ABOUT FAITH & FREEDOM

Monday, December 12, 2022

Mattel Abuses the American Girl

Print Friendly Version of this pagePrint Get a PDF version of this webpagePDF


The American Girl website begins:

“The American Girl experience is more than just a collection of toys. It is a collection of magical moments filled with goodness—moments that will nourish a little girl’s spirit, send her imagination soaring, and make her dreams come true.” —Pleasant T. Rowland

It continues:

When Pleasant founded American Girl in 1986, she believed that great stories with aspirational characters could inspire girls to make their own positive mark on the world—and she was right. Since then, we’ve been a trusted partner in empowering girls with confidence and character.

So much for Rowland's inspirational and aspirational American Girl. And for trust.

Now Mattel owns the product line and has chosen to abuse the popular and beloved American Girl.

Welcome to the new girl in America who is troubled, confused, and vulnerable. And exploited.

Be informed, not misled.

The American Girl website gives a look back at how the "American Girl" began.

After an inspirational trip to Colonial Williamsburg, Pleasant combined her love of American history and her commitment to high-quality educational products to create our first-ever product line, The American Girls Collection. From there, she developed even more books, dolls, and toys that integrate learning and play experiences to emphasize important values. She also fulfilled her long-time dream of opening experiential retail stores, the first of which debuted in Chicago in 1998, where fans could see and shop the product in person and fully immerse themselves in the world of American Girl.

Unfortunately for the little girls in America, (and elsewhere) in the process, Rowland sold the  "American Girl" to Mattel Toy Company.

Have you ever noticed that everything the so-called "progressive" Left touches, it destroys?

Child Abuse



The American Girl doll brand is causing outrage over its new book aimed at kids that discusses gender issues, including advice on transitioning and information about puberty blocker drugs.

The 96-page tome, “A Smart Girl’s Guide: Body Image,” has a section featuring a transgender rights flag and an image of a youngster apparently talking to a doctor about gender issues.

The text discusses using pronouns such as “they” to describe oneself and declares that “Studies show that transgender and nonbinary kids who get help from doctors have much better mental health than those who don’t.”

That's a lie. And the studies they mention are biased.

The progressive message aimed at youngsters from a company better known for selling high-priced, wholesome dolls has angered some parents.

“Incredibly disappointed in your book ‘Body Image.’ Let these little girls be little girls. Stop the disgusting push to introduce topics too mature. It is NOT your place,” one mother wrote on Twitter.

The book explains to its targeted audience of girls ages 8 to 11 that, “The way you show your gender to the world through clothes and behaviors is your gender expression.”

“Your gender expression can be feminine, masculine, or somewhere in between — and it might change! Maybe you’ll experiment with bright dresses and long, feminine hairstyles. Or you might try baggy shorts, plaid shirts, and a buzzed haircut. Your gender expression should make you feel at home in your body,” the book states. 

Remember when gays claimed they were "born that way?" 


For some, the transgender movement is all about "the money."

Erin Schmidt, a senior analyst at Coresight Research, a global advisory and research firm specializing in retail and technology, said she noticed a shift in the industry about two to three years ago when there was more discussion around gender identity and pronoun usage in the workplace and in schools.

“I believe that really helped to push the [gender neutral] category forward because it was really then that individuals became aware there were different categories such as non-binary, agender and cisgender, and that individuals related differently to how they were born,” she told Fox News Digital.

She said younger consumers have also had a major impact on the prominence of the gender-neutral category.

In 2021, PacSun opened a gender-free children’s store in the Mall of America, and Gilly Hicks, a division of Abercrombie and Fitch Co., opened its first gender-neutral storefront in Columbus.

Schmidt believes kids and teens are probably “one of the biggest” markets for the genderless clothing category.

The “more choices that children have” to express themselves “will definitely have a positive impact over the longer term,” Schmidt said. “It’s definitely more than a pride month” and “it’s definitely not a trend or a movement, it’s the way of the future,” she added. 

“Celebrities are actually really helping to push the category forward and just really legitimize it,” Schmidt said. “Especially younger generations, when they see that Brad Pitt wore a skirt to the Bullet Train premiere, that suddenly says, ‘Okay, this is okay. I can wear a skirt too.’”

But, not everyone sees this trend as a good thing. 

The opposition.

Parents are angry. Very angry about all this abuse directed at America's children.

Jennifer Sey, the author of “Levi’s Unbuttoned” and former Levi’s executive, said the trend could potentially be very confusing to young people, who she said should be encouraged to accept who they are in their bodies.

Actor Jared Leto and other celebrities have recently pushed gender boundaries in fashion.

“The fact is, there are biological males and there are biological females,” Sey said. “When the message is being promoted by popular brands, by your teacher in school, that those two things do not exist … I think it’s really confusing to kids.”

“It can become very retrograde,” she added. “I was a little girl that was a tomboy and I was an athlete. It didn’t mean that I wasn’t a girl. I thought that was what the feminist movement was all about.“

Sey chalked up the movement to a push by corporations and their leaders who are attempting to launder their own reputations as “do-gooders and altruists” instead of about making money.

“I think it is primarily virtue signaling,” Sey said. “I think it is reputation laundering, in a sense. It’s a way to signal that you are on the right side of progressive causes without actually having to do very much.”

In November 2020, tampon brand "This is L." partnered with the Phluid Project on a campaign that featured transgender activist Jeffrey Marsh. 

“Trans men have periods,” Marsh wrote in an Instagram post. “Women and nonbinary people have periods. “*Periods are for people*.”

“It’s ludicrous because a trans woman doesn’t need tampons,” Sey said in response to the ad. “It’s clearly not for that population. It’s for everybody else to understand how virtuous you are as a brand and a business.” 

“I think it’s a way to obscure intention because the intention of any company and the fiduciary responsibility is to make money,” she added. “They don’t even realize or recognize that it’s really alienating to probably, I would argue, half of the population, if not more.”

She said corporations and retailers are co-opting the current social contagion without considering any of the consequences. 

Consequences.

American Girl is strongly advocating for little kids to take action: “Parts of your body may make you feel uncomfortable and you may want to change the way you look. … ‘That’s totally OK!”

The book later adds, “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.”

“You can appreciate your body for everything it allows you to experience and still want to change certain things about it,” the book advises.


I believe there will be negative consequences for Mattel and the American Girl brand. I hope so.

Conservative commentator and podcast host Allie Beth Stuckey commented on the book on Twitter, advising parents to “Return your AG Christmas gifts asap.”

“Gone are the days when American Girl taught girls about history and femininity. Now they’re encouraging our daughters to hate their bodies, halt their puberty, & cut off their breasts in the name of ‘self-love,” Stuckey said.

One reviewer snapped at the brand, and its owner Mattel: “Stay in your lane.”

“I will no longer buy any of your dolls or accessories for my grandchildren! Shame on you for introducing a book to young girls to change their gender. No more stay in your lane,” the commentator wrote.

This war on children is real and intense. 

Tomorrow I will be writing in this column about how Biden's Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services "Rachel" Levine ---a man who claims to be a woman--is asking doctors to become "evangelists" in spreading the word and converting children to the transgender movement.

Please check out part two on this topic tomorrow.

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.