Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 10/10/2009

Gwen: The Homeless Doll

is this the country club doll? no...this is the homeless doll.

is this the country club doll? no…this is the homeless doll.

I’m not kidding. The same people who brought you Rebecca Rubin,  Jewish doll by day, eco terrorist by night, are now introducing Gwen, the Homeless Doll.

Now, I’ve had my problems with the American Girl Dolls in the past. Mainly, I feel that in a lot of ways, though they may be trying to introduce young girls to the concept that, “hey, everybody is different” they are in many ways stereotyping diversity (”You’re Jewish? Do you come with candlesticks and your bubbie’s blanket, too?). But this new doll is just something else completely.

On the one hand, I think spreading awareness about homelessness is definitely a positive thing. We tend to think of the homeless as drug-addicted bums, but especially in…

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Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 06/11/2009

Rebecca Rubin: The First Jewish Doll

Kit, Josefina and Molly! YAY! 

 

Kit, Josefina and Molly! YAY!

Remember American Girl Dolls? It used to be a huge thing to have one of those dolls. Every one had its own little story. Dolls with identities. There was Samantha, who was from the Victorian era, and Felicity, who lived during the American Revolution and plenty of others. 

These dolls were fun because they actually had substance- a story, something to teach us. Maybe the lessons weren’t really expansive (I didn’t actually know anything about my Samantha doll other than the Victorian era epithet) but I preferred introducing a doll in that way rather than with an, “isn’t she pretty?” And I like that a doll company thinks that way, too. At least in theory.

Well, on June 2nd the first Jewish American Girl Doll, Rebecca Rubin, was introduced. Further…

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