American Girl—Yes, the Doll Company—Is Promoting Hijabs
(And you're a raging Islamophobe if you have an issue with it.)
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When my daughters were little, American Girl dolls were all the rage. They were far from cheap—back then, pushing $100 apiece, but they came with a book!—so each daughter had exactly one. (Of course the clothes and accessories cost as much as full-size human fittings, so I’d do my best to find those, pre-loved, on eBay). In theory, I was all in. A doll that actually looked like the child playing with it and not an anatomically impossible pin-up girl with a lifelong commitment to stilettos? Novel. Refreshing. Sign me up! The fact that the company managed to sneak historical lessons into playtime like literary carrot muffins was a Clinique gift-with-purchase-level extra.
For not the first time this decade, I’m on my knees thanking the Lord that my babies are grown. Because it’s entirely possible they would have asked for the American Girl Eid a-Fitr Celebration Outfit for their birthdays—the thing comes with a hot pink rhinestone-studded headscarf, for crying out loud, of course they would have asked for it!—and then we’d be having an ugly conversation not about historical oppression, but oppression that is very much alive today and extremely busy weaving itself into the fabric of our society.
And obviously, you’re a jerk if you say that last part out loud.