American Girl vs. American Girls

Catholic Exchange.com ^ | 10-15-05 | Elizabeth Foss

[Salvation]

by Elizabeth Foss

Other Articles by Elizabeth Foss

American Girl vs. American Girls

10/15/05

Every night, when I put my daughters to sleep, I snuggle next to them under the pink, rose-festooned canopy over their bed. We talk about all sorts of things and I stay until they drift off.

During the quiet time before the blanket of sleep envelopes my little girls, I gaze through the semi-darkness at the dolls on the shelves opposite the bed. The dolls are lined up after a day of play, a beautiful, tangible testimony to the innocence of girlhood.

They are American Girl dolls and they are an integral part of feminine childhood in our home. Some of the dolls were acquired on trips with Daddy to American Girl Place in New York and Chicago. Some were the single gift left under the tree for a little girl on Christmas morning. The dolls have afforded my girls hours of imaginative play alone, together and with friends. The beauty and the richness of the accessories inspire girls to play with dolls long after one would expect them to have moved on to more “mature” playthings. Usually, I look at those dolls and think about all that’s right with my daughters’ lives.

On this night though, the same dolls bring tears to my eyes. I’m contemplating American Girl’s new partnership. American Girl has launched a new campaign, with a popular rubber bracelet just for girls. Called the “I Can Bracelet,” it is sold on the American Girl website with an ad and the assurance that “American Girl will give 70 cents for every dollar of “I CAN” band sales, plus a $50,000 donation, to Girls Inc.®, a national organization dedicated to inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold.” The problem is that Girls Inc. threatens both the innocence and the morality of our daughters.

With regard to reproductive freedom for girls, part of the expressed mission statement of Girls, Inc. is

To make responsible decisions about sexuality, pregnancy and parenthood, girls need and have a right to sensitive, truthful sexuality education; convenient access to safe, effective methods of contraception and protection from disease; and referral to comprehensive information, counseling, clinical and other services that support their responsible decisions….

We recognize the right of all women to choose whether, when, and under what circumstances to bear children. Reproductive freedom and responsibility are essential to other rights and opportunities, including pursuit of education, employment, financial security and a stable and fulfilling family life. Restrictions of reproductive choice are especially burdensome for young women and poor women. Girls Incorporated supports a woman’s freedom of choice, a constitutional right established by the US. Supreme Court in 1973 in Roe vs. Wade.

Continuing along the mission page, there are links to resources to aid a girl in the exploration of sexual orientation and they state that “The emergence of a lesbian identity is an ongoing process, rather than an event.”

So much for spending time online with my daughter at Americangirl.com, planning tea parties and compiling Christmas wish-lists. The page of innocence is no more. Any web-savvy eight-year-old can find her way from the American Girl page to girlsinc.com, though our blocking software won’t allow her there alone. Ironically, the content of girlsinc.com isn’t suitable for girls.

My little girls settled into sleep, I step from the bed and stumble over a Bitty Baby. The first American Girl doll we ever had, this is “Baby Jimmy,” given to Mary Beth when she was two by our friend, Jim. Baby Jimmy, along with several other Bitty Babies, has been tenderly loved in our home. Just a few days ago, my three-year-old held Baby Jimmy on her lap, with one each of the Bitty Twins in a toy high chair and a rocking infant seat. As she rocked the seat with her foot, she pretended to nurse Baby Jimmy. She was just a little girl in a pro-life home, practicing for the day when she will embrace the culture of life. And it was a tender moment. The baby dolls are as beautiful as the eighteen-inch dolls. The curve of a cheek, the purse of the lips, and attention to detail make them sweet babies for little girls to love. Apparently, though, American Girl is only nurturing a love of plastic dolls. The company does not encourage a love of real babies, nor do they concern themselves with the rights of unborn girls to life, the rights of little girls to innocence or the rights of us all to hold on to a toy that is “good, desirable and of good report.”

Please join the many, many parents who are expressing their outrage and disappointment to American Girl. Call American Girl at 1-800-360-1861 or email from here. Maybe, together, we can all reclaim a little bit of joy and innocence in the lives of our little girls.


Elizabeth Foss is a freelance writer from northern Virginia. Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home by Elizabeth Foss can be purchased at www.4reallearning.com.

[Schwaeky]

No they're not.. just keep them away from The Limited and Abercrombie and Fitch (Aeropostale and American Eagle are iffy sometimes, but ok for the most part...)... definitely don't take them to the GAP, that is short for "gay and proud."

[One Truth]

Did you get that?

"a woman’s freedom of choice, a constitutional right established by the US. Supreme Court in 1973 in Roe vs. Wade."

Now, I'm not sure but I think they just said the Supreme Court, in 1973, somehow conjured up a new a constitutional right out of thin air. The left is ever so clever...

[Diva]

We never had collections like that and certainly not to play with.

I remember my older sister having a Shirley Temple doll that she took very good care of. I was the kid who operated on her dolls! The only collection I ever got, and believe I have kicked myself for not having the foresight as a 6 y.o. to hold on to this collection for the big bucks I'd now have,(just kidding), was the original Barbie doll. The doll, a complete set of clothes and available accessories was purchased for me that Christmas by my father's co-workers because my mother was close to death from cancer. If memory serves, Barbie is a Mattel toy and now the American Girl Dolls are as well? How sad. I wonder what we would have thought had we known back in 1959 just how much our culture was going to abandoned life.

