You might be hearing a lot of talk on gender flipping these days and the newest thing to get the “flip” is children’s toys. By no means is this a new controversy, as people have been trying to change outdated gender-specific toys such as Mattel’s Barbie for decades. However, GoldieBlox (a company with Seattle ties and reported on by GeekWire) is making an impact with a new video.
The goal of GoldieBlox is to build games for girls to inspire future engineers, and the video stays true to that message.
The premise: three young girls are bored watching an all pink, princessey TV show, so they pop in some tunes (the distinctly gender role reinforcing anthem “Girls” by the Beastie Boys with updated lyrics sung by girls about their unhappiness with “girls toys”) don tool belts and safety goggles and get to creating an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine that spans the entire house.
Their contraption highlights the toys and games GoldieBlox makes while incorporating the frilly, stereotypical girls’ toys as just pieces of their creation.
The machine’s final function is to change the channel on the TV, to which the girls jump up and down in delight. The overall tone is positive and the message is clear: girls want more options when it comes to games and toys — and ultimately careers.
This will no doubt give the the company a boost, as the video is going viral. Check out GoldieBlox here.
