guacpop

Lego is a product primarily marketed to children, yeah, and because of that, many people are only exposed to it in childhood. It makes sense that people would feel infantilized by the introduction of legos if their memories of them are only from childhood. None of this changes the fact that legos are more than capable of stimulating an adult mind on par with their more advanced mental faculties. This is what it means to not be infantilizing. I think there is an issue of harkening to childhood being conflated with infantilization. There is also possibly an issue with how legos are advertised and employed in working sessions, such as in these women-in-tech groups. Putting adults in a room with a bunch of legos without communicated direction or purpose is arguably infantilization. Using legos as a simulation or problem-solving tool with a framed question instead would certainly be effective. Other tools definitely exist which are accessible to adults in the workplace. I suspect legos are chosen out of cheap abundance and to mitigate stress with the nostalgia factor, but this decision is seemingly backfiring in this case. It's quite possible that these thoughts did not motivate the selection, in which case I would definitely agree with the OP that this is all infantilizing. And that's because the legos are not incorporated with purpose, not because legos are somehow childish.

I don't see how this comment is helpful. My whole point is that legos are not just for children, so to argue that they are necessarily infantilizing is to take a deliberately ignorant stance on them. I think you should do some research on legos.

> What's your basis for concluding that the visual arts component provided the benefit, rather than the focus groups and direct discussion?

These conclusions were based on semantic analysis of required feedback forms from program participants. Those with higher performance on program metrics tended to speak higher of these sessions and their importance to them. Otherwise there was nothing to determine causality. But it was sufficient for leadership to say that they were helpful.

> I also think you're missing the whole point: your activities were for children, and for people who work with children. Why are we treating women like children?

The tens of thousands of educators we put through our programs were primarily women ages 30 - 55. But as I said, we also ran workshops for male-dominated teams in tech in Delhi and Bangalore (educational software), which was the basis for my representational comment, but that didn't amount to more than 100 people. That's the basis for comparison, not directly with children. Their line of work or location could certainly be complicating factors in extrapolating conclusions. Simply providing some interesting research to consider. Not treating women like children here.

I personally find more intimate groups to be much more conducive to actionable discussion. In that way I totally feel where you're coming from. I'm glad you found that satisfaction eventually. I can't empathize with your experience with these specific groups unfortunately since I haven't taken part and am also very new to the field, but it's saddening to hear that colleagues would take you less seriously for looking for support :'(

You find legos and arts & crafts infantilizing? I would be all over that, but I'm a 24 year old man so maybe we can't compare so much.

It's definitely a bummer if you're only seeing these kinds of events, but I also think these should be welcomed and encouraged as well. These activities bring kids of all types together and get the creative juices flowing. Why should it not be so for adults? There is countless evidence of controlled experiments demonstrating improved mental health and social connection in participants through these activities.

I recently worked for an educational NGO in India that runs social and emotional learning sessions primarily for underprivileged children but also for many adult clients in industry and public education. Countless documented success stories around self-empowerment in the face of much adversity, including representational. The vehicle that has facilitated this growth? Activities just like this. It just has to be done right to avoid distraction. Passive engagement doesn't do anything. Of course, these sessions were complemented by focus groups and more direct discussion, but in no way was any of this dumbed down by the visual arts.

Have you attended any yet? If not, you might want to give it a chance. Your aversion may just be ignorance. Legos and arts & crafts are not just for kids.