Gender Neutral Dolls

[AnthonyMartin]

I find some of these items concerning and do feel parents need to be very aware of agendas that may be pushed through toys.

I believe a much stronger push needs to be made to celebrate what God has created them to be. Find ways to celebrate what is special about girls. Find ways to celebrate what is special about boys and don't try to squash healthy masculine behavior. Either way, a relationship with child is paramount to understand and guide their interactions with the world around them.

[Szdfan]

Several years ago, I ready Peggy Orenstein’s book, “Cinderella Ate My Daughter,” which chronicles Disney’s marketing it’s “princesses” to young girls.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindere ... y_Daughter

The book stemmed from an article that Orenstein wrote for The New York Times Magazine in 2006 entitled "What's Wrong With Cinderella?"[2] In the article Orenstein relates her experiences as a mother, seeing her daughter exposed to a ubiquity of princesses and pink. The article explains the genesis of the Disney Princesses and the rise of the princess-themed merchandise and advertising.

Cinderella Ate My Daughter expands on the theme set out in the article, incorporating child beauty pageants, American Girl stores, and a Miley Cyrus concert. Orenstein concerns herself with young girls' self-esteem and the sexualization of girlhood

One passage I remember is that Orenstein points out that frequently group depictions of Disney Princesses shows them staring out into the distance and none of them actually interact with each other.

Like this:



That’s a passive depiction of a role model for girls. And it’s creepy. I haven’t been able to completely shield my daughters from this, but this kind of passivity and insipidness is not what I want to teach them.

Disney has made billions off of highly gendered toys. Mattel has made billions of of highly gendered toys. If you go to the toy aisles at Walmart, most of the toys are gendered. I don’t see any of that fundamentally changing.

But as Ken points out, there is a market for these non-gender binary toys. Isn’t that what capitalism is about? Isn’t this what freedom is about? Shouldn’t a company be free to sell the dolls it’s customers want to buy?

[Ken]

But as Ken points out, there is a market for these non-gender binary toys. Isn’t that what capitalism is about? Isn’t this what freedom is about? Shouldn’t a company be free to sell the dolls it’s customers want to buy?

Well, that wasn't *quite* my point. My point was more along the lines of "Matel is a for-profit company and almost certainly driven entirely by profit and not some political liberal conspiracy to promote an "LGBT agenda" If they are making gender-neutral dolls it is because they think they can make money with them. They aren't giving them away for free.

That said, I would agree that capitalism has given us some of the worst toys and kids fare in the history of the world including Barbies and the vapid Disney princess thing.

Two of my daughters went through the Disney princess stage, and short of becoming Amish, you can't really purge all of it. They came though it just fine though. The middle daughter could never be bothered to care about princesses. She was much more into animals, Dora the Explorer, and "Go Diego Go"

[temporal1]

Page 2

Aurien:
I'm not going to engage in an argument with you about this.
I don't tend to be an alarmist about these things.
I'm not the kind of person who goes around seeing a demon (or in this case an LGBT agenda) behind every bush.

I do know what I've seen happening throughout my life though and LGBT things are definitely being normalized. That is all I have to say.

Yes. i’m not sure where Ken is coming from.
Certainly, in the past, 20 years ago, 50 years ago, “always,” parents had ideas about what was ok or not. Children grew up, life moved on. Many children grow up and, even away from their roots.

Today, ORGANIZED POLITICAL ACTIVISM is a matter that affects “everything,” and, everyone’s children are front+center priority for organized political activism, corporations are powerful players in it.

Profits? - certainly, corporations are about profits.
Political activists are “all about” threatening profits if corporations don’t do as they’re told.

“Align - or die.” That includes HIRING according to politics. FIRING for politics, too.

