The makers of Barbie have launched a gender-neutral doll, in six different skin tones.
Euronews reports that Mattel’s “Creatable World” dolls are customisable and come with interchangeable hairstyles and outfits and a doll line that is designed “to keep labels out and invite everyone in.”
“In our world, dolls are as limitless as the kids who play with them,” the company said on its website.
The toy kit comes with short hair and long hair options, six pieces of clothing, three pairs of shoes and two accessories that are both female-presenting and male-presenting.
“Children can mix and match more traditionally “masculine” and “feminine” clothes. The idea is to let children decide how to dress the dolls and allay parents’ concerns about gender stereotyping in the toybox.
The dolls have also been anatomically designed, in consultation with a paediatrician, to be gender-neutral.
Dr Cara Naterson said: “I was asked to look at the body type of the doll and to put my paediatric brain on, and to understand what about this doll was appropriate in terms of size and proportions and just sort of the whole aesthetic look, and then the physiology of the doll.”
Kim Culmone, global head of design at Mattel, said: “There are some clothes that are more feminine-presenting, some clothes that are more masculine-presenting, and then the kids can combine them and put them together in any way that they want to.”
