American Girl Debuts Boy Doll ‘Logan’

Logan Everett plays drums for his singer-songwriter friend in Nashville, Tennessee. He’s 18 inches tall — and most likely was created because of pressure from progressives.

Logan is an American Girl doll. You read that right — he’s an American Girl doll. The fact that he’s a boy and therefore wouldn’t fit in a line of girl dolls does not seem to bother American Girl.

Julie Parks, director of public relations at American Girl, told The Huffington Post the company regularly receives feedback from both parents and kids asking for characters with “more experiences, more diversity, more interests.”

So is an LGBTQ doll in the near future, as the company seeks diversity? “Adding a boy to our lineup has been a number one request for a very, very, very long time,” Parks told HuffPo.

One innovator in the doll market sees this as a positive move. “We love American Girl as a family,” Dr. Brian Kiczek, a chiropractic physician and co-owner of Dolls from Heaven, a new company in northern New Jersey that makes dolls based on the lives of the saints, told LifeZette. “I have no idea why [American Girl] came out with a boy doll, but I think it will help open the market more. Boy dolls are needed nowadays, especially saint-based boy dolls — we could call them true action figures.”

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A millennial who grew up loving American Girl dolls had a far different take on the addition of Logan to the American Girl family.

“This is yet another simple pleasure being taken from young girls,” a 23-year-old media professional based in Washington, D.C., told LifeZette. “Who wants a drummer at their tea party? The best part of the original historical American Girl dolls was that they each had a story. These stories were written to help girls understand what American girls went through during different eras. What’s this guy’s story?”

The stories now seem less historical — and far more politically correct. Gabriela, a black American Girl doll, comes with a back story of stuttering and a love of spoken-word poetry. She also has a mom who works for a community arts center.

“Gabriela, our 15th Girl of the Year, has grown up surrounded by the arts — dance, painting, music, and theater. Her mother is the founder of the Liberty Community Arts Center, a beautiful, but crumbling old building that is the gathering space for Gabriela’s network of family and friends,” reads the American Girl description. “In Gabriela’s stories, we discover that she has a lot to say. But it can be tough to get her message out. She struggles with stuttering.”

The word on the street is that Logan will debut along with new doll Tenney, his good friend from Nashville.
“The first Contemporary girl’s name is Tennyson Grant (nickname Tenney),” reports LissieandLily.blogspot.com, a fan site devoted to American Girl products. “Tenney is white, with blond, curly/wavy hair, and what looks like brown eyes. She is from Nashville, Tennessee. Her pet is a Golden Retriever dog named Waylon. She plays guitar and banjo, and loves to perform. Her best friend is Jaya Mitra, who loves art.”

Looks like American Girl is leaning heavily toward the arts and a laid-back lifestyle. What’s next — Batista the Barrista — or Ginny the Graffiti Artist?

Related: These American Toys Are Classics for a Reason

“An American Girl doll was always a big deal while I was growing up — most of my allowance money went toward her wardrobe,” recalled the D.C.-area millennial. “As a little girl, nothing got me more excited than getting to take her to the store and have tea together, shop and be pampered.”