourself in the place of the Paradisa figure in that picture (from the cover of a "girls only" product catalog) and the horror you would feel encountering a family of giants with vacant eyes and limbs that are infinitely more flexible than yours. I imagine this photo is taken right before she turns around and gallops back to Paradisa to warn everyone of the giants. She searches for a word to fully express the horror and finding all existing words lacking she invents a new one: Belville. The crowd of minifigs gathered around her shudders and looks to the sky which grows pinker by the minute.

Belville (all years): m/f = .04
With a final set still lingering in LEGO’s online store, Belville is the longest running "girls only" theme and also the pinkest, most gender-imbalanced (see graph), and gender stereotype reinforcing. The classic building experience is barely present; the sets favor gigantic pre-fabricated “walls” and floors, and the completed “houses” and other buildings don’t even look like their real-life counterparts. As previously noted, the creepy figures are completely out of scale with minifgs, so while it is possible to use pieces from Belville in LEGOLAND and vice versa, it is unrealistic unless recreating the “Drink Me” scene from Alice in Wonderland. Further, while most of the “male” figures are delightfully androgynous, the females are excessively feminized. What’s even more disturbing than this being what TLG peddled to girls for a decade and a half, is that it sold well enough to last that long.

At best, Belville was a wonderful source of accessories and unique colors for LEGO maniacs, highly articulated figures for Brickfilmers (click here for some shameless self promotion), and surrealist tableaus for the art admirer in all of us. At worst, it was schlock that pandered to girls and cordoned them off in a separate universe from LEGOLAND and a terrible dilution of the LEGO brand (every Belville piece has LEGO printed on it like any other.) I have no doubt that there are some people who love Belville (I’ve met a few), and I am not trying to rain on their parade; I believe everyone should love what they love and no one else should try to make them feel bad about it. That being said, no one can deny the message that Belville sends to children about gender - certain things are for girls only. Namely: fairy tales, equestrianism, the color pink, vanity, and being a homemaker. Boys shouldn’t want these things and the girls that don’t are lesser for it.

1997: m/f = 3.67
1997 brought Americans Indians to LEGOLAND (though not for the first time), which has interesting racial implications that I’d like to dissect some in a future post, but for our current topic, this is interesting because it means that the relationship between LEGOLAND and the real world is changing. The minifig has always been a caricature of the human form. While the minifig was originally non-specific and meant to represent anyone, over time TLG starts to create minifigs of specific groups and individuals which makes the gender representation issues murkier. Is TLG responsible for gender imbalances and gender roles represented in their toys when they reflect the world as it actually is or was? Yes, see my earlier comment about the responsibility of free actors.

1999: m/f = 2.16
That murkiness gets even murkier in 1999 when LEGO starts down the very lucrative path of creating movie-tie in themes with LEGO Star Wars. Is it TLG’s fault that most of the movie franchises they make licensing deals with all contain disproportionately low numbers of female characters and also fail the Bechdel Test? Yes, those licensing deals are negotiated by TLG, they are choosing very carefully which franchises to associate their product with. (As a fun meta-textual side note, let’s all make Jean Baudrillard proud and Carrie Fisher cringe as we contemplate the layers of simulacra present in this digital picture of a sand sculpture representing plastic toys that represent fictional characters who were portrayed by human actors in a series of movies. Which is to say, “look, it’s Princess Leia!”) In 1999 girls also get a weird precursor to LEGO Friends in video game form.

Jack Stone (all years): m/f = 5.67
Lest you think girls get all the special treatment, fear not, boys get their share of “boys only” themes. We’ve already discussed Trains and Technic which have long, proud, histories and exist in a blue and black anti-Belville realm (Technic even had Belville sized masculine articulated figures for a while.) In 1998 the ill-fated Znap bucked the trend of “boys only” themes being for advanced builders. It was simple to put together (like K’nex), but never caught on despite being viral. 1998 also saw the creation of a Technic subtheme with even more testosterone than usual: Competition. 2001 saw TLG try to bridge the gap between DUPLO and SYSTEM (for boys) with Jack Stone. 2001 was also the launch of TLG’s attempt to get in to the action figure market: Bionicle. This is arguably a gender-neutral theme, but considering that TLG forgot to include girl’s names for an online character creator for Bionicle’s successor, it’s clear that TLG does not think boys and girls can enjoy the same toys.



Scala Dolls (all years): m/f =.22
We have already seen TLG try to appeal to girls through doll-based play in Homemaker, LEGO Building Sets with Friends and Belville, but this trend reaches its apex in Scala Dolls, which was essentially LEGO barbie. Here’s the dreamhouse. Scala Dolls suffered from many of the same problems that Belville did, but they were even more pronounced. Take this set for instance: many of the “pieces” are made of cloth instead of plastic, those made of plastic are large pre-fabricated objects, and Carla’s “camp” doesn’t even have a tent, it has half a tent that looks more a boat sail. Even for a rip-off of Barbie, Scala Dolls was poorly executed.

