Don't be surprised to see boys playing with dolls one of these days. A U.S. toy company has just unveiled its first full-size male doll, intended not only for girls but for boys as well, Christian News reported.
On Tuesday, American Girl presented the character doll named Logan Everett, which is advertised on the American Girl website as a bandmate and drummer to a female doll character named Tenney.
"Meet Logan, Tenney's bandmate and drummer!" the company's online description of the new doll states.
In a statement, American Girl spokeswoman Stephanie Spanos said the company created the male doll because it's "a top request from our fans for decades."
"We're hopeful Logan will appeal to both girls and boys," Spanos said. "For boys, we know Logan can speak directly to them and give them something unique and special to call their own."
However, criticism greeted the unveiling of the male doll.
"This is nothing more than a trick of the enemy to emasculate little boys and confuse their role to become men," Keith Ogden, pastor of Hill Street Baptist Church in Asheville, North Carolina, was quoted as saying by the Asheville Citizen-Times.
"There are those in this world who want to alter God's creation of the male and female," the pastor continued. "The devil wants to kill, steal and destroy the minds of our children and grandchildren by perverting, distorting and twisting [the] truth of who God created them to be."
Ogden believes the new male doll simply reflects society's gender confusion and lack of morals.
"Now you are going to have little boys playing with baby dolls and that's not cool," he said. "We need to get back to our old values and morals."
"It just doesn't make sense," Ogden added. "It's not natural for a boy to act like a girl. It's not natural for a girl to want to be a boy. ... You've got the government and people who placate this mess instead of telling little boys they can't change their biology."'
Critics fear that the new male doll will blur gender lines and confuse boys on whether it's now normal for them to play with dolls, just like girls.
