As long as children have played, there have been dolls.
They’ve been made from corn husks and animal bones, soapstone and wood, leather and wax.
And then, in 1959, from11 inches of plasticmolded into not-humanly-possible female curves.
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Six decades post-Barbie, there are Glitter Girls, L.O.L.
Theres also a cottage industry of YouTube creators who devote hours to unboxing them all.
But we do expect much more from dolls.
Rainbow High dolls
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Until very recently, that sense of belonging was limited to slim, white, able-bodied, cisgender girls.
They were all white.
Bratz original doll, Yasmin
There is an Indigenous American Girl and one who is Jewish.
you could get an American Girl with a hearing aid, or a prosthetic limb.
Royal Bee, a popular L.O.L.
Creatable World doll
doll who stars in a spin-off video series, has a golden Afro.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Bratz, MGA Entertainment brought back its original dolls.
And the Bratz genes are very much on display in the company’s wildly popular L.O.L.
Courtesy of brand
Picture Kendall Jenner passed through a few too many Snap filters.
Commendable, for sure, but there’s a ways to go.
And you dont need an academic paper to tell you the bodies of many other fashion dolls are unattainable.
Meet Revue, one of 12 L.O.L. Surprise! Dance Dance Dance dolls. Each comes with her own black light, dance card, and two dinner plate-size eyes.
Whether or not that’s truly harmful to children, however, is still very much up for debate.
“‘This is beauty,’ ‘This is what a body should look like’ those messages persist.”
One message that seems especially hard to change has to do with gender.
Barbie Fashionistas Doll #166
She’s analyzed toy catalogs going back to 1905, and tracked the changes.
The marketing of dolls was gender ambiguous.
In the 1970s, doll gendering was more implicit than it is today.
Just look at the Rainbow High and Monster High girls, with their Rapunzelian hair and full-face beat.
And why do we even call those dolls “girls”?
Creatable World, a line from Mattel, asks that very question.
Launched in 2019, the dolls have short hair and non-gendered bodies.
They’re sold with a range of accessories, including wigs, hats, pants, and skirts.
A Mattel spokesperson says they are “hitting pause” on growing the line at this time.
Creatable World Deluxe Character Kit dc-725
There are the fine motor skills they help to develop and the sense of belonging they can offer.
Its nice to think that wouldnt happen today, but Dr. Sturdivant found otherwise.
Yet the results were similar.
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Most children rejected the Black dolls altogether.
“You could see their preferences,” says Dr. Sturdivant.
“Yes, representation is important,” says Dr. Sturdivant.
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“But just making something available isn’t going to solve the problem.”
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