In addition to recycling the name Scala for a new product line, TLG also recycled the idea of LEGO jewelry with Clikits in 2003. These pieces are barely compatible with regular LEGO bricks (some people might not even think to try.) The line also contained some Bratz-esque characters. 2003 was the year right before LEGO almost went bankrupt, so there are many products released that year that deviate significantly from the core LEGO brand. Given that landscape, Clikits is less of an anomaly, but it still shows TLG’s clear tendencies when marketing products to girls.


2004-2011 - Lean Green Fighting Machine

2004: m/f = 3.9
Those of us who follow every move TLG makes are well familiar with the company’s near collapse in 2004 and subsequent renaissance. This is a really important moment for our story, because this is the year when TLG stopped being a family run business and brought in a non-Kristiansen CEO, Jorgen Vig Knudstorp. With Knudstorp’s arrival came a change in philosophy. Quoted from the DailyMail article linked above:  “Instead of 'nurturing the child' - as Knudstorp puts it - [employees'] primary goal now had to be, 'I am here to make money for the company.” 

I, like many LEGO fans, am very grateful for what Knudstorp did to save and revitalize the company. The post-2004 era has seen a flourishing of LEGO themes and sets aimed at advanced builders which cause us adult LEGO fans to salivate inappropriately. The LEGO minifig has been injected with more personality and variety than ever before, so those of us who love these little people are in heaven. However, part of TLG’s new strategy also involved abandoning efforts the girl market and focusing exclusively on boys. 

Abandoning schlock like Belville and Clikits is not a bad thing, but the push toward conflict and hyper-masculinity in classic themes (and a whole host of new ones) made LEGOLAND inhospitable for femininity.  Here are a couple more telling quotes from the Daily Mail article: “As always with Lego, this [action-oriented theme] was developed at every stage... with the help of focus groups, mostly comprising boys aged between six and 12.” and In this new world focused on profit, the company sees no shame in admitting that, like it or not, what most excites little boys is conflict."

2007: m/f = 8
Notice the substantial hike in the m/f ratio in 2007. This ratio had been gradually approaching 1 throughout the 90s, but jumped back up to 1992 levels in 2007. Girls also disappeared from LEGO commercials and marketing collateral. Take this awesome series of commercials encouraging fathers and sons to build together. The utter lack of anything similar for girls sends a clear message about who is expected to play with LEGO, it has entirely entered the masculine domain. With girls being actively excluded from TLG’s marketing efforts it's no surprise that we see such a low percentage playing with them now.



2011: m/4 = 1.74
2011 has a good m/f ratio, but most of that is due to the wonderful Collectible Minifigure Series (which sports the second best m/f ratio after Paradisa) and two great DACTA sets that wouldn’t be found in most toy stores. Plus, I am giving TLG the benefit of the doubt when it comes to what is classified as neutral instead of male. While there are some great general-interest, gender-neutral sets available in 2011 for those with cash to burn, the options for those with limited resources who aren’t interested in conflict-based play are sparse. Which is to say, LEGO City is not the tranquil place LEGO Town was.

Collectible Minifigs (to date): m/f = 1.6
A word about the Collectible Minifigure Series. While some may complain about the engineered scarcity of this line (each minifig comes individually packaged so you can’t easily tell which is which, and each series is only on sale for a couple months before disappearing, leading to skyrocketing after-market prices), it has done wonders for the diversity of the minifigure. The tendency to create two versions of various archetypes, one regular and one pink, again and again, is disheartening, but there are some great female role models. When I sell minifigs at LEGO fan conventions, the feminine minifigs fly off the racks. Many girls are surprised to find out there are so many available.



2012 - LEGO Friends and the Ensuing Backlash

Several weeks before the first wave of LEGO Friends sets were available in US retail stores, Bloomberg Businessweek ran a cover story that presented an in-depth look at TLG’s thought process in creating the sets. This was a very deliberate move on the part of TLG. Because of the company’s miraculous turnaround in the last decade, there is more mainstream attention on everything they do. The general public wasn’t paying attention to TLG when Belville launched in 1994, not in the way they are now. This cover story does two things for TLG: it gets their version of the story out there first (“four years of marketing reserach show this is what girls want”) and it makes a bold statement about the LEGO brand (“like it or not, the minidoll is LEGO now.”)

This move implies that they foresaw the backlash this line would inspire and hoped to mitigate it. The article portrays TLG sympathetically, as a company that wants to help girls build important skills and is trying to figure the most effective way to reach them. This idea is echoed in TLG’s official press release responding to the controversy. To a certain degree, this maneuver has been successful on TLG’s part. I have seen plenty of people point to the quote about “four years of marketing research” to dismiss the arguments that LEGO Friends perpetuates harmful gender stereotypes. But the attempt to integrate the minidoll into the LEGO brand is ultimately doomed.

In many ways, LEGO Friends is an improvement over the previous “girls only” themes. For some additional perspective on this, I reached out to Olivia Donahue, a teenage LEGO fan who has spoken eloquently at Brickworld Chicago on several occasions about the problems of TLG’s previous “girl-friendly” products and what sort of products she would design for girls if she worked for TLG. Below I have interwoven her thoughts (in quotation marks and italics) with some of my own.

