Through “interactive” paper dolls with identical “internal reproductive organs” and “external genitalia,”” MyGender Dolls” aims to promote children’s sex exploration.
After the report figurines, which have identical testicles and are made for children, received negative website reviews, the University of Minnesota appears to have removed information from its web.
An article about the task was removed from the public school’s website’s world archives, and the site’s main webpage was changed somewhere around the finish of last week.
MyGender Dolls are therapeutic tools for qualified professionals to use with people and their parents or caregivers to aid children who struggle to express themselves. This research, including early-stage focus groups, is continuing and these tools are not now available for use”, a university spokesperson told The College Fix.
The director stated in an email on Monday that “recent website updates reflect the current position of this research project.”
A video explaining the job, a crowdfunding petition, or the names of the people involved in it is no longer available on the main website. Additionally, the job description is condensed.
A 2020 content about the job in the school’s Discovery Magazine even is gone. The article referred to MyGender Dolls as” a therapeutic tool” that helps” transgender and gender diverse children” feel at ease discussing their bodies ‘ feelings.
MyGender Dolls resemble traditional paper dolls, featuring drawings of children of different years, shapes, and body colors to signify “all” kids, according to the job website.
Kids can choose various internal and external genitals, clothing, and other equipment to help them “visualize their biology and genders”.
The Eli Coleman Institute for Sexual and Gender Health at UMN Medical School is the source of the job.
The job attracted attention lately on liberal and spiritual social media accounts, including LibsofTikTok.
Some people attracted notice to a Feb. 27 Instagram post by the project’s engineers about testing the report dolls on target groups of children between the ages of 5 and 10 while their parents were present. The figurines were marketed as “hands-on activities to help talk about sex and body.” Participants received between$ 20 and$ 60 in compensation.
The figurines are drawn by” trans and female different identified” musicians, according to a video explaining the task on Vimeo. More than 100 formed pieces of clothing, accessories, and hair alternatives allow for family’s” self-expression”.
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But, founder and president of Them Before Us, Katy Faust, expressed concern when asked about the effects of the project on babies.
The idea of offering figurines where children can mix and match genitalia and inner organs with different “gender identities” encourages children to pursue a dream that their body will never be able to deliver, Faust wrote to The Fix in an internet. Her firm advocates for children’s right in marriage and family issues.
One reason why transgender children experience for higher levels of mental health issues is because of this disconnect between the mind and body, she said.
According to the UMN university, the dolls follow the Gender Affirmative Lifespan Approach, a unit meant to overcome the “internalization of shame” throughout female investigation and make a “nonpathologizing” view of gender health. The GALA method aims to promote “pleasure-oriented good sexuality”.
Researchers at the school’s National Center for Gender Spectrum Health are leading the project.
Dianne Berg, the agency’s co-director, designed the dolls to provide a “tangible, engaging knowledge” she believed babies were missing. Berg sees patients ranging from age 5 to 11 while being licensed to practice psychology with the school health system.
” It’s actually important to address the belief,’ I’m not a” true “boy because I don’t have these personal parts,’ versus,’ I am a true boy, whatever my anatomy looks like,'” Berg said in the recently-removed Discovery Magazine article.
Rachel Becker-Warner, a psychologist at the Institute for Sexual and Gender Health, originally came up with the idea for the dolls along with Berg and Ashley Finch, a university communications specialist, the article stated.
Finch is also a” trans-identified artist” who drew the illustrations for the book” Yep, That’s My Mommy”, which tells the story of a young boy whose friends at school “mistakenly” call his transgender “mother” a dad. The book is recommended for children between the ages of 6 and 7.
The dolls are already being used by some therapists, including the University of Minnesota’s Elizabeth Panetta. According to Discovery Magazine, she enjoys talking about private affairs with children while using” MyGender Dolls” without getting too serious or clinical.
Ben Parchem, a pediatric psychiatrist and professor at Northwestern School of Medicine, also praised the project, claiming that the dolls “made talking about gender fun” and “helped children “realize all the options that exist for who they can be—regardless of their body parts.”
In November, the project’s team received an award from the university’s MIN-Corps, a science and engineering innovation program, according to a post on Instagram. MIN-Corps awards grants of up to$ 3, 000 to” Minimum Viable Products”, but the grant amount for MyGender Dolls has not been published.
According to the magazine, the funding for the prototypes of the dolls came from a grant from the California Institute of Contemporary Art.
Additionally, organizers raised$ 1, 305 for the project through crowdfunding. According to the website for fundraisers, members of the Program in Human Sexuality Leadership Council match every dollar raised.
In the future, the center plans to give “gender therapists” who support “gender exploration” access to MyGender Dolls when working with children during telehealth visits, according to a Vimeo video about the dolls.
However, according to Faust with Them Before Us, gender therapy only worsens the mental health of young children.
At this age, they are incredibly fragile and malleable, according to Faust. ” Therapists who can convey these body-destroying ideas in a way that appeals to kids, for example, through dolls and toys acquire soft targets for ideological evangelism.”
According to Faust,” These interventions are falling out of favor in country after country, where we have come to the conclusion that hormones and surgery may not only fail to treat gender dysphoria but also may lead to further mental health issues,” Instead of urging kids to love their bodies, they instead are urging them to take the path of enduring lifelong users of cosmetic surgery and pharmaceuticals.
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National Center for Gender Spectrum Health, University of Minnesota
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