And I don’t just mean the “holy crap, how am I going to afford anything this year?” part.
I have a couple of nephews, one of whom is a little 8-year-old science nerd, and so I’ve been looking around for some kind of build-it or do-it-yourself kits. I love robots, The Dude loves robots, so we’ve been thinking a robot kit would be super cool. While searching for such a kit, I found the WowWee RoboSapien, which is not anything I’m interested in, except that it’s supposed to be “humanoid,” and thus can “dance, burp, do a karate chop, give a high five” and so forth. Okay. It apparently also has a girlfriend.
Yep. You know where this is going.
Say hello to (or maybe giggle and bat your eyes at) Femisapien. She doesn’t belch, but she does dance, sing (back-up, of course!) and blow kisses. But that’s not all!
Femisapien speaks her own form of Femmish and responds to user gestures, touch, and sounds with her own. … Tilt her head to access her three main function modes: Attentive Mode with interactive wandering, seeing and hearing functions, Responsive Mode for walking and scripted actions, and Learning Mode where she remembers exactly how you move her. … FemiSapien is a real 21st century robot entertaining, dynamic, and classy. A perfect, interactive friend and the evolutionary successor to the RoboSapien line.
(Can you see the O NO U DINT face I’m making?)
FEMMISH? TILT HER HEAD? ATTENTIVE and RESPONSIVE MODES? CLASSY?
No burps and farts for this perfect, evolved rob0-lady! Also, check out her sexy, pneumatic bod! Just the thing for the grade-school set, amirite? Too bad I don’t have a niece to give this to, so she’ll know that how a perfectly programmed fem-bot is supposed to look and act. So efficient, rather than having to brainwash her over years and years.
Female toy engineers, please come to my rescue, before I’m reduced to buying my nephew alphabet blocks for lack of offensive options.
Sigh. I was at Toys R Us a few weeks ago scoping out Legos. Have you seen the horrid pink “girl” legos? Apparently girls can’t like a bus, airplane, robot, store, or spaceship. Only pink huts and pink horses.
Go to ThinkGeek or the Maker Store. My kids are getting the blinky bugs kit this year.
-Marietta
So even though both toys have to be programmed, the manufacturers only want to be clear about that with the female version. This leads me to conclude that whereas the actions themselves are the fun part for the male version, programming the actions are the fun part with the female. Just dandy.
How about something like this? http://www.amazon.com/Green-Science-Soda-Can-Robug/dp/B00123AV5I/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1291140265&sr=1-3
It’s sold via the Natural History Museum over here in the UK, they’ve also got dinosaur excavation kits which I am sorely tempted to get for myself.
Oh Maude. The catalogs are making me CRAZY. They are so ridiculously gendered. It’s really unbelievably. Except, it shouldn’t be unbelievable, because how else are the kids supposed to learn how to act? Duh.
Gawd they couldn’t even come up with spinworthy copy. “Remembers exactly how you move her”? Me, I’d prefer a trashy fembot who reminds me of me – goes to McDonalds way too often, will not change the channel if food network is on and remembers exactly what position was so comfy when I got out of bed this morning.
What about a build your own kite kit? Then he can discover electricity and build a robot from scratch.
UGH. Awful. I am so bad at buying gifts for kids. I always want to buy books but I don’t have a single little cousin who likes to read and I refuse to spend money on disposable crap like that (nothing against it I just know they’re already getting so much of it from everyone else). It’s depressing.
This is so pathetically unsurprising. Now that I have a kid, I was browsing the toy section of a local Kohl’s-like chain, and could swear that the whole mess was, if anything, even MORE gendered than in the 70s, when I was the target audience. Girl aisles full of pink glittery gaudy caretaking- and purty-princess-themed junk, then boy aisles devoted to car-worship, superheroes, and shootin’ at stuff. So this idiotic Robosapien crap makes perfect sense, in context.
Is the Quiverfull movement secretly running the show in the toy industry? Or can the design-and-idea people who peddle it really be less aware of the insidiousness of traditional gender dynamics than they were in Barbie’s heyday?
I watched the movement demo. “Femmish” is a collection of sounds emulating giggles, sighs and moans.
So what we’ve got here is a robotic equivalent of a tiny blow-up doll.
Question for the inventors: why does a robot need mammary glands?
ETA Hoffmann was way ahead of his time. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Sandmann)
*head desk* that really really really sucks!
I wish there was a way for me to transport this great shop near where I live to you Dorky; it’s called “Terrific Scientific”.
For my nephew who seemed to be a bit overwhelmed by science, I got him a couple of sciency kits (circuits, non-newtonian fluids, etc) and a plasma ball so he could have fun, and most importantly see that science is fun too!
ritualtheory – It is SO TRUE. EVERYTHING comes in a “girl” version now. Even stuff that was almost totally gender neutral to begin with, like infant car seats or high chairs. How my alphabet patterned high chair is too boy-like I will never understand.
I think the worst part of the robot is I think the “girl” version of this toy is still meant for boys. I mean, the copy doesn’t sound like they’re targeting girls specifically (that would include the words “Best Friend!!!!” and some sort of suggestion of shopping together) and she doesn’t have pretty hair to brush. So definitely for boys. God forbid they go into middle school not expecting women to tilt their heads and respond to their every wish!
What, wait? Women burp and fart? No way! Next thing you’re going to tell me they defecate, too! Get behind me, Satan.
Thanks for the recommendations, y’all. I wish I could visit Terrific Scientific, Mackey, but I may have found something at ThinkGeek, so major thanks for the reference, Ms. M.
This makes me think a brainstormy, hivemindy holiday gift suggestion FFT might be in order…
Yeah, this pretty much throws a wrench in all my friends trying for ungendered green stuff for their babies. I now envision a baby room that is ultra-both-gendered. Magenta and blue stripes! Every other item is a “girl” one or a “boy” one. Nothing neutral! Play with both!
Princess dresses and trucks for everyone!
You could also go with giantmicrobes.com – my current favorite gift site after ThinkGeek. Who doesn’t love fuzzy, stuffed microbes?
@ Bluebears: art supplies!
That is one of the two choices I leave myself when buying for kids. Art supplies and/or books. Even if the kid doesn’t like art, s/he may need the stuff for school projects or whatever one day. There are nice crayons & pencils that turn into water colors when you apply a wet paintbrush, really fun & useful.
Good luck!
“evolutionary successor”??????
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As late a reaction as this might be, can I second Es on the dinosaur excavation kits? They are amazing, and gloriously void of gender targeting.
As for the “Femisapien”… I suppose, in this day and age, they didn’t feel that Barbie was quite effective enough at getting those little girls into their chute to housewifery. So they bring out something with a perkier bust, a rounder behind, and built-in high heels.
Who needs finishing school when you can find a personal trainer in your stocking on Christmas Day?