For a long time, TLG had the idea that girl = pink and pink = girl. (Which isn't necessarily true.) Instead, LEGO has moved to another color that is still recognizable as girly but not as stereotypical: PURPLE... This is nice, as TLG has finally realized that girls just like fun color in general, nor necessarily PINK.” Look here to see the official shade of lavender that represents LEGO Friends. Teal is also a major color in the Friends palette. The palette also includes a good deal of traditional LEGO colors like white, red, brown and tan. It's not a pink monstrosity like Belville.

Even more so than Paradisa, LEGO Friends has a building experience that is on par with other currently available LEGO sets (mostly City and Castle, as the action themes use more complex techniques.) Olivia also pointed out something corollary that I completely overlooked. “They are appropriately priced for the desperate mommies in Target trying to find their daughters a gift, especially considering that the other LEGO sets that have about the same number of pieces are about the same price.” Belville and Scala sets had some of the worst price per piece ratios ever.

The minidolls may be sexified and problematic (more on that below), but they are an improvement compared to the oversized Belville characters. “At first, I was a bit bothered by the fact that the minifigs were doll-like, but after seeing that they are near the same (if not exactly the same) height as regular figs, I find myself surprised that I actually like them. I still don't like that LEGO is separating girls from the rest of the line by doing this, but, nonetheless, I like them.” If nothing else, at least the hairpieces are compatible with those of minifigs.

The interests/occupations of the female characters are just a little bit broader than previous lines. While Andrea and Emma have clear predecessors from Belville, Olivia the inventor, Sophie the Veterinarian, and Stephanie the farmer/pastry chef(?) broaden the range of possible careers just a little bit (and none of them are a princess!) “Little girls can now play with certain people that have a role in their little town... the girls do good things, like taking care of puppies, which is always nice for young people to see.

Overall, I am very pleased with the Friends line. LEGO has incorporated details, vehicles, animals, cutesy things, and interiors, all while presenting them with fun colors, a nice price point, and lovable characters. I think they have really outdone themselves.” That’s a ringing endorsement from someone with a thorough understanding of the market that LEGO is trying to reach. Knowing the history of LEGO’s “girls only” themes it is clear that Friends is a improvement and I think that it will sell spectacularly for all the reasons Olivia lists.

Olivia’s single nagging concern about Friends is really about the LEGO product line as a whole. “Where do the girls go from here? There isn't a lot of intense-ish building to keep the girls interested in the line... Hopefully they will create something for older, more casual girl builders that has a more reasonable price point than the Green Grocer line of sets... What LEGO really needs is an appealing set that someone can pick up at Target for $20-50.” Many people have praised Friends as a way to broaden the LEGO fanbase and bring in people who wouldn’t otherwise play with LEGO. Will Friends really act as a gateway to the rest of the LEGO product line for those builders, or like Belville will it just create a separate, less building-intensive universe? TLG’s recent separation of the LEGO club magazine serves as a clue to their perspective on the issue, but the biggest barrier to those builders crossing over is the minidoll. 



You'd think TLG would have learned from all its many failed attempts to create non-minifig figures***** that anything that isn’t the minifig is doomed to fail. Compared to the minifig, the minidoll is lacking in two key respects: articulation and compatibility. The classic minifg has 7 points of articulation (8 if you count the hairpiece’s ability to move rotate independently of the head) whereas the minidoll only has 4 points (5 with the hair.) Minidolls can’t rotate their hands (which limits the ability to accurately pose accessories) or move their legs independently (which prevents them from being posed in active positions like running, they can only sit, stand or bend over.) The value of the LEGO system is the ability to connect all the different pieces to each other. The only compatibility between minidolls and minifigs is the hairpieces and accessories (think about the message that sends.) Unlike minifig legs and torsos, which easily connect to standard LEGO bricks so you can build any type of legs you want, The leg to torso connection on the minidoll is not compatible with any standard LEGO connection (though there are some connections possible, they are of dubious utility.) Additionally, the minidolls do not have LEGO connections on the back of their legs like minifigs do, making it impossible to securely attach to vehicles in seated positions. When my 4 year old nephew went to play with Stephanie’s Pet Patrol after picking it out from the store he asked his mother “why can’t she sit down?” Thus the minidoll is “separate but equal” to the minifig, by which I mean separate and demonstrably inferior.

Friends (initial wave): m/f = .06
There are other problems with the minidoll. In the initial wave of sets the m/f ratio is one of the most imbalanced ever, with the single masculine figure (a reversal of the token female minifig trend) outnumbered 18 to 1, and absolutely zero gender neutral figures. Despite the presence of a beauty salon and a fashion designer, the clothing options in Heartlake City are also very limited. There is only one pair of full length pants available and threes shirts with sleeves, everyone else has skirts or capri pants with tangtops and sleeveless blouses. Olivia will have to raid her dad’s wardrobe if she wants to make her laboratory OSHA compliant. My sister (an avid LEGO maniac for over 30 years) summed this up nicely “[it] begs the question why redesign them at all, since there is near endless ways to fashion your mini-figs, and girls are supposedly into fashion, why design a toy that gives them less options?” 