How i wish the world were not in this awful place.
Universities are now offering classes in (lib) political activism, even public high schools are involved. Increasingly, we see students encouraged to engage in (lib) politics during school hours. Marches, protests, etc.

i’m happy to say .. my daughter was alert to the Disney princess thing - 12 years ago.
i began paying attention. she was right, and not exaggerated.
we find, life is good ~ without disney.

the disney corporation is a “proud” proponent of the homosexual agenda - much like BSA and GSA. many corporate boards are no longer focused on children’s and their families’ best interests.
they hijack/acquire ESTABLISHED BRANDS for their purposes.

consumers, in disbelief/denial continue with their familiar brands .. here we are.
it happens in churches, too. the Methodist church was recently discussed.

it’s not a conspiracy, it’s not speculation. it’s SOP. Standard Operating Procedure.

increases in rates of HIV-AIDS, STDs, certain cancers, “gender dysphoria” in children, teens, young people, are concrete evidence of results. these are matters of public health, costly to taxpayers, destructive for families/society.

“we” are not ahead of the curve on this. quite the opposite.

THIS is a conspiracy theory:
Page 8 / PETERG’S CONSPIRACY DEN / “palace intrigue”
http://forum.mennonet.com/viewtopic.php ... 3&start=70

[JimFoxvog]

I find it a bit ironic that often those who complain about gender-neutral dolls are the ones who will also complain about anatomically correct gendered dolls. I don't think kids are so fragile that either will create any harm. It's what people teach them that can be harmful.

[Aurien]

I find it a bit ironic that often those who complain about gender-neutral dolls are the ones who will also complain about anatomically correct gendered dolls. I don't think kids are so fragile that either will create any harm. It's what people teach them that can be harmful.

I don't have a problem with the dolls themselves being gender neutral. They're just dolls. Pieces of plastic. It's the idea that's being sold with them that PEOPLE can be either gender, both genders, or neither gender. That's what I don't like.

[temporal1]

OP, Page 1

I had never heard of Creative World dolls until today when a friend posted on Facebook about buying these dolls for her daughter.

She quoted her daughter as saying her doll is a boy or girl depending on the day and can dress whatever way the doll wants to.

When I read that post I had to go find out more about these dolls and found this article in Time.

I think there's definitely a major push to normalize everything related to LGBTQ.

https://time.com/5684822/mattel-gender-neutral-doll/

I don't have a problem with the dolls themselves being gender neutral.
They're just dolls. Pieces of plastic.

It's the idea that's being sold with them that PEOPLE can be either gender, both genders, or neither gender. That's what I don't like.

You could not be more fair, generous, or more clear.

There is a lot more going on than “selling ideas.” Not speculation, not accusations, it’s beyond debate.

If we were on this forum in the 1960’s-1970’s, sure. There was debate. Many were not sure.
The winning arguments of the day were, “CONSENTING ADULTS,” and, “WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?” Esp about homosexuality, but also about fornication, then, adultery.

People VOTED for these things - including many Christians.

Today, parents everywhere, schools, communities, CHURCHES, are still having to deal with the results.

What difference does it make?”
Well. gee. let’s think. hmm. sigh.

here’s something:
i never dreamed “Priority” U.S. Foreign Policy would ever, even temporarily, be about use of U.S. taxpayer dollars and effort normalizing homosexuality (done IN the U.S., then, overseas).

i’m old-fashioned.
i thot U.S. Foreign Policy and Aid were to be about clean drinking water, response to natural disasters, avoiding wars, medical needs, basic clothing, etc. Somehow, it morphed-over into first-world homosexual college student fantasies ..

i never dreamed U.S. Public School Policy would take on homosexuality (et al.) as priority (curriculum?) for everyone’s children, either with no formal “OPT-OUT” allowed, or serious pressure to not OPT-OUT.

And, so much more. So many sad and COSTLY results.

Yet, today, many continue to sing the fav old songs, “What difference does it make?” etc.
They vote for it. Many vote for it, not realizing what they voted for (bundled in with other matters).

Then, are astonished to see what’s happening - with everyone’s children as primary targets.
In my mind, THIS should be criminal. Not normalized.

See, that whole notion of targeting public school children for use in “correcting”
ADULT SOCIAL PROBLEMS, was set in motion in the 1960’s, when public schools were forcibly integrated, for the expressed goal of children “fixing” what adults refused to fix.

