LEGOS Deemed Anti-LGBTQ

 

According to the U.K. Telegraph, the group of U.K. museums known collectively as the Science Museum offer self-guided tours called ‘Seeing Things Queerly’ during which one can explore “stories of queer communities, experiences and identities.” What else would one go to a museum to do? The ‘tours’ are reportedly the creation of a group of staff and volunteers who identify as ‘the Gender and Sexuality Network.’

The most controversial aspect of the tour is a bucket of LEGO bricks presented alongside a warning that the toys may reinforce the apparently outdated notion that heterosexuality is somehow “the norm”:

Like other connectors and fasteners, Lego bricks are often described in a gendered way. The top of the brick with sticking out pins is male, the bottom of the brick with holes to receive the pins is female, and the process of the two sides being put together is called mating.

This is an example of applying heteronormative language to topics unrelated to gender, sex and reproduction. It illustrates how heteronormativity (the idea that heterosexuality and the male/female gender binary are the norm and everything that falls outside is unusual) shapes the way we speak about science, technology, and the world in general.

Let’s take the asininity from the top, shall we? Seeing things clearly is far more important than “seeing things queerly.” No matter how hard ideologues and advocates try, they can’t succeed in their goal of “queering everything.” Sorry, you can’t make eggs queer. You can’t “queer” sand. Or your toaster. And wanting to do so is an admission that you need help.

“Male” and “female” exist regardless of one’s deepest desires or fevered fantasies. And that’s a good thing, too, because if they didn’t, no one would be here.

A rectangle is a rectangle and a circle is a circle, irrespective of what someone calls them. A chair is a chair, a rock is a rock, a knife is a knife, and so on…no matter what I deem “my truth.” And I am not a member of the opposite sex, an African-American, six-foot-five, or a German Shepherd simply because I claim to identify as such. I can bitch about being “assigned” human at birth, but that only pits me against my Creator.

Here is one definition of male, from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: designed with a projecting part for fitting into a corresponding female part.

“Designed.” “With a projecting part for fitting into a corresponding female part.” Very simple. And supremely important. If Legos didn’t have male and female parts, they wouldn’t stick together, and the ‘buildings’ and ‘vehicles’ we build with them would fall apart. The same goes for robot or ‘human’ figures.

Legos wouldn’t be Legos without male and female parts.

Nor would people be people. You can try to take the person out of their gender, but you can’t take the gender out of the person.