To be fair, I want to fully acknowledge the one area where the minidoll has a slight advantage over the minifig: racial diversity. Though darker skin tones were introduced to minifig in 2003 with Lando Calrissian, there has yet to be an identifiably feminine, dark-skinned minifig. Andrea (and Sarah) are therefore trailblazers. Friends is also the first instance of a LEGOLAND scale theme that integrates realistic flesh colors and is not connected to an external franchise (movies, comics, sports, etc.). This is a topic I'd like to discuss at length another time, but I hope this is the start of a trend that leads to a more ethnically diverse range of minifigures.

When I have shown the minidolls to my friends, co-workers, and family members the response has been pretty consistent. “That’s not LEGO,” is a common refrain. My sister’s first impression was, “why are there Barbies in the LEGO catalog? I thought it was some weird cross-promotional thing.” This is why TLG is trying to promote the minidoll as heavily as possible, they are trying to make it a recognized part of the LEGO brand. The conundrum is excellently summed up by legobucket’s comment on this Brother’s Brick review of the Friends sets. “I would take the mini-dolls and drop them into my 3 little step-sisters LEGO bucket and they would probably say ‘That’s not LEGO!”’, to which I would say ‘it is now!’” 

Much of the resistance to the LEGO Friends theme can be viewed through this lens, a disagreement between consumers and TLG about what the LEGO brand represents. The average consumer is probably as clueless as Michael K Williams’ character in Community about the slow changes that transformed LEGO from the toy it was 30 or 40 years ago to the toy is today. What this controversy makes crystal clear is that consumers still expect the best of LEGO and hold it to a higher standard than other toys, even if TLG no longer does.

TLG certainly has its hands full trying to correct the misinformation spreading about LEGO Friends, (and we should all help in that effort, because honest  discourse is foundation of an enlightened society) but I think that TLG fundamentally misunderstands the argument against LEGO Friends in the following statement from that press release. “We want to correct any misinterpretation that LEGO Friends is our only offering for girls. This is by no means the case. We know that many girls love to build and play with the wide variety of LEGO products already available.” This is probably a response to the clever slogan that many opponents of Friends have rallied behind, "LEGO for girls already exist - it's called LEGO." The critique of Friends (as I understand it) is not that it is being presented as the only LEGO product line for girls, but that TLG is so clearly marketing LEGO Friends only to girls. Rather than creating themes that appeal to both boys and girls and marketing them to both boys and girls, TLG is creating products for boys and products for girls. The fact that the focus groups for LEGO friends consisted of girls and women and the focus groups for lines like Power Miners and Atlantis consisted primarily of young boys proves that TLG fundamentally believes that boys and girls have entirely separate needs and desires. This is a harmful belief that we as a culture need to rid ourselves of. 

I fully acknowledge that adult men and women have empirical demonstrable differences in the ways they process information, express emotion, and act in society. And while some of these differences are attributable to very minor differences the biology of male and female brains (nature), most of them are due to the very different ways we as a society raise boys and girls (nurture). We are all complicit in exaggerating these differences by perpetuating stereotypes. Those of us with greater influence over our children (parents, educators, and multi-national toy corporations) need to be especially mindful of the consequences of our actions in this regard. It is easy (an profitable) to rely on existing stereotypes, but those of us who still believe that “only the best is good enough,” know that resisting them is worth the extra effort. 


LEGO Activism

If you are at all concerned about the gender gap in any aspect of our society, you must read Pink Brain, Blue Brain by Lise Eliot. She systematically eviscerates many commonly-held beliefs about the extent and origin of gender differences. The tagline I would use for the book is “Men are from North Dakota, women are from South Dakota.” If you want to fight the girls=pink trend in marketing and media aimed at girls, you should check out Pink Stinks, a UK charity that attempts to counter this trend by promoting media literacy, self-esteem, positive body image and female role models for kids. 

If you are concerned specifically about the gender gap in LEGO products and you like peitions, you can add your name to the nearly 50,00 asking TLG, “to back to advertising and offering all LEGO to boys and girls,” but considering the false information in the e-mail promotion that led to a majority of those signatures (I watched that evening as the signatures went from around 3,000 to 30,000), I doubt TLG will lend much credence to the petition. A better way to petition TLG is to use the platform they developed specifically to solicit new product ideas. TLG will review for development any idea that receives 10,000 votes on Cuusoo. Maybe you want to see a Bionicle-esque line with female protagonists, maybe you want a retro-futuristic space exploartion theme with a female protagonist, maybe you want TLG to pursue a My Little Pony licensed theme, maybe you have your own ideas about LEGO sets that would appeal to both boys and girls. All of us should be on Cuusoo supporting great projects like these and using our creativity to make new ones.

If you want to use LEGO to help encourage interest in STEM for a girl in your life, check out LEGO Mindstorms and First LEGO League. If you want to use LEGO to encourage cooperation and socialization for a boy in your life, try turning building a LEGO town into a community activity that explores power dynamics and ethics. Heck, those are both great activities for both girls and boys!

