It's Official: Barbie Goes Transgender

A Hollywood celebrity now has their own Barbie.

On NBC’s TODAY show Wednesday, the morning staple welcomed Laverne Cox, transgender star of Orange is the New Black.

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Cox was all dolled up, which might not have been coincidental. Today.com delivers the news:

To celebrate her 50th birthday on May 29, the Emmy-award winning actor and LGBTQ+ activist is honored with a Tribute Collection Barbie. Her doll is dressed in a red ball gown, a silver bodysuit and comes with accessories like high-heeled boots and silver earrings.

TODAY Parents got in on the action:

“It’s been a dream for years to work with Barbie to create my own doll,” Cox said in a statement shared with TODAY Parents. “I can’t wait for fans to find my doll on shelves and have the opportunity to add a Barbie doll modeled after a transgender person to their collection.”

During the live broadcast, Laverne waxed political:

“[Mattel has] this incredible Barbie tribute series with incredible people like (filmmaker) Ava DuVernay, and (singer) Brandy, etc. And I’m the latest person to be so honored. … I love [the doll], and I had so much fun with everyone at Mattel designing her, but I think, this year particularly, when over 250 pieces of anti-transgender legislation have been introduced in state legislatures all over the country, targeting transgender children, LGBTQ youth, that I hope that all the kids who are feeling stigmatized when their healthcare’s being jeopardized, their ability to play in sports, I hope they can see this Barbie and have a sense of hope and possibility. … Because representation matters.”

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There’s plenty of representation goin’ ’round. Transgenderism appears present in every arena of life — for adults, on down.

As RedState Editor-at-Large Kira Davis so aptly put it Monday, individuals identifying as the opposite of their sex is a “new social reality.”

Concerning the toy world specifically, there’s certainly been a shift:

Mattel Eyes a Barbie Gay Wedding Playset

Mattel Releases a Gender Fluid Doll Playset for Kids – to ‘Encourage People to Think More Broadly’

LEGO Announces Its Gender-Nonbinary Playset Featuring a Black Drag Queen

Hasbro Announces Its New Gender-Neutral Mr. Potato Head

Gone are the playful ways of yore:

Barbie Unveils Its New Politically Active Doll and Her All-Female Staff

Don’t Confuse the Kids: LEGO Requests All Marketing for Its Police and Fire Sets Be Removed

It’s remarkable how quickly things have changed. Just a few years ago, “transgender” occupied no space in the American lexicon. A mere decade back, surely the majority of Americans wouldn’t have dreamed our present cultural occurrences were in the cards. And if I had to guess, I’d say the transformation is nowhere near done.

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Earlier this month, satirical site The Babylon Bee published a related article. It might just prove prophetic:

-ALEX

 

See more content from me:

Begging to Be Canceled: Bill Burr Attacks the Idea of a Pregnant Man

University Forces All Graduates Through ‘Antiracism’ and Microaggression Training

Arizona Department of Education Invites 10-Year-Olds to Talk With Strangers Online About Their Sexual Identities

Find all my RedState work here.

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