LEGO Company and Segregated Products

Date of Award

Spring 5-5-2021

Document Type

Honors Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

History and American Studies

Department Chair or Program Director

Devlin, Erin

First Advisor

Moon, Krystyn

Major or Concentration

American Studies

Abstract

This digital project focuses on the relationship between the LEGO Company and gender roles in American society. As this project utilizes a vast array of media and the physical representations of gender in LEGO products, it lives on a website instead of a paper: kimberlyeastridge.com. Through analyzing a series of LEGO products that have been created specifically for girls and for boys, the conclusions of this paper focus on the hypocrisy of the LEGO Company and their stated values and the harmful perpetration of gender stereotypes in children’s toys. Despite the online and scholarly backlash to the LEGO Friends series released in 2012 and the LEGO Company’s promises to remain gender neutral, the LEGO Company continues to use harmful gender stereotypes in the type of play expected, physical characteristics of the toy sets, and narrative focuses of each LEGO set. These stereotypes that the LEGO products embody hurt children’s understanding of gender and their relationship in society.

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS