More about boys playing with their dolls

Dear Diary,

I love this photo!

Jesse:  The arrival of Hans has triggered a deluge of childhood memories inside my head and has got me thinking overtime about the entire 'boys playing with dolls' debate.  I just celebrated (in a big way!) my 65th birthday which, if you count backwards, will tell you that I was brought up in the toxic 1950s and early 1960s.  I can find nothing nostalgic about those times; re-naming them "mid-last century" doesn't make anything about them attractive.  I don't blame my parents for how they raised me; they, like us today, were victims of their times.  This video tells my story. It has been staged to look like the 1950s; I recognise the clothes, the truck and even the doll:

  
For years I worked to get over the scars of being different. Now, I capitalise on my age and I no longer care what anyone thinks. 

I wasn't as fortunate as some boys, like my friend Steve who, when he was a boy, was given a Sasha Gregor and encouraged to play with it (lucky lad!).  My situation was 100% opposite; while Steve was allowed to have a doll, I could only wish for the same. It wasn't until I was in my early 40's that I overrode my programming and started to collect and play with dolls. I am so glad that I did. Today, I'm having all the fun playing with dolls which I was denied as a child.

Using this humble blog as my medium, I do my own very tiny part to encourage men and boys to play openly with their dolls and for parents to discard gender-specific toys and play.  

The next video is from Stuff Mom Never Told You - How Stuff Works, the Ask Cristin file.  She's a bit loud but makes good points.

The next two videos are by Mikki Willis, a mult-award winning filmmaker.  Not long ago, he posted a video about his son playing with a Littlest Mermaid doll. The video went viral many times over and unleashed a storm of controversy.  

And:

The debate, which aired on American national television, can be watched on YouTube if you're interested.

This video is an older and very cute animated cartoon with music and singing:

The final video is a short film titled Barbie Boy.  It excellently done and has a poignant message for those who know the violence of gender stereotypes.  Please watch it:

I hope that the messages in these videos have been received by my readers.  The number of reads of this diary have increased steadily over the past 18 months and I value all my readers, both men and women, young and old.  I hope that among the readers are men who find here the encouragement to go ahead and play with dolls.