The devil is a roaring lion seeking to devour (1 Peter 5:8). The Bible says to “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).” Put two and two together, and it just makes sense that the devil will go after children. They’re impressionable – what you teach them will remain their whole lives – and they are less able to protect or defend themselves than adults. It’s why public schools try to keep secret the woke indoctrination they’re teaching children, or why Disney’s agenda is often found in movies aimed at young kids.

For a long time American Girl (owned by Mattel since the early 2000’s) has been a trusted brand for both girls and parents alike. Girls enjoyed high-quality (less so since Mattel’s ownership) dolls and accessories to play with and fun stories to read and learn from. Parents would get helpful tools and assurance that their daughters were playing with safe, educational, wholesome, fun toys. American Girl was a company that taught girls to enjoy being girls and to reach for the stars through their historical line (now called Beforever), their Girl of the Year line (also referred to as GOTY), and the various iterations of the Truly Me dolls.

But, as generally occurs with secular companies these days, American Girl has gone woke. And, as is also generally the case, this isn’t new. It’s just been publicly discovered. The recent outcry is over a book they released as part of their Smart Girls Guides about body image, entitled A Smart Girls Guide: Body Image. 

Parents are rightly upset that the book (aimed at girls 10+) teaches girls about transgenderism, that there’s a difference between how you show your gender and how you identify, that’s it’s okay to think you were born the wrong gender, what non-binary is, pronouns, the steps a doctor might take (such as puberty blockers),  resources for girls who “don’t have an adult [they] trust,” and more. See the included pictures to read the majority of the information they provide on transgenderism. The book is rather drenched in it, however, so it’s not just what is included in the photos.

A Smart Girls Guide: Body Image also contains CRT (critical race theory) and other things parents (Christian and otherwise) might not want their girls reading about.

Though I would call it the most explosive, the transgender push in A Smart Girls Guide: Body Image is not the first propaganda American Girl has done in the realm of wokeism. It’s certainly the most blatant, and one that even secular parents can see is harmful. The company has been going woke for a while, changing with the culture. When I was still in elementary/middle school, the spotlight in their magazine featured a girl with two dads (which wasn’t the focus of the article – it was about good work the girl was doing – but was definitely mentioned when the girl talked about her family), including a full-page picture of the girl with her family. Around 2020, they launched the ‘World by Us’ line, which included CRT, and in 2021, American Girl’s GOTY was Keira Bailey. She had gay aunts, and her story involved her going to live with them in Australia.

But what would you expect from a secular company who’s slogan is “Follow your inner star?” The Bible is incredibly clear that following your own heart and own understanding is a bad idea (Jeremiah 17:9, Proverbs 3:5-7, and Matthew 15:19). Our hearts are marred by sin, and it’s only through Christ that we are able to be made righteous. Keeping the woke stuff under the radar as much as possible (releasing it without a ton of fanfare or trying to present it as normal) allows companies to indoctrinate kids without parental knowledge.

“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:19-20)

The devil is after children (as evidenced by companies glorifying and pushing sin at children and families), and is painting unbiblical, broken, and dangerous lifestyles in a fun and attractive way by clothing them in children’s companies. They can’t just let kids be kids because they know that indoctrination works best when a person is young. “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).”

Parents, be watchful. Bring this stuff to light. It’s your God-given duty to train your children in the way they should go. Christians, speak the truth in love. It’s needed now more than ever.

In order to reflect, promote, and indoctrinate children with the radical sexuality ideology of Leftists, Mattel, the toy manufacturer of Barbie dolls, has introduced a new line of “Creatable World” gender-neutral dolls that come complete with boyish- and girlish-looking wigs, clothing, and accessories. Each singular “creatable,” gender-neutral doll comes with its own pronouns, some of which are grammatically incorrect, rhetorically confusing, and biologically ignorant, like “they” or “xem.”

Like Victor Frankenstein, cultural regressives harbor the delusion that humans can create their own ontological and moral world. In their futile attempt to erase the sexual binary and appease the powerful and aggressive “trans” lobby, Mattel painstakingly developed a doll whose features look neither recognizably male nor female, thereby providing yet more evidence that culture is never neutral on moral issues. From this unfortunate business decision, we learn again that culture can either reaffirm truth or undermine it.

Mattel’s senior vice president of fashion doll design, Kim Culmone, made this foolish statement:

[A]s the world continues to celebrate the positive impact of inclusivity, we felt it was time to create a doll line free of labels.

