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Feminism: Sex & gender discussions

Playmobil and Imaginext

31 replies

Adagoo · 03/07/2011 16:59

I'm sorry if this has been dome before. I did look Blush

My DS has a lot of Imaginext toys. Now I've got DD I thought it was a good idea to get some female characters so she could identify with them, and also to normalise DS with thinking that girls/ women have a place and a part to play in his games/ role play. You can't get imaginext female characters Shock. At all.

So then I thought, I'll get him some playmobil. He has one playmobil pirate that is female. I have looked, and there do not seem to be any more. Also in the castle sets there are no female characters. The nearest I can get is a mermaid or a princess.

Why do I have to get a 'domestic' setting in order to get female toys? Why can't I get some female characters in 'boys' toys? I am very Angry that I can't get female characters in space, or police, or fire stations. Female playmobil characters seem to be looking after animals or on holiday.

Can someone link any good toys with female characters in them?

OP posts:
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ChristinedePizan · 03/07/2011 17:05

I realised this the other day (have a DS). My DS loves imaginext stuff but I really feel like chucking the lot in the bin Angry

Lego are just as bad. DS has a Lego City comic with a poster of a building site in it and there are only two female characters in the picture - both busty and wearing white jeans and lipstick with simpering expressions. It has gone in the bin.

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MillyR · 03/07/2011 17:06

A lot of the Playmobil doctors are women.

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MillyR · 03/07/2011 17:10

I've just had a look at the Playmobil website, and many of the toys do come with female fire fighters and police women. One of the criminals is also a woman.

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wonkylegs · 03/07/2011 17:12

Actually you can get female characters just take a look on playmobil's website - under people
There is a female zoo keeper with alligator, dolphin transport lady, egyptian family,knight family, native American family, some of their police figures could be either, fairies-def a girl!, lots of family sets(girl boy mum dad)

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Bue · 03/07/2011 18:03

Look into the Playmobil pirates/crusaders etc - they all have long hair and can definitely be presented as either.

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fuzzpig · 03/07/2011 18:06

That's pretty shit of imaginext. Is that part of a bigger brand?

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DilysPrice · 03/07/2011 18:12

I don't think Lego are quite as bad, they do include a token female explorer/spy/cop/spaceperson in most of their sets.
Yes they signal the fact that they're female with long hair/pouty lips and obvious breasts, but it's very difficult to signal femininity otherwise in a 3cm high figure with a rectangular torso.

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OrangeHat · 03/07/2011 18:13

Just had a quick look at imaginex spaceship on amazon. How do you know that the astronaut figures are male? Grin

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ChristinedePizan · 03/07/2011 18:20

You can take their helmets off OrangeHat and they have very 'male' shaped bodies.

Imaginext is made by Fisher-Price

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MoChan · 03/07/2011 18:22

I think playmobil is generally ok. We have an ambulance which came with male and female paramedics, a police car with male and female officers, etc. Though I do note that the ice cream parlour came with a female server, and the ice-cream parlour apron only fits onto the female figures. When we put ice cream parlour Playmobil dad behind the counter he'll just have to get ice cream on his trousers.

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OrangeHat · 03/07/2011 18:27

Oh bugger to taking their helmets off and they are all men.

Why?

Bastards.

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Lancelottie · 03/07/2011 18:31

Lego people's head come off if you pull hard enough.

Mwahahahahaha!

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melpomene · 03/07/2011 19:42

We have a male Playmobil icecream seller; he came with a little bike and icecream cart. We also have a female vet.

A great tip I read on here a while ago: you can take off the Playmobil characters' hair and swap them round. So if you have a female character with a skirt and long hair, and a male character with short hair, by swapping their hair you can make them both appear female.

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melpomene · 03/07/2011 19:47

Or if you want to get creative you could get a fine sharpie and draw eyelashes onto some of the firefighters or pirates to designate them as female!

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CrapolaDeVille · 03/07/2011 19:55

mY dss both complained of the lack of girls or girl characters in Lego. I was only thinking the other day girls toys don't involve as many occupations as boys. Boys also have more TV of action/occupation characters and so lend themselves to Lego and console games..... girls don't.

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melpomene · 03/07/2011 19:58
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suzikettles · 03/07/2011 20:01

Ds has a playmobile vet set, police car and fire engine, and as previously posted there are male and female characters in each.

I suspect the woman in the vet set is meant to be a nurse, but ds assumes that she's the vet as he's never met a male one..

You can pull the hair/heads off playmobile figures btw.

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LunarRose · 03/07/2011 20:05

Barbie!!!!

As Wiki says
"She also holds a pilot's license, and operates commercial airliners in addition to serving as a flight attendant. Barbie's careers are designed to show that women can take on a variety of roles in life, and the doll has been sold with a wide range of titles including Miss Astronaut Barbie (1965), Doctor Barbie (1988) and Nascar Barbie (1998)."

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fuzzpig · 03/07/2011 20:14

Or if you want to get creative you could get a fine sharpie and draw eyelashes onto some of the firefighters or pirates to designate them as female!

Ah, but that implies women should have big fluttery mascara-caked eyelashes... :o

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LunarRose · 03/07/2011 20:24

Ooo I just realised you said DS not DD, so perhaps not Barbie....

Blush having said that now I'm going to be doubly flamed on a feminist thread

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melpomene · 03/07/2011 20:27

Eyelashes are generally used to signal females of any age (plus femal animals) in cartoons, don't think it's quite equivalent to mascara.

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CrapolaDeVille · 03/07/2011 20:31

BUT the playmobile characters are labelled 'police woman' whereas I bet there are lots of different types of male characters.....is the male assassin just called an assassin or male assassin?

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suzikettles · 03/07/2011 20:39

That was on eBay, afaik they aren't labelled "police woman" or "female firefighter" in the actual box.

They do have the weird eyelashes though.

The paediatrician is female as well.

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CrapolaDeVille · 03/07/2011 20:41

No juist checked, you're right.

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AmazingBouncingFerret · 03/07/2011 20:46

Playmobil is not so bad. But Imaginext is awful if you actually watch the DVD that comes with some of the toys it shows the imaginext "heroes" getting together to fight some aliens All of them are male, the pirate, the firefighter, the explorer etc... not one is female. Never really occurred to me until this thread but I'm going to glare every time I see them at work now! Angry

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