The GIANT 1960’s error was, laws were not structured to remain solely and uniquely an experiment pertinent to the desire to aid DESCENDANTS of AUTHENTIC SLAVERY in the U.S.
It wasn’t long until homosexuals appropriated laws for their (minority) interests.

Here we are.
This thinking is now so embedded in our legal system, and social conscience, many cannot imagine any other way of being.

Nobody wants to admit they vote for bad things. i guess that’s a bitter pill to swallow.

Aurien, you are so right. it’s not the dolls. it’s their use for intentional focused propaganda.
There is nothing innocuous about it.
If so, there would be no dedicated lib activists+lobbyists making careers out of it. $$$$

Your friend’s child very likely got her perfectly-articulated lib talking points from:
SESAME STREET.

i wish i were dead-wrong. i would rejoice to be mistaken.

so sorry for that. for my family, and for the world.
too many trusted too much for too long. the price has come due.

[temporal1]

To add a little perspective.
i was 14 in 1964. a young teen. i did not know much, but i saw things. i experienced things.

i lived in the U.S. Midwest, went to “mixed” schools, altho, they were not called anything but “schools,” all children attended. i wasn’t very aware of parochial, private, or home schools.
i was busy. my father had been very ill. i saw things. i had my hands full with life.

over decades, i’ve thot a lot about those years from different vantage points.
decades later, this is where i am.

you know, i think it’s important for experiments to be recognized as experiments.
then, adjusted, changed, as results come in. with willingness to acknowledge errors and shortcomings.
“we” are NOT good at this, at all. “we” tend to create sacred cows, then bow to the cows.

Christians aren’t supposed to be bowing to cows.

[temporal1]

2022 / Worse than could have been imagined just 2 years ago:

”American Girl Doll Company Promotes Gender Transition, Puberty Blockers to Girls as Young as 3
https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2022/de ... young-as-3

.. But screenshots shared by the DailyMail and parents on Facebook reveal that there is more to this guide than advertised.

The book normalizes being transgender, promotes the use of puberty blockers, and encourages free gender expression.

"If you haven't gone through puberty yet, the doctor might offer medicine to delay your body's changes, giving you more time to think about your gender identity," reads a snippet.

"Being transgender is not an illness or something to be ashamed of... At first, you and the doctor might talk about wearing the clothes and using pronouns (he, she, they) that make you feel most like the true you," reads another passage in the book.

"Parts of your body might make you feel uncomfortable, and you might want to change the way you look. That's totally Ok," it continues.

The guide is marketed to girls between the ages of 3 and 12 and it also provides a list of organizations the children can turn to if they don't have an adult they "trust".

Parents are outraged the American Girl brand is promoting this message to young girls.

"My mind does not want to comprehend this evil agenda towards our children. Why do adults think it's OK to promote this awful act toward innocent children. It does not make sense to me. It grieves my heart," wrote one parent on Facebook.

"These books are not directed or sold to older teenagers or adults they are directed and sold for children...this messaging is the 'NEW Pornography' to ambush our children and grandchildren," wrote one grandmother on Facebook.

"The book mixes truth about embracing natural beauty with lies about denigrating the body. This is a toxic mixture that will only confuse them," wrote Annie Young, a mom of two, for the Christian Post.

Highly recognized conservative commentators are speaking out as well. .. ..



.. Former detransitioners are also criticizing the book.

Cat Cattinson, a detransitioner featured in The Detransition Diaries, told Fox News the message behind American Girl's book, "that a girl can be born into the wrong body and need drugs or surgery to be herself contradicts the message of the body acceptance movement."

Luka Hein, another detransitioner, told the outlet the book is predatory.

"Gender ideology has become increasingly predatory towards young girls' moments of discomfort during puberty, and books like that are only adding to the predatory nature of that," Luka added.

Earlier this year, American Girl's parent company, Mattel, released a transgender Barbie doll.

The American Girl company sells about 30 million dolls a year.

If you would like to contact American Girl, call 800-845-0005 or click here.