So-called ‘transgender’ paper dolls featuring interchangeable genitalia are expected to become available to some Minnesota educators and clinicians this fall, including professionals working with children as young as four.
The ‘Trans’ Dolls
The New York Post first reported the “MyGender Dolls” were designed using six years of research involving “trans and gender diverse” children and their parents to interact with the dolls and “talk about gender and bodies” in groups.
As reported on Monday’s AM Update, they are set to be made available in some Minnesota classrooms this fall for children ages four to 10 years old, according to The Post.
The dolls reportedly feature gender-neutral names like Sam, Rory, Avery, and Parker along with removable internal and external genitalia and more than 100 interchangeable outfits, hairstyles, and accessories.
The company promises to “make gender fun” while marketing the dolls to mental health providers, pediatricians, school counselors, and educators on its website.
Origin Story
The project reportedly originated from research at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Health, and two medical school professors turned the project into a commercial venture.
Among them, Associate Professor Dianne Berg, a licensed psychologist and co-founder of MyGender Dolls, who defended the dolls in a since-deleted article published by the University of Minnesota Foundation’s Discovery magazine. “It’s really important to address the belief, ‘I’m not a ‘real’ boy because I don’t have these private parts,’ versus, ‘I am a real boy, whatever my anatomy looks like,’” Berg said.
She told the magazine she used the dolls with her own five- to 10-year-old patients. “Everyone should be learning that there’s diversity in gender identity and that what makes you real is not what your body parts are, but how you think and feel,” Berg claimed.
Former American College of Pediatricians and critic of the gender-bending paper dolls Dr. Quentin Van Meter told The Post: “They will find anybody who’s in trouble and use this as a tool to say, ‘this is why you’re unhappy.’ This is absolutely grooming… It’s well beyond their ability to sort out fantasy from reality.”
Funding Quesitons
The Post reported the university’s medical school receives $15 million a year from the state of Minnesota to expand its research capacity, while the Institute for Sexual and Gender Health reportedly operates with a roughly $1.4 million research budget.
A university spokesperson insisted to The Post that no public money was spent on commercializing the dolls, but it is unclear how much taxpayer funding may have supported the research and development preceding the launch.
It is also unclear whether parents will be notified or allowed to keep their children from participating when the dolls are introduced to schools.
Democrat Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz has yet to comment on the program, but it is hard to imagine he is not in favor given he was the one to declare the North Star State a refuge for so-called ‘trans’ kids from other states seeking gender surgery over their parents’ objections.
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