American Girl – Selling More than Dolls

By: Lisa Van Houten

In China and Russia (formerly the Soviet Union), children are indoctrinated with the regime’s ideology.  Through Communist youth organizations, youth are taught to eschew their parent’s values if they different from the state’s and are trained to report family members who espouse Christianity.

We in the West have decried such tactics, yet millions of American parents not only stand by while their own children are brainwashed, they provide the means of indoctrination.  It’s not the Communist Youth League which the Left uses to inculcate recent generations of American children, but rather seemingly innocuous forms of entertainment such as cartoons and toys.  Whether it’s the Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, or PBS, children who are plopped in front of the screen are fed a steady stream of LGBT ideology.

The latest ally in the Left’s attempt to win the hearts and minds of your children and grandchildren is perhaps one of the unlikeliest – American Girl dolls and books.

For decades, American Girl was a wholesome, trusted alternative to sexualized toys for little girls.  Originally, the line of dolls depicted girls from various periods of American history, but was expanded to include characters from contemporary life.  Associated with each doll is a storybook about the life of that character. The original six book series sought to teach aspects of American history from the perspective of a girl living in that time period.  Since its inception in 1986, American Girl introduced children to our nation’s history and portrayed positive role models for little girls to emulate.

However, since Mattel has acquired the brand, American Girl is increasingly using their products to indoctrinate children with a woke agenda.  For example, a 2002 American Girl publication entitled A Smart Girl’s Guide to Boys, was updated in 2020 to include same-sex relationships, and is now titled A Smart Girl’s Guide: Crushes. And since 2005, American Girl has partnered with Girls, Inc., a group that promotes abortion and LGBT sex education.

One of the company’s most blatant moves has been the recent American Girl book which portrays two married lesbians.  The American Girl doll of the year, Kira, and the accompanying book, Kira Down Under, depicts the character visiting her aunt in Australia who recently married another woman “after the law was changed to allow it,” as it says in this book for six to ten year-olds. With no warning about the theme, parents who’ve trusted the wholesome content of American Girl books were blindsided with the homosexual propaganda.

As one mother stated in an online review: “Homosexuality is an inappropriate topic for a children’s book and I am very disappointed that it was woven so blatantly into the story line for Kira. This type of content should have been made clear in the advertising so that I as a parent could make an informed choice for my child.”

Another parent wrote: “My daughter had no idea what a lesbian couple is and American Girl has cruelly taken away part of her innocence, now that I’ve had to explain about that lifestyle. It goes against what I believe as a Christian and was not something I wanted my daughter to be exposed to at this early age.”

For decades, Progressives has been implementing their agenda to influence the next generation using every means available from public schools to PBS, and now American Girl.  And it has worked.  While far too many Christian parents think their kids will just automatically pick up their values by osmosis, the Left has systematically discipled our children to be followers of the culture.

Their success rate is obvious.  Gen Z, the current generation of young people under the age of 24, is truly the first “post-Christian generation” according to a Barna Group study, which found that only 4% of this age group holds to a Biblical worldview.  Additionally, 74% of young people strongly agree or somewhat agree that “morally right and wrong changes over time, based on society.”  We, the church, have our work cut out for us in communicating the unchanging Truth of Scripture.

As Katy Faust writes at the Federalist:  Right-leaning parents are not successfully transmitting their values to their kids. Conservatives have been making the babies, but the left seems to be raising them.

If we want to save our nation, we need to not only give birth to the next generation but train them as well. That has always been true, but today it’s more critical than ever.

It’s troubling that often the Left demonstrates more zeal in stealing our children’s hearts than we do in winning them for Christ.  Christian parents need to be purposeful in guiding their children and steeping them in Biblical truth.

We also need to start pushing back at the forces which are attempting to inculcate our children and grandchildren.  One small step you can take is to contact American Girl, letting them know you will not support a company that uses children to push LGBT ideology.  See contact information  and sample letter below.

 

American Girl
Ms. Jamie Cygielman – CEO
P.O. Box 620497
Middleton, WI 53562-0497

Email: Service@americangirl.com
Corporate Phone Number: 1-608-831-5210

Sample letter/email:

For decades, American Girl dolls and books have been a trusted alternative to sexualized toys for little girls.  American Girl introduced children to our nation’s history and portrayed positive role models for our daughters and granddaughters to emulate.

However, in your recent book Kira Down Under, parents, who’ve trusted the wholesome content of American Girl books, were blindsided with the portrayal of lesbianism.  It’s not your job to introduce 6-10-year-olds to such mature themes.  As one mother stated: “Homosexuality is an inappropriate topic for a children’s book and I am very disappointed that it was woven so blatantly into the storyline for Kira. This type of content should have been made clear in the advertising so that I as a parent could make an informed choice for my child.”

I will not support a company that undermines the innocence of children in order to push LGBT ideology.  I urge you to return to your roots, promoting wholesomeness, not homosexuality. 

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