American Girl Dolls Controversy - Schmeg.com

   

Apparently, there is more to these American Girl dolls than meets the eye, think of the harm Tinky Winky caused before he was found out..

The American Girl is an enormously popular line of 8 dolls that, unlike the shapely Barbie, are representative of a special time in American history. They dress and act the part and each doll comes with a book(s) that explains more about the character and the place & time that she lived. They are fairly expensive but nevertheless, enormously popular.
  The controversy has nothing to do with the dolls themselves and everything to do with the company that makes them, American Girl. They offer support to Girls Inc., via an "I Can" bracelet that sells for $1 (with 70 cents going to Girls Inc.). Their support of this organization is what draws the wrath of organizations like the http://www.afa.net, who urge a Christmas boycott of American Girl.
Nevermind that the Bratz dolls look like call girls, and that Barbie seems to be showing a bit more "skin" these days; no, the real problem is that Girls Inc's mission of empowering young girls with, dare I say, confidence, independent thought is contrary to the "follow my ideals or else" mantra of these organizations. Dig into the http://www.girlsinc.org website and you will find that Girls Incorporated supports these 2 tenets that are causing all the strife.

• a woman’s freedom of choice i.e. Roe vs. Wade (last I heard that is the law of the land)
• "Girls have a right to positive, supportive environments and linkages to community resources for dealing with issues of sexual orientation." Irregardless of my opinion on this subject, I would support my daughter with any decision that she made - that is what any civilized, caring human being would do.

I might not agree with every single viewpoint that Girls Inc. has, but I do see the "big picture";
Girls need our strengths not to be drowned out by our weaknesses.