Boards
These are the Lego construction worker stickers that caused such an uproar! | Source: tumblr
Lego is under fire for what’s being considered a sexist sticker. The sticker in question is pictured here–the construction worker in the sunglasses saying, “Hey babe!” And it made a lot of people on the Internet mad.
It’s clearly poking fun at the construction worker stereotype of catcalling girls, and I really doubt Lego had intentions of promoting what’s essentially sexual harassment through stickers aimed at little kids. Got that? I don’t think Lego meant any harm. I don’t think Lego was deliberately being sexist.
However, I do think that Lego was inadvertently promoting sexual harassment, which is, in itself, sexist.
For their part, Lego at first shrugged off the outrage, initially apologizing only that the original customer was upset–not for what they did–saying, “To communicate the LEGO experience to children we typically use humor and we are sorry that you were unhappy with the way a minifigure was portrayed here.”
I’m a comic. I get humor. Really. I especially get offensive humor (it’s my favorite). But this humor is targeted at four-year-olds who won’t get it.
Lego later apologized and added: “I am truly sorry that you had a negative experience with one of our products […] the product is no longer available and we would not approve such a product again.”
I do think there’s a bit of a problem with the normalization of sexual harassment. By selling this image to little kids, it becomes normal to them and it becomes accepted, and that’s annoying. Because if you’ve ever been catcalled–and I bet you have–it’s not a warm, fuzzy feeling. It feels gross, irritating and disrespectful, because that’s exactly what it is.
And sexual harassment like catcalling? It’s super common. Studies show that sexual harassment is the most common form of sexual violence, and between 70 and 99 percent of us will deal with street harassment during our lives. (That’s why I said I bet you’ve been catcalled!) If it wasn’t just shrugged off so easily and regarded as just “boys will be boys,” that number would probably go way down. Because sexual harassment isn’t that funny, and it’s not “boys will be boys.” It leads to “boys will be pigs,” and when they get away with that, it can easily escalate to “boys will be abusers” and “boys will be rapists.”
Plus, it’s really not that fair to construction workers to proliferate that stereotype. Frankly, I get whistled at a lot more by truck drivers.
Do you think Lego was being sexist by making a catcalling construction worker sticker? Have you ever been catcalled? Do you think Lego was promoting sexual harassment? Tell us in the comments!
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This is incredibly sexist and I think sexual abuse is very real and should be treated with seriousness.
‘Boys will be boys’ leads to ‘Boys will be rapists’? Bit of an over exaggeration don’t you think? And how many people consider catcalling to be sexual abuse?