[mcv]

It's not bullshit. In the 1970s, Lego marketed equally to all kids, but towards the 1990s, they were marketing increasingly towards boys and not girls. You can also see it in the selection of minifigs: originally they were fairly unisex, but as they became more gendered, female ones turned out to be quite rare.

When called on it, instead of making their general line more unisex again, Lego tried introducing lines specifically aimed at girls, with little success until the Friends line.

They're also now introducing more female minifigs in their main lines, which is great.

[jacquesm]

The minifigs are themselves an interesting departure from the figs that preceded them. The figs were simply too large, they stood about twice as tall as a minifig. But there were all the elements of a family in there, including grandmothers and babies. The first time a female minifig was made came a long time after the first male minifig.

[nf8nnfufuu]

If they did so, then presumably because they had more success with boys. The "Friends" line example seems to show that marketing it to girls successfully wasn't trivial.