American Girl Dolls taught us how to be girls. Who teaches us to be women?

American Girl dolls were the centerpiece of my elementary school life. I remember owning two, both DIY dolls. I named them both after Francis Hogden Burnett’s characters: Emily, after the doll in “A little princess” and Maria, after the main character in “The secret garden.” I remember being so emotionally attached to my dolls, reading every American Girl book, watching the movies, and Play online games. I was really obsessed with American Girl. And then, like every girl, I grew up. I donated one of my dolls to my younger cousin and kept the other in the garage.

This semester, however, the “Children and Mass Media” course I am taking reminded me of this emotional connection. I asked myself – and forced myself to research – why Americans GirlI had such a tight grip on my eight-year-old’s mind.

I discovered that I was not alone. When I told my friends that I was conducting this research, they all had strong memories of their own dolls, but even more so of the books and stories from the American Girl historical doll line. Several of my Asian American friends remembered Ivy, the only Asian historical doll released. Many of my other friends identified with the dolls that looked like them and matched their personalities – the most common being Rebecca and Kit. The dolls and books reflected our 8-10 year old lives and taught us how to be girls through positive portrayals Empowering storylines. The dolls’ stories were mirrors of ourselves and a window into what we could be.

During my research, American Girl dolls took over my life for three weeks. My grandma gave me the last of the American Girl doll books she put together for me as a child, and I made several trips to the Boston Public Library to get more. I showed my research to anyone who looked at my computer screen long enough. During my research process, my obsession with girls was rekindled. But at the end of those three weeks, I had no place left to channel my American Girl doll energy. So I went online.

Not surprisingly, I found hours of content from people on YouTube Deep insight into the history of American Girl doll brandExploring the historical doll Storylines And show your MAssive doll collections. While I was Watch out for five hours Video about the Kirsten dollI received a text message from one of my friends linking to an Instagram account with the title @modernamericangirldolls. Of course I clicked.

The account markets itself as “Modern American Girl dolls for the modern woman“, and that’s exactly what it does. In meme format, the account features American Girl dolls with modern outfits, accessories and adult problems. One of the most recent posts shows a doll in a going-out outfit, bow earrings, a vodka seltzer and the caption “This modern American Girl doll will have her Tiss the Damn Season moment this year.” This account really goes above and beyond and includes a post about the girls in The Handmaid’s Tale outfits after President-elect Donald Trump was elected vice president Kamala Harris Doll Post and one about bRat summer. Everything about this account should have been right up my alley. Instead I got an ick. And I couldn’t imagine why.

For days, I thought about why American Girl dolls caught my attention in the first place. What fascinated me about them? Why was I so anxious to research them in the first place? Why were all my friends as clingy as me? I finally got my answer from the founder of American Girl herself: Pleasant Rowland.

Rowland founded the company in 1986 because she had a problem with the doll market. Girls either played with Barbies, who taught girls how to grow up and idolize “adult” bodies, or with Cabbage-Patch Kids, who taught girls how to be mothers. There were no dolls to teach girls to be girls. American Girl dolls filled this need, and girls responded overwhelmingly. We fell in love with the dolls, the books, the online games and the stories. Girls learned how to overcome grief from Josefina, how to advocate for others from Samantha, how to fight for themselves from Julie, and how to be curious from Kit. My friends and I learned to be good, responsible and strong girls through these dolls. They were formative for our development.

I believe this Instagram account is trying to bridge the same gap for female adults. As we grow up, life becomes more complicated. Relationships, school, jobs, taxes, loneliness, frustration, vices, and more take up our lives, and we don’t have scripts that show us how to navigate these things as positively as we did in our childhood. Bringing our adult problems into the American Girl lexicon is cathartic in this way, as it makes us believe that there are solutions to our problems. We can simplify our big girl problems and understand them better. That being said, American Girl dolls may not be the best way to address our problems. These American Girl dolls are built to look like 9 year olds. publication an edited photo of one labeled “This modern American Girl doll races on her Peloton bike“is inappropriate, regardless of humorous intent.

However, this is why the Barbie movie worked. Barbies, as Rowland saw in the ’80s, are dolls with adult bodies and adult jobs that were marketed to children to teach them the kind of women they might grow up to be. But of course that is inaccurate at best. When it came to the 2023 film “Barbie,” the overarching comment about the film was: Dolls taught a fantasy about femininity. The women responded enthusiastically, especially those from Ferrera monologue. Being a woman is something girls have to go through without a blueprint. Margot Robbie’s character has to learn this the hard way. In this way, women were shown to experience catharsis in a healthy and humorous way. Women made this film a phenomenon precisely because it addressed the gap in their lives, just as American Girls did when they were nine years old.

As I wrap up my time with American Girl dolls, I’ve realized that the dolls and stories that influenced my life as a child are still relevant. I still need reminders of how to stand up for myself. I need to see someone like me modeling grief in a healthy way. But I can’t get these things from dolls anymore. I get it from the women around me. I learn from my mother, my grandmothers, my professors, my bosses and most importantly my friends. Girlhood can be something that can be learned through books and dolls. Femininity is something we learn from each other: the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful.