Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 10/10/2009
Gwen: 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 this economy that’s not always the case (…
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Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 06/11/2009
Rebecca Rubin: The First Jewish Doll
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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