Are you wearing a hat?
Oh Hasbro have been through the old mail bag wringer lately. A recent correspondence 'twixt them and a 6 year old has had them rending their Hasbro garments and begging mummy not to throw out the game in which 2 people play shallow detective.
Jennifer O'Connell blogged the correspondence she and her daughter received when they e-mailed Hasbro to complain that: “it's not fair to only have 5 girls in Guess Who and 19 boys. It is not only boys who are important, girls are important too...if girls want to be a girl in Guess Who they'll always lose against a boy, and it will be harder for them to win. I am cross about that”
Hasbro, aware that they were conversing, via e-mail, with a 6 year old replied with an informative lesson in numerical equations. Something we don't recall the National Curriculum covering in infants. “Another aspect of the game is to draw attention away from using gender or ethnicity as the focal point, and to concentrate on those things that we all have in common, rather than focus on our differences.” We've translated that to mean 'suck it up and choose a male character next time' and come up with some gender neutral suggestions for Guess Who questions to use in future...
Jennifer O'Connell blogged the correspondence she and her daughter received when they e-mailed Hasbro to complain that: “it's not fair to only have 5 girls in Guess Who and 19 boys. It is not only boys who are important, girls are important too...if girls want to be a girl in Guess Who they'll always lose against a boy, and it will be harder for them to win. I am cross about that”
Hasbro, aware that they were conversing, via e-mail, with a 6 year old replied with an informative lesson in numerical equations. Something we don't recall the National Curriculum covering in infants. “Another aspect of the game is to draw attention away from using gender or ethnicity as the focal point, and to concentrate on those things that we all have in common, rather than focus on our differences.” We've translated that to mean 'suck it up and choose a male character next time' and come up with some gender neutral suggestions for Guess Who questions to use in future...
1. I always found that “are they Ayran” was a great opening question for the 'classic' design. Almost 50% of the board had blonde hair and blue eyes so it was a good opening question. Coming up with inappropriate questions was always more fun than the game itself - “do you have some puppies you want to show me?” “Yes” “You're Charles aren't you?” Gareth
2. I love any excuse to play a game from my childhood, no matter how it's been re-vamped for the cool 4 year-olds of 2012. My excuse this time was my boyfriend's nephew, he wanted to play his Ben 10 version of Guess Who? - I was down on that carpet in an instant, legs crossed and eager to play. Most of the characters were aliens. I asked the little guy, in front of all the adults who watched over, like I guess they are supposed to do if they're the responsible kind: "Do they have a mouth like this?" and stuck two fingers in my mouth and pulled till I looked like the wide mouth alien. His parents and my boyfriend laughed at me as if I had asked the most ridiculous question in the world. The little boy replied quite seriously (because we were well into our game) "Yes". In your face adults and gender stereotyping! Squeamish Nicola
3. Are they the one hiding Valium in the aspirin bottle and popping it like it's candy? (I never really played Guess Who, so I hope that suits...) F1 Kate
4. A lot of the Guess Who characters look a little shady. Asking if they are involved in a shadowy underworld conspiracy, or would just sell you knock off diet pills outside your kids' school should soon marrow it down. Squeamish Louise
5. Having laughed at a friend who mistakenly referred to Guess Who? as Who is it? (on a bonding trip to Norway I discovered he was under the impression Noughts and Crosses was Tic Tac Toad) I recently came across Travel edition Who is it? in my local. It's the same game but under a different name but the portraits seem to have that bit more to them, meaning my sister and I managed to get our games down to one question that referred to a character's...je ne sais pas. “Do you have a boyfriend who has business cards that say: 'pro skate boarder'?” “Is there an air of resignation about you?” “Do you use those stone things as deodorant” all ended games incredibly quickly with no reference to facial hair. Squeamish Kate
2. I love any excuse to play a game from my childhood, no matter how it's been re-vamped for the cool 4 year-olds of 2012. My excuse this time was my boyfriend's nephew, he wanted to play his Ben 10 version of Guess Who? - I was down on that carpet in an instant, legs crossed and eager to play. Most of the characters were aliens. I asked the little guy, in front of all the adults who watched over, like I guess they are supposed to do if they're the responsible kind: "Do they have a mouth like this?" and stuck two fingers in my mouth and pulled till I looked like the wide mouth alien. His parents and my boyfriend laughed at me as if I had asked the most ridiculous question in the world. The little boy replied quite seriously (because we were well into our game) "Yes". In your face adults and gender stereotyping! Squeamish Nicola
3. Are they the one hiding Valium in the aspirin bottle and popping it like it's candy? (I never really played Guess Who, so I hope that suits...) F1 Kate
4. A lot of the Guess Who characters look a little shady. Asking if they are involved in a shadowy underworld conspiracy, or would just sell you knock off diet pills outside your kids' school should soon marrow it down. Squeamish Louise
5. Having laughed at a friend who mistakenly referred to Guess Who? as Who is it? (on a bonding trip to Norway I discovered he was under the impression Noughts and Crosses was Tic Tac Toad) I recently came across Travel edition Who is it? in my local. It's the same game but under a different name but the portraits seem to have that bit more to them, meaning my sister and I managed to get our games down to one question that referred to a character's...je ne sais pas. “Do you have a boyfriend who has business cards that say: 'pro skate boarder'?” “Is there an air of resignation about you?” “Do you use those stone things as deodorant” all ended games incredibly quickly with no reference to facial hair. Squeamish Kate
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