Now you can play cards without the kings, queens or jacks.
A woman in the Netherlands has created a gender-neutral deck of playing cards to combat inequality, according to a recent report.
Indy Mellink, 23, from Oegstgeest, Netherlands, recognized the subtle inequality last summer, Reuters reported.
She was reportedly explaining a game to her cousins when she wondered why a king was worth more than a queen.
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That’s when Mellink, a forensic psychology graduate, decided to design a gender-neutral deck, according to Reuters.
“If we have this hierarchy that the king is worth more than the queen then this subtle inequality influences people in their daily life because it’s just another way of saying ‘hey, you’re less important,” Mellink told Reuters. “Even subtle inequalities like this do play a big role.”
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According to the news agency, Mellink tried several options but finally landed on using gold, silver and bronze instead of kings, queens and jacks.
She called her new cards a GSB deck, which stands for Gold, Silver, Bronze, with gold bars, silver coins and a bronze shield on each of them, respectively.
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After friends and family reportedly bought Mellink’s first 50 GSB decks, she started selling them online, Reuters reported.
A woman in the Netherlands has made a genderless deck of playing cards with gold, silver and bronze instead of kings, queens and jacks, Reuters reported. (iStock)
It only took a few months before she sold about 1,500 packs to people in Belgium, Germany, France and even the U.S., according to the news agency.
Though the GSB decks have been received well, some are skeptical of the new deck.
“I have been playing bridge for 36 years now and I never heard that somebody, a woman or a jack, would feel undervalued,” one bridge player told Reuters while playing with the new cards. “No, never.”
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The head of the Dutch Bridge Association told Reuters that while reflecting on gender neutrality is important, making any formal changes to the game would be complicated.
“I wonder if it’s worth it,” Berit van Dobbenburgh said. “But gender neutrality, I am all for it! It’s great that someone of this age has noticed this. It’s the new generation.”
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