Advancing the Cause of Feminism in the LEGO Universe
Over the last few years I have had dozens of reasons to call
Enfield and give them my opinion of sets, or solicit their aid in
research for set listings. Even rarely, I have needed to call
for replacement parts. Each time I called I made sure to tell
them how much I loved LEGO sets, but I also tried to mention how
frustrated I was that there were not enough female figures,
specifically and most emphatically in regards to Castle and
Pirate genres. Each time my opinion was duly noted, and once I
got back a lovely letter detailing which sets had female figures,
and it even included one red and one white pointed castlewench
hat. I was overjoyed. I was more overjoyed as I noticed in the
last two years that the ratios of females to males has been
sharply increasing in Town and Paradisa subgenres, and that there
are a few subtle ambigous faces that could definitely be
construed as female. The original smileys of course just need
hair to be female, but all the stubble-spouting and moustached
men, well, they look cute in ponytails, but they aren't true
LEGObabes. At any rate, I also took every opportunity to urge
others from R.T.L. to share that viewpoint with LEGO if they
shared it with me. We seemed to have made some small
difference, if indeed, we still await another Castle wench, or
another set with the Pirate wench. The arrival of the buxom,
cleavage-wielding Islander savage of course, brought me much joy.
My true contribution to LEGO feminism had been realized however,
when I gave the same tirade of "not-enough-female-figs" to the
Shop-at-Home representative who had just spent 45 minutes giving
me information on current sets, and basically hearing my life
story (ask me sometime how LEGO helped me cope with cancer
therapy!!!). She was enthusiastic and particularly agreed with
me, as her daughter could only find female figures in the town
sets. Also, as I told her, the women are rarely doing anything.
The obvious official females are simply wearing their necklaces,
tank tops and basques.
They aren't the doctors, or mechanics, or construction workers.
I specifically remember saying "Why are there never any female
construction workers shown?" I remember telling her that the
last time I specifically noticed a set with a career woman fig
was the oldie-but-greatie 6364, Paramedic Unit from 1979-1980, in
which a smiley with black pigtails is the EMT/Physician, complete
with stethoscope. She was most helpful and friendly, and I had
other pleasant conversations with her.
Imagine my surprise about 6 months later, when a "Special Edition
Catalog" was sent to my home, called "Construction Zone." There
on the cover, in prominent obvious glory was a female
construction worker, the same one drawn here. Coincidence?
Maybe, Probably... I don't care. If in some way I helped get
her there on that cover, I earned my karmic bonus points for the
decade. Some girl will look at that catalog and instead of
seeing all the men, will see her and think maybe that she could
be a construction worker, or a doctor, or fill-in-the-blank.
True, smileys are androgynous, but I am of the opinion (and it
seems a lot of kids agree with me, from various email convos)
that a smiley is only female if it has female hair, and that a
smiley with a hat on is assumed to be male.
So my hat's off to the LEGObabe. Lift your LEGO goblet in a toast to the first (and currently non-existent in sets) female construction worker in the LEGO universe. Be sure to call LEGO once in a while to let them know how happy or unhappy you are with
the role of women in the LEGO Universe.
Lego Consumer Affairs, Enfield CT, 203-763-3211
See the women of my LEGO Universe
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