If you are part of The Lego Group, here are the things I think you should be working toward in whatever way you can. Some of these may be unrealistic, but I’m an idealist:
  1. Ditch the minidoll - it dillutes the LEGO brand and it won’t last
  2. Stop marketing based on gender. Ditch the separate LEGO Club Magazines immediately and start including a balanced group of children in all your focus groups. Balance out the "Build Together" ad campaign with some commercials celebrating female builders.
  3. Move toward a m/f ratio of 1 for all figures (minifig or otherwise) across all themes and keep gender neutral figures a significant percentage of your offerings.
  4. Put more pink/purple/lavender bricks in action-oriented themes and Technic sets
  5. Batten down the hatches for when the general public catches wind of the LEGO DUPLO Disney Princess sets scheduled for release later this year.
  6. Hire Olivia Donahue as a consultant ;)

A final plea to all of you who have made it this far: challenge norms. Be unflinching in your love for things you not expected to love. Bronies are a remarkable example of what is possible in this regard. Adult fans of LEGO challenge norms every day by using a children’s toy to create works of art. When I went purchased two LEGO Friends sets for the purposes of research for this article the clerk smirked and asked me “and who are you shopping for today?” I responded, “myself.”
Thanks for reading! I welcome comments, critiques, conversation, and copy edits ;)

Footnotes

*For the purpose of this article I define gender to be a set of socially constructed roles (i.e. masculine and feminine) that are correlated with biological sex (i.e. male and female), but entirely separable (as evidenced by tomboys, sissies and others with complex gender identities.) When I use the term gender gap I am not simply referring to pay inequality as the term is often used, but any separation between the masculine and feminine domains.

**LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this article. LEGO is a portmanteau of the Danish words leg and godt which mean “play well.” I refer to the company that produces LEGO bricks as The LEGO Group (TLG) throughout to distinguish between the company, its products, and the overall brand. I use LEGOLAND to mean the fictional universe that LEGO minifigures inhabit, not the real-world theme parks of the same name.

***My apologies to peeron.com and Brickset for any server strain I have caused by my extensive linking to their image catalogs. They are great resources for the aspiring LEGO researcher. You can support peeron by clicking this link before making a purchase on Amazon. If Brickset has something similar, I couldn’t find it.

****Methodology: I used Brickset to count the number of minifigs with identifiably masculine or feminine traits appearing across all sets released in a given year. Due to TLG keeping sets on the market for 1-2 years, this is not a perfect reflection of diversity presented to the consumer each year, but it is a good approximation. In the year-wide totals I have not included any of the other human-like figures that TLG has produced (Belville, 4 Juniors, Galidor, DUPLO etc.) or most non-human minifigs (skeletons, robots, aliens etc.)
In all cases I have given TLG the benefit of the doubt and classified as neutral all minifigs lacking overtly genderized characteristics, even if TLG's marketing materials (or popular culture) classify the character as male or female. For instance the Han Solo and Kai minifigs I classified as neutral despite the fact the most children will think of them as masculine. Here are the traits I looked for: Masculine: facial hair (printed directly on the face or as a detachable beard) and (occasionally) an exposed chest with well-defined abs. I did not count chin lines or cheek bones as masculine. Feminine: lipstick, eye shadow, exaggerated eyelashes, (occasionally) curves on clothing that imply breasts, or actual cleavage. If you're interested, my raw numbers are available here.

***** EDIT 1/18/12 It has been pointed out that I did not acknowledge the success of DUPLO figures and the BIONICLE and HERO FACTORY action figures. DUPLO has always done a good job of representing males and females equally (as well as different ages and ethnic groups) so there's not much to say about it other than "good work TLG!" In BIONICLE the primary thing being built is the figures so they don't serve the same purposes as minifig, Scala dolls etc. The building style is so different, it is basically a completely separate system, despite being compatible.

EDIT 1/21/12 - I have fixed typos and modified a few words to make my claims about licensed sets for  external franchises more accurate. Thanks to everyone who has helped me improve the article.

32 comments:

  1. I was just talking with a friend about this last night, who asked me my thoughts on the current backlash. My response? Where in the world were these people when Belville and Scala sets came out that pushed girls to take care of Baby Thomas, have families with houses, or have horse stables as their mainstay? At least THIS line has girls doing things that are positive, independent and fun! Plus, little girls LOVE this LEGO, why not give them a gateway into the realm of their brothers and parents collections? Most little girls that like dolls don't play with LEGO, now they will! Bravo LEGO! Sure, it can be tweaked, a lot, but this is an excellent start to a line that I hope sticks around.

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    1. Absolutely. My biggest hope for Friends is that it gets more people to play with LEGO and the sales leads TLG to further diversify their product offerings.

