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Unladylike

American Girl Dollcore

Unladylike

Unladylike Media

Feminism, Gender, Media Analysis, Body Politics, Patriarchy, Intersectionality, Society & Culture, Cultural Commentary, Beauty Standards, Internet Culture, Womens Rights

4.83.7K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2023

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How did a line of expensive, educational dolls overtake 90s girlhood? Historians and Dolls of Our Lives hosts Allison Horrocks and Mary Mahoney tell us the backstory of Pleasant Rowland inventing American Girl, the brand's uneasy relationship with feminism and Barbie, and why Molly et al remain iconic despite their obvious flaws.

Their new book is Dolls of Our Lives: Why We Can't Quit American Girl.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Samantha's are vocal in a way that Kirstens are not.

0:03.6

Like Kirstens are passionate but it's like a quiet burn in the corner

0:08.0

whereas like Felicity's like would burn your house down

0:10.8

if they needed to to prove a point.

0:12.6

Yes they would. Lady Life.

0:23.0

A lady like, a lady like a lady like a lady like a lady like a lady like a lady like a lady like a lady like a lady like a lady like a lady like a lady like a lady like a lady like a lady like.

0:31.0

I've had a love. This is on Lady Like. I'm

0:41.0

This is on Lady Like. I'm Kristen. Not to be confused with Kirsten.

0:46.4

Now American Girl doll, you to understand this is a brand that was imprinted on many a 90s childhood. For me there was Lisa Frank there was Del Delia's, and there was American Girl, okay?

0:55.8

And the wild thing about American Girl doll is that this was a mail-order line of high-price dolls and books that almost magically ballooned into this whole lifestyle

1:09.9

brand that as a mid-90s tween girl you couldn't not be aware of?

1:15.0

I can't even play you a vintage American Girl doll commercial because there were none, y'all. Nevertheless, hordes of us somehow knew that we had to have these dolls. American Girls Inventor, Pleasant Rowland, was a school teacher, turned newscaster, turned children's book editor, turned Dahl Mogul. And here is pleasant at the American Girl Dahl 25th anniversary celebration.

1:48.0

This woman does not like giving interviews,

1:52.6

so this is the best clip I could find.

1:55.7

Somewhere in the archives of this company

1:58.4

is a postcard written in green ink

2:01.4

that I sent to my dear friend, Valerie Tripp, whom you all know.

2:07.4

It said as best I can remember, I've been down in Williamsburg this week and had an idea. What do you think of it?

2:16.6

A series of books about nine-year-old girls growing up at different times in American history.

2:23.7

There would be six books for each,

2:26.0

and the stories would reflect the important moments of girlhood

2:30.0

and how it changed and how it stayed the same over the years.

...

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