If by “inclusivity” she means welcoming and embracing every phenomenon, idea, feeling, and volitional act, she’s wrong. Not even Leftists celebrate that or view such comprehensive inclusion as positive. If by “inclusivity,” she really means affirmation of the “LGBTQ” ideology, she’s still wrong. The “world” doesn’t celebrate the widespread affirmation of the “LGBTQ” ideology. Huge swathes of people groups around the world reject it and view it as destructive.

As to the label-free claim? Lol. Mattel labeled them “gender inclusive” dolls.

“Trans” activists and their “progressive” collaborators believe that society “conditions” children into believing that biological sex exists and matters. They maintain the peculiar belief that stereotypes precede and shape male and female differences rather than the other way around.

While it is important to avoid imposing too-rigid stereotypes regarding clothing and activities on children, breaking “gender binaries” is a wholly different and destructive pursuit and one that depends on acceptance of Leftist assumptions about sexuality and “gender identity.” Many hold the dissenting belief that it is profoundly good to accept and affirm one’s objective biological sex. Parents and society can help children develop a secure sexual identity or thwart them in that increasingly challenging process.

There are three important truths that get lost in “progressive” discussions of “stereotyping”:

1.) Not all patterns, similarities, or expectations constitute “stereotyping,” and not all stereotyping is malevolent, oppressive, and destructive. Humans recognize patterns and classify like things together. That’s how we make sense of the world. And “stereotyping” is used both for instruction and entertainment. The types on which stereotypes are based and from which they emerge can be good, bad, or neutral. Real persons who share in common, recognizable traits pre-exist the stereotype.

Dana Carvey’s “Church Lady” wouldn’t have been funny or even made sense if we didn’t recognize the character type that actually exists and on whom Carvey’s character was based.  The much-loved movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding wouldn’t have delighted audiences if they didn’t recognize the reality that the film warmly mocks. Tyler Perry’s satirical movies about the character Madea depend on a stereotype that reflects a personality type that actually exists. Will and Grace—the show that homosexuals love—is rife with stereotypes.

2.) Stereotypes often emerge from and reflect anthropological truths—both bad and good. Stereotypes about men and women were not created out of whole cloth or manufactured from the fertile imaginations of patriarchal oppressors. They emerged from patterns humans observe. The cultural movement to normalize homosexuality is founded on the reality of sexual differentiation. When homosexuals say they are romantically and erotically attracted only to members of their same sex, they are implicitly acknowledging the truth that men and women are inherently and significantly different and that those differences are not only anatomical. While stereotypes can reflect and reinforce the good architecture of sexually differentiated human life, they don’t dictate our lives or reflect the totality of any individual person.

3.) Historically societies have believed that the fact of genetically determined sexual differentiation was a good thing and should be affirmed. Cultures developed patterns of behavior and societal roles that reflected, codified, encouraged, and sustained sexual differentiation, which is mostly a good thing.

Of course, humans, being fallen, sinful creatures, have deformed their roles and responsibilities and denied their God-given natures in myriad destructive ways. Through pride, fear, lust, and selfishness, they have variously abused their natures and abdicated their roles. And unthinking societies have at times become too restrictive regarding what roles men and women could or should assume.

But errors in how cultures think about and respond to sexual differentiation should not lead to jettisoning the valuation and affirmation of it. Sometimes encouraging conformity—including conformity to what the Left views as a “stereotype”—can be not merely a harmless thing but a good thing.

It is good for societies to cultivate respect for and valuation of sexual differentiation through some expectations regarding dress and behavior. It is at minimum benign to paint the nursery walls of a baby girl pink and baby boy blue. It is profoundly harmful for boys to dress and act exactly like girls or vice versa.

Of course, what that looks like will change over time and across cultures. But the Left does not seek to work at ensuring reasonable gender expectations but, rather, to eradicate all recognition of sexual differentiation. If sexual differentiation can be viewed as a meaningless accident of birth, then the sexual integration of private spaces and the biological sex of one’s erotic partner are meaningless as well.

Sexual differences are real, substantive, and meaningful, and reinforcing them is good. Culture will either “impose” views that reflect truth or “impose” views that reflect lies. While criticizing social conditioning, Leftists deny the conditioning they facilitate. “Trans”-activists deny that through their actions, they are imposing their dogma on society. In other words, the “trans”-ideology is a social construction. Through pronoun policing; mandatory co-ed private spaces; falsified birth certificates and driver’s licenses; public shaming and epithet-hurling; and cultural indoctrination on a massive scale through control of government schools, academia, the press, the arts, professional medical and mental health communities, and now dolls, public recognition and valuation of sex differences is being eradicated.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Gender-Neutral-Dolls.mp3

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