Dolls with removable genitalia for 4-year-olds: The educational project sparking controversy in the USA
The University of Minnesota is promoting the distribution of therapeutic dolls with removable genitalia for classrooms and clinics. The project, which received public funding and was developed over six years, is sparking controversy in the USA. Opponents: "Not appropriate for the target age." Supporters: "An effective tool for strengthening mental resilience."
The University of Minnesota in the USA is promoting the distribution of the "MyGender Dolls" project in schools and clinics — therapeutic dolls for children aged four to ten, which include removable internal and external genitalia. The project, which is expected to reach classrooms and clinics in the state as early as this coming autumn, is sparking a widespread public outcry in the USA surrounding the question of exposing young children to content dealing with gender identity and expression.
The initiative was developed over six years at the university's Eli Coleman Institute for Sexual and Gender Health and was co-founded by psychologists Diane Berg and J. Nick Ryder. The four dolls, which received gender-neutral names ("Sam", "Rory", "Avery", and "Parker"), come with more than a hundred items of clothing, accessories, and hairstyles that can be swapped.
According to a report in the New York Post newspaper, the project received funding both from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz of the Democratic Party and from the university's early innovation fund, though the extent of the public funds allocated to it has not yet been disclosed. In marketing and advertising materials addressed to teachers, educational counselors, and pediatricians under the slogan "Make Gender Fun," the tools are described as safe, research-based, and adapted for gender-affirming clinical practice — a therapeutic and medical approach designed to support children, adolescents, and adults who are members of the transgender and gender-diverse community.
Prototypes of the dolls, which were presented at a professional conference, included, among others, a doll named "Sam" equipped with a removable penis alongside a dress and girls' underwear, with the aim of allowing children to simulate various scenarios of gender expression. As part of the development process, university researchers even held paid meetings costing between 20 and 60 dollars, in which transgender and gender-diverse children aged five to ten participated along with their parents, to discuss issues of body and gender using the dolls.
The transition of the project from a closed research framework to wide distribution in educational institutions is sparking polarized reactions. Opponents of the program, including conservative organizations and figures on social networks, are harshly criticizing the integration of such content and means among early childhood children, arguing that this is an initiative that is not appropriate for the target age and that biological sex is determined at its base by DNA and cannot be changed.
In contrast, supporters of the project see the dolls as an effective therapeutic and educational tool that allows clinicians and educators to improve communication, create proper representation, and strengthen mental resilience among transgender and gender-diverse youth. The controversy surrounding the launch of the project reflects the broad cultural struggle in the USA over the question of when and how it is appropriate to expose young children to complex concepts of gender identity within the public system.
