Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-32453627-20190724191444/@comment-24740411-20190916055923

Nipasu wrote: Beautifulsatori wrote: Also, on that last bit, about whether the company markets anything "for" boys, well.... there *is* this: https://www.americangirl.com/shop/p/guy-stuff-the-body-book-for-boys-fgm82

<3 That book is pretty weird, since AG's been known for their girls health book for years. Also every one of their fictional books feature female protagonists and every other books is geared, in some ways, to girls. So why would they ever feel the need to have a book geared towards boys?

The main issue I have with this is that boys aren't allowed to get into AG, that's not the issue. What I don't like is when they think including boys into girl-centered properties mean they have to have 'special items' that appeal to boys rather than allowing them to like the girly items that're already available.

It's a trend I'm not familiar with 100%, but I get the bare bones of it: a company geared towards girls have to out of their way to appeal to boys with special products/characters etc while companies geared towards boys don't need to. Having boys like AG dolls are okay, but it crosses the line when they decide to release a line of boy dolls because apparently boys need their own stuff? Why can't they be encouraged to like the female characters, rather than telling them they need male representation?

And why is it that whenever a girl-centered TV show/company introduce something appealing for boys, it's viewed as some kind of much-needed empowerment? I see your points to a certain degree, but for me it's about  a few things:

1. if we're talking about a story with characters here, the idea that boys are allowed to be included in the group of friends rather than it being "girls only club" type thing. merely portraying the fact that it's allowed and not "taboo" is what I think is important here. that way the random boy who watches what's mainly a girls' show doesn't have to feel COMPLETELY left out and knows that the characters he likes would still accept him as their friend too.

2. if we're talking dolls/etc, it's like... as I said, this male character is the lead girl's best friend. Some people just want their to be toys of all the characters / their favorite characters/ etc. Same argument could be made to say there should be more villain toys.

3. of course, the idea that, you know, you can be anything. Anyone can become a cure, etc. But that one ought to be a given by now.