Straight media. I had several different
experiences with Lego when I was a kid.
I remember going to play group when
I was really, really tiny and
they had some fabuland characters and stuff
there and some very basic lego bricks.
So they're kind of little animal characters
that I loved playing with. The one
of products that I really remember owning
myself was the Yellow Castle. So that
was launched in the S. I
probably got it a little bit later than
that because I was born in seventy
five. I think I had it when
I was around six or seven years
old. Really love that. I've actually
got a photograph of myself with my
dad, my Granddad, playing with that
set. And and then the other
very special thing about Lego to me was
I have a brother and we were
very, very different. Didn't get on
a lot of the time and we're
fighting like cats and dogs most of the
time, but Lego was the one
Lego sets with the one sort of true
product where we actually could sit down
and play nicely together, and even to
the point that after my mom and
dad had put us to bed, we
had separate bedrooms, I sneak back
into his room we quietly tipple the lego
out on the floor while we were
supposed to be in bed, and carry
on building until we heard my parents
coming up the stuff so that we've got
to switch the lights out and I
the minutes I heard the bedroom built closed.
I had to scumber across the copin
covered in Lego, but to my
room who, without screaming of stunning, gun it all. And yes,
I've got a lot of really lovely
memories of Lego as a child and it
was actually while I was playing with
with my Lego sets as a kid,
I remember that was the point where
I came to the realization I wants to
be a toy design and when I
grow up. When you're walking down the
toy aisle, you can immediately point
out who the intended audiences for that section
of toys. They are the aisles
full of Pink Ballerina slippers, easy bake
ovens and barbies, and then there's
the aisleful of blue monster truck, Superhero
costumes and action figures. Do you
see the common theme? One side is
pink and the other is blue.
And when you're a boy and you want
to play with Barbie, your parents
might tell you no because those were made
for goals and vice versa. But
where did this idea of pink toys and
blue toys come from, and what
effect of these different toys have on kids
as they grow up? Today we
chat with Matthew Ashton, the vice president
of design at Lego, who helps
us walk through the past, present and
future of gendered toys. I let
thrust them, and this is pride.
At one point pink was actually considered
to be a male color, while blue
was seen as feminine. But after
World War Two, Rosie the riveter traded
in her factory blues for June cleaver's
Pink Apron and the rest is history.
Pink is almost always associated with girls
and blue with boys. Then in the
S, companies began to notice that
if they marketed toys, clothing and other
kid products to a specific gender,
wealthier families would pay for a new set
for each child they welcomed into their
home. So toy industries begin to adhere
to two gender binaries exclusively. But
it's not just the color that's different.
The toys being marketed for boys usually
involve action and violence of some kind,
while toys for girls focus more on
nurturing and care taking. By the early
S, barbies were being pushed on
young girls, while boys were expected to
play with Gi Joe Action figures.
Growing up, I really liked my little
pony. I loved all the toys
and I watched all the movies, whend
whistler was my favorite. My mom
was very encouraging and if I wanted the
toy, she bought it for me. But what happens when a family is
not encouraging and only lets their child
shop from one side of the toy aisle,
the one that is seen as gender
appropriate by society standards? I know
I struggled myself, especially when I
was growing up as well. There was
toys that I was allowed to the
with, toys that I weren't laughed because
they were the girls or whatever.
For kids this can be a hard pill
to swallow. They're left wondering why
can't I play with the toy I want
to play with? For Matt,
who was not exposed to the Lgbtqi a
community at a young age, gender
toys made him feel even more alienated from
his peers. But I can remember, of course, that was very colorful,
bread rainbow related things that, but
not really related to pride specifically or
the ALTPC Q and even with what
I was seeing on TV, there was
so little representation that as a kid
I felt very alone in a way that
I didn't know other kids like me
at school and didn't really understand why I
was different and and not having a
lot of information or people talking about these
things around me made it really tough
for me to understand what was going on
with myself. But even Lego has
released products with a specific audience in mind.
If you look at some of the
sets they've released, some follow that
same gendered pattern. But I think
there was periods within the toy industry where
things did become quite gendered for a
while and we may have sort of fallen
into that trap a little bit ourselves. Lego city seems to be marketed to
boys, while they go friends is
more mark get into girls. Both sets
have different packaging and characters to adhere
them to a specific audience, but each
set has more than one function.