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  2. Excellent post. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

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  3. Very succinct blog post. Somewhat on a parallel course, I compiled most of the same information starting Dec 25th (after being amazed at how the false data & images infected people spamming the LEGO facebook fan page): http://feminists-freak-out-over-lego-friends.blogspot.com/

    While the term "feminist" is used to describe the core ideology behind the 'backlash' on this blog, it mainly traces the actions of some women's rights groups & girl empowerment product sellers who have twisted the facts and spun them.
    One in particular, which you begin your post with, Riley's rant, was in fact, given to the "No Pink campaign" creators for the purpose of helping to draw out an emotional response from people. Perhaps emotional enough to sign a petition. This is an *updated* post, in case you've seen it before: http://feminists-freak-out-over-lego-friends.blogspot.com/2011/12/abc-news-was-duped-riley-was-coached-by.html

    Also, The Mary Sue has skewed facts, as well as committing intellectual property rights violations: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60445953@N08/6707653859/in/pool-1101684@N21/

    No matter how valid some concerns may be -- it's a product, it's not government regulation. People can choose to not buy. Turn off the TV commercials, opt-out of Club magazines (hey, they are free anyway), and most importantly, parent their own child in ways that gives them strength to be impervious to these so-called marketing schemes. People should not rely on the Internet or product manufacturers to parent.

    I don't think gender definitions are sole property of corporations. At some point along the way, what our society produces mirrors itself. Either people shouldn't stare in the mirror so long, or they don't like what they see. In this case, they lash out at the mirror.

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    1. Thanks for sharing your blog, it is a great resource for those interested in exploring the false claims of SPARK and other groups. The idea that those orchestrating the backlash/protest are motivated primarily out of a desire to sell their own gender nuetral toys is certainly one I hadn't considered before. I think it's important for everyone to make up their own mind about the issue , which is why it's important to fight misinformation.

      That being said, I don't think the use of Riley's video undermines its message. Nor does itellectual property theft invalidate the analysis in the Mary Sue article.

      While it's nice to think that parents have total control over what influences their child, the truth is that children are exposed to all kind of harmful messages despite the vigilant efforts of their parents. Popular culture and society are big influences on children no matter how hard parents attempt to limit their exposure.

      Your mirror metaphor is apt. Society is a in fact a fun-house maze of mirrors. We are each a mirror that other people can look at and we must make sure we reflect only the best of human potential. That's why I suggested positive actions people can take to try and improve the situation rather than waiting for the LEGO Group to do it for them.

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  4. Kai and Han Solo are both boys. Have you seen them both in cartoons and movies?0

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    1. That is true, but the pieces that are used to make the Kai and Han Solo minifigs are not inherently masculine of feminine. This is the criteria I used to count the minifigs. If I took into consideration all these other factors the ratio of masculine minifigs in my graphs would be much higher

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  5. In the section about 2012, the paraphrased quote of TLG's should read: “four year of research show this is what girls want” and not, “four year of marketing show this is what girls want” as there is a difference between gathering information for the purpose of development, and sending-out information for the purpose of selling. Plus, the referenced article uses the word research.

    Also, TLG has current open channels for feedback, surveys, ambassadors, events, and such -- there is no need for a 3rd party petition, which hinged its premise on misleading information.

    With regard to Intellectual Property theft, although it may not invalidate an analysis, it is connected to the systemic problem of web sites with similar genre, which have engaged in this campaign by using incorrect information (pre-fab) and data (no female figs in 2012 sets) and other falsehoods to then re-post, tweet and spin it to suit their mantra.

    After reading this post again, I'm not sure if you are more concerned with gender equality in bricks/figs, are echoing someone else's emotions, or you felt compelled to compose all the information, links & graphs together out of residual shock of such a new item, as mini-dolls, from The LEGO Company.

    Darn, I was looking forward to mini-dolls on NNN :-)

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    1. Thanks for pointing that out, I meant to put "marketing research" but forgot the second half. I think it's important to distinguish marketing research from academic reserach.

      I agree that using the feedback channels TLG has put in place is a better tactic than a Change.org petition. That's why I talk about Cuusoo. I see great potential there.

      I am very concerned with gender equality and education in general, but since LEGO is my passion, I can speak more to the nuances here than in other areas of culture. Any emotions contained here genuinely felt by me, I chose to lead with Riley because she echoes my frustations so well. I felt compelled to compile the information because I felt that much of it was lacking from articles I was reading on both sides of the debate.

      Don't worry, despite my thoughts that the minidolls are a bad move on TLG's part, as a LEGO fanatic I welcome all sort of figures into my animations. Minidolls will exist right alongside Fabuland figures, Belville Dolls and even some Galidor. I haven't figured out exactly how I want to introduce them in NNN, but they'll be there eventually. :)

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  6. Okay, first of all: that Riley Maida viral video is probably staged or she is just repeating something she overheard her parents saying.
    Also: "Paradisa isn’t without it’s problems" should be its problems.
    Lise Eliot makes it sound as if boys and girls are born as blank slates, 10% nature, 90% nurture. Primate research has shown that it is probably the other way around.
    Just some thoughts I had reading this long but excellent article....

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    1. I'm sure that Riley's rant is influced by her parent's beliefs. All children are heavily influenced by their environment. That's the way we repesent gender to children is so very important.