[KateatRFM]

They couldn't have a "Welfare Queen Barbie". Barbie is from California. I believe my sister meant that Barbie's excessive materialism is a drain on society, as it encourages girls to focus on shopping and clothes rather than meaningful work.

[Desdemona]

I wonder what we would have thought had we known back in 1959 just how much our culture was going to abandoned life.

My parents were still in school at the time, but I suspect that some parts of the culture had already abandoned life at that point.

When I was little, we had the original Playschool stuff, complete with wooden, not plastic figurines. Too bad we played with it.

[Desdemona]

I hear a rumor that SGK is collecting for the Katrina victims.

Possibly, but I gave to another agency.

[Desdemona]

I never played with dolls as a kid -- I have a nice collection of Major Matt Mason space toys, collected because the nuns told me that girls could never be astronauts, only mommies, teachers, nurses and if they were too stupid to go to university, secretaries (all of this 'until you marry'). But my oldest boy had a "Ginny" doll until he was 4 or 5, a 'little girl' doll from the 1950s that he carried in his backpack and called 'my friend'.

Well, we had dolls. And a dress up box and a playhouse that my dad built. My brothers had Tonka, Lego and things they threw out of second story windows with parachutes.

The teachers (not all nuns) told us we could be whatever we wanted to be and all I wanted to be then - and now - is a mother. Opera comes a close second.

[petitfour]

Thanks for the link. We have three Bitty Babies in our house. Two were gifts, and they were purchased before Mattel bought the company. Our oldest girls never played with dolls much. They read. A lot. Our middle daughter likes dolls, but she would rather play outside with her friends. Our #7 child loves dolls. She loves to play make-believe. She mothers every stuffed animal and every doll we have. All the dolls we bought for the oldest three girls have finally been put to use. And it is so sweet to watch her. I can't tell what our youngest will like.

Our oldest daughter loved the Elsie Dinsmore books we found years ago. Even when she had sort of outgrown the books, she begged me to buy her more for Christmas one year. I wish there were more good, wholesome books for tweens and teens.

[Tax-chick]

Usually the younger children have to be the Yanks. Can't fight a war with just one side!

[Tax-chick]

My girls just don't play with dolls much. They nuture the stuffed animals, instead. 5-foot snakes are very cuddly, I guess :-).

[petitfour]

We haven't purchased any stuffed snakes, but I have no doubt that our #7 would find a way to fit one into her "world." lol She is a delightful child.

[Tax-chick]

Patrick shapes them into letters and numbers on the kitchen floor. Who needs school supplies, when you have snakes?

[KateatRFM]

My sisters had plenty of dolls and they enjoyed playing with them -- and together we played ice hockey, rode bicycles and played astronauts with my Sears Planetarium; and my youngest sister formed her troll collection into the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with hand made gowns and tuxedos. We also gave the trolls rides in the Major Matt Mason Lunar Walker, which, if you reverse the batteries, will walk backwards.

We all became mothers and reared well balanced children and none of us cheer for the Pink Power Ranger who we consider a sissy.

[schaketo]

Sent to:

Mattel Chairman Bob Eckert - Jules.Andres@mattel.com
American Girl President Ellen Brothers - ellen.brothers@americangirl.com
Public Relations Susan Jevens - susan.jevens@americangirl.com


Subject Line: Girls Inc. support and ultimate loss of business

Dear Mr. or Mz xxx,

How did your company make such a gross business miscalculation? I’m sure you’ll stand your ground and make public statements to the effect it has not had a negative impact on your business. But it will. You know it will take some time to show up in your bottom line.

Actually I’d like to thank you for your side by side stand with Girls Inc. It has allowed me to reopen a dialogue with my three daughters. Each daughter has several of your dolls.

They have all three decided to ceremoniously throw them away. Not sell, them … not give them away … but to destroy them.

Here are the demographics.

Daughter #1 – Honor student (freshman) at xxx University studying to be an elementary teacher.
Daughter #2 – National Merit Scholar and a senior in High School. Being courted by Ivy League Universities.
Daughter #3 – Freshman in high school and right on their heels academically.

They all three find your monetary and public support of abortion and lesbian sexual orientation as unacceptable. They feel you are now directly responsible for great harm to females in general.

Enough said. Look for your products in trash cans throughout the United States and elsewhere. What an INCREDIBLE blunder on your part. Whoever made this marketing decision needs to be canned. Your company will suffer because of it.

My name
My City, My State

[RJL]

Bump

[Xenalyte]

Who needs school supplies, when you have snakes?

If I had a nickel for every time I've asked that question, I'd have, like, three nickels or something.

[Salvation]

Great letter. Everyone, however, has to compose their own.

[Tax-chick]

It's a zoo around here. Some days the snakes are in charge, some days the penguins are. Is it five o'clock somewhere yet?

[AliVeritas]

Attention NY Area Freepers and all of you who want to come

FYI, American Girl Protest Saturday, Dec. 10th in Manhattan, 10-12 noon, Signs will be provided.

Location: 49th and 5th Avenue (right down from Rockefeller Center

Also a great opportunity to see the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral and the window displays.