At some point in your life, most of you have played with a doll. Unlike the children growing up now, not all of us had the luxury of playing on phones and tablets. Instead, we played with dolls: G.I. Joes, Barbies, Bratz, etc. With American Girl Doll introducing its first boy doll, conversations have been sparked of boys playing with dolls.
Times are changing and introducing a boy American Girl Doll seems very fitting. It is important to let boys know that playing with dolls is acceptable. In fact, action figures have been around for decades. To me, action figures are very much a type of doll. With a big brand such as American Girl Doll presenting a male doll, it is normalizing that boys, too, play with dolls.
I would constantly argue with my brother about action figures being dolls. But you know how little brothers can be; they don’t listen to their older (wiser) sisters. Most boys are offended when you would tell them they were playing with dolls.
According to The Spruce, “one of the most popular figures in the world is the classic G.I. Joe figure of the 1960s and 1970s. It is often referred to as both an action figure and a doll.” What is considered a doll or an action figure is said to have a lot of gray area and based on one’s opinions, The Spruce mentions.
Therefore, there is not really a direct definition of what is considered a doll or an action figure. However, boys should not be scrutinized for playing with dolls.
If my brother is reading this, those G.I. Joes you played with as a child are dolls, and that is totally OK — just like it is OK that girls play with plastic swords or dress in army gear. Toys should not have a clear gender label on them. If a boy wants to play with a doll, more power to him.
As I said before, action figures are considered dolls, and I bet almost every boy in the world has played with G.I. Joes or something similar as a child. I know I always appreciated when the boys in my kindergarten class would play dolls with me. Boys playing with dolls should be normalized because it has never been out of the norm.