      Thanks for catching that typo. Copy editing is not my strongest skill :)

      My big take away from Lise Eliot's book is that which there are some natural differences between the brains of boys and girls the magnitude of the differences is very small. And further, that those differences should not be used as an excuse to through up our hands and say "what can we do? It's nature!" but rather that we should dedicate more effort to helping boys and girls overcome any difficulties these differences might predispose them toward. Therefore, we should spend more effort encouraging girls' spatial and mathematical abilities and boys' emotional and verbal abilities so all our children are exposed to a full specturm of expereince.

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  8. Most girls with common sense that aren't completely girly and idiotic (which there aren't many of in the US, sadly) like the "all-male" lines that LEGO offers, and don't care that it's "sexist".

    Also, no girls are going to buy the MLP:FiM line, just Bronies (for those of you who don't know, Bronies are the majority of people who watch the show: 18-35-year old men).

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  9. I think you make some very good points in your post. I have done my own study using my 5 year old boy and 3 year old girl. They both have played with Duplo and now LEGO. While my daughter loves playing with Cars LEGO sets and the few Beville sets, she shows little interest in the other Pirates and City sets my son plays with. We recent bought 2 Friends sets and she has enjoyed playing with them. On the other hand, my son likes to play with the "girl" sets just as much as my daughter. I think the real problem is not how LEGO markets these sets but how parents force these stereotypes on their children. I let my children play with dolls, trains, Disney themes, appliances, etc. regardless of what sex they are marketed towards. The result has been that neither of my children are hyper-masculine or feminine. As a final point, as I write this my son is playing with Rapunzel and a missile launcher.

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  10. I guess it's also worth pointing out that if you look at the 2012 lego city line-up, a good deal of sets with 2 or more figures will include a distinctly female character. I get the feeling lego is being more serious about providing a gender-neutral experience between the extremes of Friends and Ninjago, at least more than most coverage gives them credit for.

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  11. Well, I don't have much time to write a longer comment and to share all what came to mind while reading the whole article but I still wanted to thank you for sharing that well-written and thoughtful article about what I - as a feminist - consider to be a significant problem related to our favorite toy ;-)

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  12. Hello! I read your article and decided to comment because I disagree with most of it. It looks like you're a feminist and this drives you to paranoia. Let me quote this - "TLG fundamentally believes that boys and girls have entirely separate needs and desires" well... Hellooo, boys and girls are different, yes, wake up!
    They do share some needs and desires, of course. But they are different. Only area where the difference isn't so clear is the realm of transsexuality, but I do hope you don't want TLG to deal with this matter.
    Having a new Lego series for girls is in its core a good idea - hopefully it will serve to open the eyes of the girls and of their parents, and then they'll start having fun with all the various LEGO series.
    I do agree that the LEGO "Friends" are horrible sets, especially the minifigures, they are ugly, incompatible with the usual minifigs we all know and love. Yes, this isn't LEGO indeed!
    If you’re into gender equality as a whole, then I fully support that and I hope that you’re not a Christian or a follower of the other principal monotheistic religions, because according to them women are nothing but property (to say the least). Why there’s no woman pope? Because the woman is the snake = sin = something very bad!
    Anyway, the article was about LEGO, not religion, sorry.
    Bottom line – LEGO for girls sucks, but it’s still better than Barbie and can hopefully serve as a spring-board to the better LEGO series. Why can’t a girl play with Castle or Pirates for instance?

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    1. I happily accept the label feminist, but I would also label myself a hominist if that was a term people commonly used. More than either of those, I consider myself an egalitarian. I reject absolutely the idea that boys and girls have more differences than similarities.

      Of course girls can play with Castle and Pirate sets. Just as boys can (and should) play with LEGO Friends sets. That's my point. The LEGO Group are the ones trying to tell children which sets are for girls and which aren't.

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  13. Really good article I agree with alot that is said, there is not enought gender neutral themes available.

    However I thought LEGO really turned a corner with the Harry Potter sets as they are good for both, its just a shame that this didn't continue.

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  14. With Knudstorp’s arrival came a change in philosophy. Quoted from the DailyMail article linked above: “Instead of 'nurturing the child' - as Knudstorp puts it - [employees'] primary goal now had to be, 'I am here to make money for the company.”
    "Most say it's only popular because the company wouldn't stop "blowing up". It quickly became a major corporation, and has been gradually getting bigger and bigger, branching out into other avenues of entertainment (series' with franchises of their own, movies, commercials, video games, board games, theme parks, etc...) to the point where the creators forget that you are just supposed to build actual bricks with them! Of course, the haters often ignore how it had 8 decades to prepare for this."
    Does this mean The LEGO Company only cares about money? Their products are quality and they care about their products.

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    1. I don't think money is the only thing that the LEGO Group cares about, but I think it's clear that the near collapse necessitated them putting it ahead of other concerns like "nuturing the child." I'm not trying to pass judgement in this article on that culture shift in the comapny, just to show how that plays into the gender gap.

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  15. This is a great article David. Thanks for writing it and I look forward to further posts in the future. Some are fairly easily offended by these sort of discussions and get very defensive about them but I don't see any reason that you can't be both a LEGO fan and question the LEGO group's directions and decisions.

