This morning the kids pulled out the Barbie and Ken dolls to play
with. The almost-two year old was frustrated because he found a dress he
liked, but it wouldn't fit on his Ken doll he'd picked out. Trying to
promote my feminist values, I wanted to choose my words carefully.
"That dress is too small for your doll. You'll have to find something bigger."
But
after repeatedly picking out "girl clothes" for his Ken to wear, I
found myself finally saying, "No, that dress only fits a girl doll. You
need to find some boy clothes." As true as it was for the situation, I
hated saying that. I hate saying something is only for a girl and
something else is only for a boy. Specifically when talking about my
daughter, I want her to believe that it doesn't matter what you wear or
what you want to play with.
So, it got me thinking.
Do sexually ambiguous dolls exist? Are there dolls out there that,
depending on how a child styles them, they could be either a boy or a
girl. I'm envisioning a young face with no make-up and no hair. The
child can pick out a "wig" and there would be girlish clothes and boyish
clothes to choose from to form an outfit that's feminine or masculine
or somewhere in between.
Dolls are almost never given a
penis or a vagina anyway. Why not let the kids decide who they're
playing with? Why set so many limitations?
I didn't
find anything on the internet, but if anyone sees anything, let me
know. I would love to create a prototype, but I don't sew, I don't have
any money, and I wouldn't know where to begin in creating something like
this. But I do think it's a million dollar idea! Child-gender issues are only getting hotter!
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