They're fun to play with and they can
be educational for kids. We have
so many different product lines talkers and kids
and, of course, the so
much stuff that kids can learn from toys
that they may not experience in real
life. We've got other properties like Ninjago,
which is is an action line based
on Ninjas and things like that,
and the so much stuff that kids
learn about teamwork, perseverance and and all
of that kind of stuff from a
product line like that. While some toys
created for boys teach them about stereotypical
masculine roles and professions and heroism, other
sets for girls tend to focus on
being domestic and beautiful and on socializing,
not to mention all gendered toys play
into the idea of their being only two
genders, that some kids get to
wear Tuotoo's while others can. Gender is
an identity and is not based on
someone's biological sex. We know that,
Matt says, parents have become very
reliant on toys to teach their children valuable
life lessons. But with so much
responsibility, it's up to the toymakers to
ensure the right message is being conveyed, that it's more than Oh, it's
just something to keep them occupied on
something times have fun with, that we
can actually help kids learn sort of
valuable lessons, whether that's about how to
be a good friend or any of
the kind of metaric skills, all counting
skills and all of the creative skills
that you got from Lego. I think
it's something the parents are expecting more
and it's actually something that helps parents have
a conversation with their children about things
as well, because it's often difficult to
bring up topics and stuff, but
if you've got something play with them with
and talk about these things at the
same time, I think that that can
can really sort of help break the
ice on some some topics that could be
tricky for families to conversations well.
A survey conducted in two thousand and nineteen
by Ryan Watson, Christopher Weldon and
Rebecca Pool says about twenty four percent of
US adolescens identify as queer. So
it's more important now than ever that toys
are focused on inclusion rather than masculine
and feminine stereotypes, and I think we
need to sort of pep breaking those
barriers down and and and finding ways to
make everybody feel like anything that we
create w they you'll, boy, girl,
non binary, whatever your gender,
whoever you choose to love, the
something out the for you with with
what we create. In two thousand and
nineteen, Mittell, the multinational toy
manufacturing company, created the first gender neutral
dawn. It had a basic figure, interchangeable hair and a wardrobe that had
everything from tutoos to graphic Tis and
pants. It was one step forward towards
inclusive toy making, but there's still
work to be done. Studies show that
toys are more gender now than they
were fifty years ago. It's because of
advertising pressure in the popularity of gender
reveal parties among families that drives toy companies
to separate their products this way.
So what are we doing about it?
When we come back Legos, pride
collection and the future of inclusive toy making?
Welcome back. Today we're speaking with
Matthew Ashton, a twenty year toy
veteran and the vice president of design
at Lego. Before the break, we
broke down the history of gendered toys
and the impact toys can have on a
child's development. So how did Matthew
get his start in toymaking? As a
kid, I love my toys in
general and I did a lot abouts and
crafts and things, and then loved
stuff like Consfomas and star wars and my
little pony and a whole range of
things. Lego was really special to me
because it was sort of a creative
medium that actually you can design. Would
let go from from being a child
as well. But when I had the
realization I wanted a toy designer,
that was FT. I watched. I
Really Loved Pinocchio, the Disney move
a were a toy comes to life.
I US watched big with Tom Hanks
in where it's a little kid that grows
up and becomes a toy designer,
and that's where the sort of little light
bulb went off in my head.
Well, I really thought this was something
I'd like to do, but at
that point you also don't think it's a
real thing because you don't meet any
toy designers like that's what Sanders Helpers to
Matthew continue to pursue his passion for
art, whether it was photography, sculpting
or graphic design, you name it, he tried it. Then he went
to a university in bright and studied
fashion design with business studies there, and
by the time I graduated we had
a runway show and a static exhibition in
London that some headhunters from the industry
happened to be at, from all different
kind of industries and displaying my work
that we only had a really limited space
to display any of our designs.
Most fashion designers just hang up one garment
and have their portfolio at hand.
I was being a bit in decisive.
Couldn't decide which government it was.
So I did in miniature version of my
cutwork collection on barby dolls and the
happened to be somebody at the same exhibition
going to check out some industrial designers
and product designers at the the show as
well. They happened to walk past
my stand. They were from Lego.
Loved the barbies but also some of
the children's were of stuff that I've done
as well. They were working on
some products for girls at that point and
thought I could be a really good
asset to the team, so they left
the business card. I got in
touch, manage to get some freelance work
and then ultimately got my full time
job at Lego and moved to Denmark after
twenty one years at Lego. Matthew
says the toy company is determined to create
more inclusive products, like their new
pride Lego set. Since I've been at
the company that's been a real concerted
effort to sort of rebalance that out make
sure that we have a products that
are appealing to everybody and not alienating anyone,
and we've really as well with that. Not only do we have the
toys in the place, that's that
we make, but there's a lot of
animated content that we do. We
do collectible mini figures. We've really worked
to make sure that we have a
fifty gender split within within those to make
sure that we're representing male and female
characters as well. So we've really done
what we can and are continuing to
make sure that that's part of our mission
as well to really include everybody and
what we do. So what changed?
What caused large companies like Lego to
want to release a more inclusive set?
Obviously the world has has been quite
divided on many, many different topics and
things and quite a tough place to
live. So I think I've reflected on
that personally. I think as a
society we've also reflected on this, and
then as Lego as a brand,
and like we can all be doing a
little bit more to be getting along
better seeing the best in each other,
and I think that's why we've launched
this set as a starting point, but
we definitely wanted to continue in finding
all different ways that we can be more
inclusive and shining a light on the
different kind of people that needs it.
