sinisterporpoise: (Default)
sinisterporpoise ([personal profile] sinisterporpoise) wrote2015-05-17 11:53 am

New Line of Dolls with Disabilities

 http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/news/a40588/makies-dolls/

Yes, I understand that the custom toy maker should respond to customer demands. I do not fault them for giving into the demands of their customers. What I am having a hard time with is I find this idea horrific and I can't really explain why. As someone who grew up during the 80s and who was assigned male at birth, the closest thing we had to this were the Starscream action and Destro action figures.  


silk_dragon_zen: Rainbow Autistic Pride lemniscate over the black, grey, white, and purple stripes of the Asexuality Pride flag (Default)

[personal profile] silk_dragon_zen 2015-05-17 07:00 pm (UTC)(link)
You find this horrific? I, for one, am thrilled that said customers both demanded and got representation from this toy manufacturer! Nothing horrific about that at all. Our culture's otherwise compulsory “normality” just serves to marginalize kids who have disabilities by saying, “no, you're not good enough the way you are to have a doll made to look like you actually look”. So kudos to this toy company — and especially to its customers — for making a clear statement affirming that a person with a disability isn't broken nor lacking as a person, and that the body they have is the body they have.

As for Starscream and Destro, having just read the beginnings of both Wikipedia articles, how do these particular action figures relate to you being trans? — or to being disabled? I never watched either show, and the Wikipedia articles are less than enlightening on the subject.