They are listening. Disney just launched their Captain America: Civil War store on their website, and far from being neglected, girls are front and center of their ad campaign. The lack of…

More Than Cute
More Than Cute
They are listening. Disney just launched their Captain America: Civil War store on their website, and far from being neglected, girls are front and center of their ad campaign. The lack of…
DC Bombshells is a collectables line based on World War II-era pin-up art that launched in December of 2013 with a Wonder Woman statue. The deign proved immensely popular with both…
When the original cast got back together for Star Wars: The Force Awakens there was one notable change: Leia was no longer a princess. She was a "general." In fact, Leia not only…
The American Toy Fair is the largest toy trade show in the Western hemisphere. The annual event is held in New York City by the Toy Industry Association, whose more than 900 members account for approximately 90-percent of the annual U.S. domestic toy market of $22 billion.
So it’s kind of a big deal.
One of the highlights of the show are the awards. They give out awards for best educational toy, most innovative toy, and best toy for infants and toddlers.
The Best Toy for Boys is defined as “The best toy developed specifically for boys of any age.” So what toy is it that was “developed specifically for boys?”
LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens Millenium Falcon by The LEGO Group
That’s right girls, forget that the main character of the film is a woman. Forget that she spends more time piloting it than Han Solo or that she actually inherits the Falcon at the end of the movie. Forget that she comes with the set and is shown on the box piloting the spaceship.
Star Wars is for boys.
Other nominated toys “made specifically for boys” included the Air Hogs Millennium Falcon and Star Wars Bladebuilders Jedi Master Lightsaber — got the message yet, girls?
On the other hand, the Best Toy for Girls winner was the consumer-culture driven Shopkins Scoops Ice Cream Truck followed by an assortment of other pink, purple and pastel items. (Notable exceptions included the “Girl Scouts Cookie Oven” and “Zoomer Kitty.”)
To what purpose do we divide toys by gender? What good does it do to tell girls they are only allowed to play with something if it is pink, purple and covered in flowers? Why do we tell a boy interested in nurturing pets or in role-playing owning an ice-cream shop that his interests are wrong? Where are the toys for those children?
It just goes to show you that despite what I believe are truly good intentions and lots of ink and timid steps towards progress, the industry is hopelessly mired in incredibly rigid and antiquated gender norms that should have died generations ago.
Before next year’s Toy Fair, I’d like to give the industry an opportunity to re-examine this flow chart, which I hope will make it easier for them to determine if a toy is “specifically made” for a girl or a boy.
Any questions?
Hasbro is having a good month. They have followed a strong showing of Star Wars female action figures and toys at the Toy Fair, with a spotting of the announced Black Widow Titan Action…
LEGO released a slew of pictures of their upcoming Ghostbusters sets this morning. The sets give us a good look at ECTO-1 and ECTO-2, and what all the principal cast members look like…
Along with action figures, Mattel licensed the upcoming film Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice to make a line of Barbies based on the heroes of the film: Batman, Wonder…
Jem and the Holograms was one of the first science fiction and action cartoons ever created for girls. The cartoon was a joint production between Hasbro, Marvel and Sunbow Productions — the same team that had created the popular G.I. Joe and Transformers cartoons. The show was created by Christy Marx, a writer who had worked on both G.I. Joe and Transformers, based on a new doll line that Hasbro had developed.
Jem was the no. 1 Nielsen rated syndicated cartoon series in November 1986. It was the third most watched children’s program in syndication with 2.5 million viewers weekly in 1987. The cartooon was syndicated in multiple countries including Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, United States, Italy and France.
Hasbro got into a nasty sales war with Mattel, who had introduced a similar doll like “Barbie and the Rockers.” Sales for both lines suffered badly as a result, leading Hasbro to discontinue the toy line. The cartoon lasted an additional season before Hasbro pulled the plug in it as well.
Jem became a cult classic for women that grew up in the 1980s, leading Hasbro to develop a live-action movie without Marx’s input. Underfunded, the film was forced to jettison all of the science fiction and action elements that made the cartoon popular and the movie was a financial and critical flop — reviled by both fans and the general public.
Webzine The Front recently interviewed Marx about creating the creation of the show.
The Front presents Off Hollywood.
In the premiere episode of Off Hollywood, we meet Christy Marx, writer and co-creator of Jem and The Holograms, a new-wave cartoon featuring an iconic head of pink hair and a braininess that transcends glamour ‘n’ glitter, fashion ‘n’ fame.
After the less-than-stellar track record of the toy industry regarding the representation of women the past few decades, this single tweet warmed my heart. https://twitter.com/paulfeig/status/685284979195052032
Hasbro launched a new version of Star Wars Monopoly, and in doing so they have created a great disturbance in the force. Once again, they have left out Rey, the main character from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and included no other women in the set.
The game description on the Hasbro web site says:
Includes Episode VII and Legacy tokens
Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker represent the “Legacy” tokens — fair enough, I guess. But the Episode VII tokens are villain Kylo Ren and … second lead Finn. The choice to exclude the main character of Rey yet again is not only puzzling for logistical reasons, it deprives gamers of the opportunity to play as a woman. (Adding more tokens so we could include Han and Leia would have been a great choice.)
Many retailers are marketing this as Star Wars: The Force Awakens Monopoly. How will parents explain to their daughters that the main character from the movie is not an option for them when they play the game?
Reaction has been swift and brutal on social media, but perhaps no one put it as eloquently as this little girl.
8 yr old asks, How could you leave out Rey in SW Monopoly? @LetToysBeToys @HasbroNews @PigtailPals #WheresRey pic.twitter.com/EnOs56PQE5
— Carrie Goldman (@CarrieMGoldman) January 4, 2016
We’re not sure if Hasbro thinks that girls don’t play Monopoly or that they don’t like Star Wars. Both assumptions are incorrect. It’s 2016, Hasbro. Time to get with the program.
h/t Legion of Leia