In honor of pride month, Lego
launched everyone is our some set. It's
the Brillians first LGBTQIA collection. I
was very happy when they said they they
done it, and I think as
well for me, being growing up an
lgbtq kid myself. I'm gay,
and and also knowing as a child that
I struggled that the wasn't I was
realizing I was gay, like mid s
and things, and of course there
wasn't a huge amount of representation around their
nonin toys at all. Matthew originally
designed the set for his own use,
but somehow it ended up on store
shelves. A little bit of a funny
story. I was moving and desks
at work and wanted to create something for
my new desk that kind of reflected
me in a way. So I've built
the very first version of this set. There's more of something I just wanted
to play on my own desk and
at the same time we were having a
lot of discussions internally at like our
company to figure out ways that we could
be much more outspoken on different issues. That sort of encouraged sort of empathy
and understanding and seeing through and embracing
everybody else's differences. So the two things
kind of Jeal to get it quite
nice and I was like, well,
I've actually got something on my death
that I think I'll be really, really
good that we could launch to celebrate
a statement like that. So the the
sort of stars aligned and we brought
its life and made it a real thing
that people can buy. Now.
The set includes eleven figures, all representing
different genders, braces and sexualities.
Their monochrome and represent a different color from
the pride flags. Obviously, when
inspired by the the obviously the classic flag
is part of it, but we
also wanted to make sure that we included
the break black and brown colors as
well to say look, there's all different
people from different walks of life,
different ethnicities, different backgrounds and races that
are part of the Lgbtq community.
And then, of course, we also
wanted to really acknowledge and celebrate the
Trans community as well. So that's why
we've got the whiting, white and
people as well. So we just wanted
to say it's for absolutely everybody.
Everybody has a right to express themselves us
their imagination that created and that's what
we stand for as a Brond. So
so that's that's really what we were
we were wanting to achieve with this,
is just to say, but we're
here for everybody and everybody is more than
welcome to join in the fun and
good created together. The set is pretty
simple, so it doesn't have as
many life building skills as some of the
other Lego sets, but the lesson
it teaches is crucial. We are working
with all of our different product lines
that are targeting kids as well to find
ways, through the stories that we
tell, with the the content that we
create, that can encourage kids to
sort of be really see through each other's
differences, see that everybody has got
something great inside them, to show them
that how different everybody is, that
everybody can be awesome and has the potential
to be awesome when we really want
to sort of inspire those kids to to
thrive and learn to be good friends
to each other and and then hopefully that
will lead to a much more sort
of positive, inclusive and happier world in
the future as well. It's a
statement piece and was designed to be displayed
in your home. But even though
it doesn't have as many play features as
other sets, Matthew says, everyone
can enjoy. This collection is titled Everyone
is awesome, because we believe everyone
is awesome. So it's whoever wants to
sort of join in, join in
the fun, get creative and build with
it as is. We want to
celebrate through this product. In addition to
the pride set, Matthew says,
Lego has included several positive themes in their
films to help inspire children. With
the movies that we've already created, we
really tried to tackle some topics around
inclusivity and certain issues that kids of face.
So like like a movie to very
much had some emphasis on sort of
kids dealing with toxic masculinity and also
a little bit of gender stereotyping and things
and sort of empowerment girls and things. So I think there's a lot of
stuff like that that we've already incorporated
in the movies that we've already made and
we're just going to build on that
moment forward. There have been other steps
towards inclusion in recent months, like
Hasbro's decision to remove the R from the
title of their Mr Potato Hand Toy. Some toys are also being modified to
help children with special needs, like
Mittell, who partnered with the National Federation
of the blind to release the first
ever set of UNO cards in Brail.
So the more that we can get
representation out in the world through whatever format,
whether it's through toys to shows,
movies content, I think that's just
such positive thing that we can do
to make sure that everybody knows as a
place for them in the world,
the words of community out the the the
cotton, support and love them,
then not alone in in all of this.
You can buy the everyone is awesome
Lego pride collection by visiting LEGOCOM,
going to any brand store location or
by visiting Legoland in California. To keep
up with Matt, you can find
me on Instagram and twitter as at Matthew
with two T's, double under school, Ashton Asht and you can follow Lego
at Lego on Instagram and at Lego
underscore group on twitter. Thanks for listening.
Pride to the production of Straw hut
media. If you like to show
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pride yes it's that easy. Pride is
produced by me, leave by chambers, Maggie Bowls, Ryan Tillotson and Caitlyn
mcdaniel, edited by Sebastian. I'll
call up, and Daniel forever sound mixing.
I Sebastian, I'll call up.
I remember feeling that way, like,
Oh, I'm not supposed to like
wind, Ghostlur from my little pony.
You even know their names as well, will don't you? Yes,
I loved the movies to was,
you know, obviously