American Girl

DaisyDay

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He's a boy! About time. I wonder if they will ever be as diverse as the girls.
For the first time in its 31-year history, American Girl, a maker of pricey 18-inch dolls, is introducing a boy. His name: Logan Everett.
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~Anastasia~

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I remember when my little brother was about 5 they came out with some kind of boy doll, or he got the idea. It was the size of a 3-4 year old, pretty tall. Anyway, he wanted one. Many people were scandalized at the idea of a boy with a doll. Nobody bought him one, but my Grandma, who used to make dolls and stuffed animals, made him one. It wore regular boy's clothes. He played with it for a bit, pulled it around in his wagon, maybe a few weeks, then went back to Transformers or whatever those little cars he played with were. No big deal. Grew up normal with no issues outside playing in a metal band and getting a tattoo on his hand, smoked cigarettes for a few years. Got married, had two daughters. He finished an iron man a few months ago - I'm proud of him.

Didn't affect him anymore than the fact that I played mostly with farm sets, liked matchbox cars, and never cared much for dolls. I don't have any lasting ill effects either, nor was it an indication of anything out of the ordinary.
 
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faroukfarouk

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I remember when my little brother was about 5 they came out with some kind of boy doll, or he got the idea. It was the size of a 3-4 year old, pretty tall. Anyway, he wanted one. Many people were scandalized at the idea of a boy with a doll. Nobody bought him one, but my Grandma, who used to make dolls and stuffed animals, made him one. It wore regular boy's clothes. He played with it for a bit, pulled it around in his wagon, maybe a few weeks, then went back to Transformers or whatever those little cars he played with were. No big deal. Grew up normal with no issues outside playing in a metal band and getting a tattoo on his hand, smoked cigarettes for a few years. Got married, had two daughters. He finished an iron man a few months ago - I'm proud of him.

Didn't affect him anymore than the fact that I played mostly with farm sets, liked matchbox cars, and never cared much for dolls. I don't have any lasting ill effects either, nor was it an indication of anything out of the ordinary.
So his metal and his tattoo didn't do him any lasting harm, then... :)
 
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So his metal and his tattoo didn't do him any lasting harm, then... :)
Nope, as far as I can tell, nothing in his life has done him lasting harm.

He did manage to look scary for a couple of years. I didn't mention the black clothes and wild hair. He liked the shock value at 18-19 years old. :)
 
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Still doesn't look as fabulous as Mattel's other male doll: He-Man. :asd:
Well, he is just a boy, not a man. He'll never be a man, but some of the kids who play with him will be.

Is it still called "playing house"? I would think that young boys would want to play that, too, some of them, fewer as they get older.
 
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Why??? Is this just being PC?

From the article:

As for Logan, the spokeswoman said customers had long been asking for a boy doll. Some parents wanted a doll for their boys to play with, while girls were simply looking to diversify their collections.
 
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faroukfarouk

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Nope, as far as I can tell, nothing in his life has done him lasting harm.

He did manage to look scary for a couple of years. I didn't mention the black clothes and wild hair. He liked the shock value at 18-19 years old. :)
Well, loud music and 18-19 years olds are all part of the scenery. As are tattoos for both genders as a rite of passage. These days sidecuts/undercuts are very popular as well, for hair. There are Christian groups such as Disciple who do very effective hard rock with Biblical lyrics; and many Christian young people of both genders get faith based tattoos also. For 18-19 year olds it all goes with the territory, really.
 
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Well, loud music and 18-19 years olds are all part of the scenery. As are tattoos for both genders as a rite of passage. These days sidecuts/undercuts are very popular as well, for hair. There are Christian groups such as Disciple who do very effective hard rock with Biblical lyrics; and many Christian young people of both genders get faith based tattoos also. For 18-19 year olds it all goes with the territory, really.
Oh, I wasn't complaining. He's about 7 years younger than I, so nothing he went through was particularly surprising to me, though we are different as well. And it wasn't "these days" since it was a while back. ;)

My point was really just - he wanted a doll. People were scandalized because he's a boy. He got one and it didn't do any lasting damage. :D Neither was it a big deal that I as a girl preferred mostly tom-boyish things.

But back then, people were less concerned about these things, really, or concerned in a different way, I should say.

We seem to be getting polarized now, and I'm not sure if it's for good reasons or not just yet ... will have to wait and see.
 
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Ah, finally saw the source link and read it.

I don't have a problem with boy dolls, but what saddens me is that American Girl apparently isn't what it used to be.

I could never afford one of the dolls when my daughter was little, but we used to supplement our history study with the stories that came out centered around the dolls. Biographies and historical fiction were always fun ways to bring history to life. I remember one semester, we had a large group of girls and they put on a play based on the series, and had great fun with the set and especially costumes.

Seems like "American Girl" is just concerned with high-end dolls these days. Kind of sad, but I guess not surprising since it belongs to Mattel now rather than the lady who began the line. She did a good thing by beginning it, though.
 
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faroukfarouk

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Oh, I wasn't complaining. He's about 7 years younger than I, so nothing he went through was particularly surprising to me, though we are different as well. And it wasn't "these days" since it was a while back. ;)

My point was really just - he wanted a doll. People were scandalized because he's a boy. He got one and it didn't do any lasting damage. :D Neither was it a big deal that I as a girl preferred mostly tom-boyish things.

But back then, people were less concerned about these things, really, or concerned in a different way, I should say.

We seem to be getting polarized now, and I'm not sure if it's for good reasons or not just yet ... will have to wait and see.
I guess customs develop. I remember when the 'action man' craze hit boys and young men: models which would be dressed in various uniforms.

Fashions come and fashions go.

I remember when boys who wore earrings would wear them in one ear only; while girls from the late 70s onward typically started to wear 2 each side. Now young men who wear earrings wear one on each side, usually.

I guess the question of whether or not your brother wore earrings at all, or wore one only, or one on each side would have been as much to do with the era he lived in as it was about strong personal preferences. Tendencies and customs are almost cyclical.
 
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I guess customs develop. I remember when the 'action man' craze hit boys and young men: models which would be dressed in various uniforms.

Fashions come and fashions go.

I remember when boys who wore earrings would wear them in one ear only; while girls from the late 70s onward typically started to wear 2 each side. Now young men who wear earrings wear one on each side, usually.

I guess the question of whether or not your brother wore earrings at all, or wore one only, or one on each side would have been as much to do with the era he lived in as it was about strong personal preferences. Tendencies and customs are almost cyclical.

He might have worn one in his left ear. I don't really remember, but if he did, that was the way it would have been done. It wasn't that popular yet.

I remember various "action man" phases. I never had any interest in them. But I did have a set of green army men (who also didn't interest me) and a set of cowboys and Indians, who I sometimes used as extras in my farm set.

The doll I think was a "My Buddy" doll, or something like it. Life sized, and I guess meant to accompany a boy who was playing alone on his adventures. It didn't interest me either, except as a minor blip that a lot of people got pretty bent out of shape at the idea of a boy wanting a doll.
 
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