Commonwealth Policy Center

Remember the children’s toy Mr. Potato Head? It was a creative way for pre-schoolers to explore shapes and faces but the makers of the iconic toy now believe it’s exclusionary so they’re dropping Mr. from its name. The reason? It’s to “promote gender equality and inclusion.” The executives at Hasbro, which makes the toy, are saying that since the “culture has evolved,” they’re going to release a new toy without any gender designations so that kids can create their own type of potato family. So what does it say about the message we’re sending to our children? It’s one thing to let children rearrange facial parts on a genderless toy but quite another if those children grow into adults and try to live in a gender contrary to their biology.