    As the Father of a young boy my biggest practical concern with the Friends line is that, which I actually quite like, is the fact that a non-violent theme explicitly about Friendship excludes boys. If you're not already aware of it you might be interested in this blog: http://www.achilleseffect.com/blog/ which examines gender issues in toys from a primarily male/boy viewpoint.

    And in linking to it I just saw they have a new Friends article up as of a couple of days ago that addresses some of the stuff I'm talking about here. Synchronicity!

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    1. Thanks Ash, I enjoyed reading the posts at Achilles Effect. These issues are as much of a concern for boys as they are for girls. Equality goes both ways.

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  16. Aside from gender, you briefly commented on racial diversity. In my mind logo is the perfect example that we are not different. The Lego minifigure traditionally has bright YELLOW skin. Totally fictional, non racial and a perfect way for all children to enjoy the same toy. In my opinion leaving the innocents of the yellow and making real skin colors is a big mistake and runs the risk of creating a new kind of "gap"!

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  17. This was a great read however I personally don't agree with everything you've said, i'm a 13 year old girl and an avid lego fan. When I first found out about lego friends I decided I must give it a go before I judged it so I bought myself some sets and joined the website. There is not too much wrong with the sets themselves they are interesting and come in a range of difficulty levels, however the colours they use are what would be classed as 'girly' with mostly purples and pinks being shown on buildings and cars and there is a lack of clothing choices for the minidolls (they remind me of polly pockets) but I still think they're ok. Anyway the main point I wanted to make is that I'm glad they've made two seperate magazines I used to get sent the original but it was boring and very obviously targeted at boys so when I realised there was a girls version I swapped straight away and I'm glad I did. The things in it are only the things I want to know about, it means I don't have to skip pages of sets aimed at boys and it shows lego are attempting to even out the gender of consumers - granted on a whole the gender ratio does need neautralising but some effort to help it is better than none surely?

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    1. Thanks for your comment! It's always nice to hear other perspectives. Glad you are enjoying the girls magazine.

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  18. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=88455

    Curious if you could reply on this:

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  19. Thanx for replaying to that topic, I'll reply there later. Here's what I think about your opinion from 2012:

    *Ditch the minidoll - seems like TLG wouldn't do so, at least for now. The real question I care about is, does TLG really devote themselves to market the minidoll characters in order to make them as important as minifigures?

    *Move toward a m/f ratio - as my topic mentioned, Friends was a big pity for some customizerts who really want to see new female citizens introduced but as result they saw female "minidolls" came, suppose that TLG doesn't encourage us to play minidolls and minifigures together.

    *Put more pink/purple/lavender bricks in action-oriented themes and Technic sets - well I disagree. I think Friends has been "a wonderful source of accessories and unique colors for LEGO maniacs". Independece often makes themes more exclusive.

    * LEGO Disney Princess - so far the problem why minidolls bothers licensed themes is that they haven't provided a wider variation of parts. Minidolls are made to be realistic, but when it comes to licensed characters they need much more new parts. TLG can make a Hulk for Marvel, but what about a Beast for Disney?

    *Stop marketing based on gender - I guess TLG somewhat improved themselves, though not enough. The Lego Movie and collectible minifigures are also popular enough among girls. Some girls also like Ninjago and Chima's TV show, even though they obviously target at boys. A totally girls/boys-orientd theme isn't bad, but TLC should remember to introduce some neutral themes, and encourage children to combine different themes and play together.

    The problem is, if girls are influenced by TLC's strategy and would only play as characters based on minidolls, would they find anywhere to stand in the core Lego world of minifigures which are heavily recognized by the general public? My ideal strategy is to see Friends "minifigures" appear, suppose that the characters have received enough attention from the public.

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  21. Hi! I'm doing a project for school on gender marketing in the toy industry and was wondering where you got the statistics for your graphs?

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    1. Read the methodology section at the very bottom of the article. I did a lot of counting :)

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  22. Well done article! Just a couple things that have changed since then: the latest line of Friends has totally scrapped any homemaker stuff, opting for a line where they are all touring musicians. There are still diva stereotypes and lots of hair accessories, but I think it is good that they are incorporating more and more types of occupations and activities. Now if they could only get rid of the mini doll!

    The other thing is about the presence of a "dark sinned female in Lego." When you wrote this article, there was one that could be considered dark skinned: Barriss Offee from Star Wars: http://brickset.com/minifigs/sw269/Barriss-Offee-Black-Cape-and-Hood
    She isn't black, but uses the darker shade of flesh they introduced for some middle eastern characters. But beyond her, more recently, there was the Star Wars Character Stass Allie: http://en.brickimedia.org/wiki/Stass_Allie Released just after you wrote this in 2013, she definitely qualifies as black! The problem with these two Star Wars characters is that they are not normal humans: Offee has blue diamond marks under eyes, and Allie's eyes are pure purple. Then, in 2014, we finally got what I consider the first real black woman minifigure: Storm from the X-Men. http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Storm Her head is generic enough that it can be used to create more dark skinned females too (and better than the generic black smiley face, of which there is one from 2006). Her alternate face does have unrealistic white eyes, but her normal face is perfectly ordinary.
    Just wanted to let you know about some good updates that Lego has made since this article!

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