Overview
- MyGender Dolls are paper therapeutic figures aimed at children ages 4–10 that include removable internal and external genitalia and more than 100 interchangeable clothing and accessory pieces to support conversations about gender and bodies.
- The project began as multi‑year research at the University of Minnesota’s Eli Coleman Institute and was later spun into a commercial venture by two faculty members; the MyGender Dolls website lists a waitlist and says the product is launching in 2026 and will be made available to clinicians and educators this fall.
- University spokespeople have told reporters no public money was used to commercialize the dolls but declined to disclose detailed research or salary funding and told journalists to file Freedom of Information Act requests for underlying spending records.
- Reporting says the research phase included paid play sessions with children and parents and that prototypes and conference images from 2024 showed dolls with detachable anatomy; those historical materials have since been removed from some university pages.
- Conservative outlets and some pediatric critics have framed the project as taxpayer‑supported and inappropriate for young children, while the company and some clinicians describe the dolls as evidence‑informed tools for professionals, a divide that has driven heightened media and political scrutiny and could affect school and clinic use.