Potato Head

In 1977, I worked as an Equal Opportunity Administrator. I remember finding a Golden Book from my youth to pass on to my son. With my recent training at work, I recognized it was sexist in portraying men working all the jobs featured while a few women were in the background as customers or taking care of children. Later I objected to a Kindergarten project where the boys were doctors and the girls were nurses. I got into an argument at a party with an attorney representing a school district that wanted to ban a girl from playing football. Even my wife thought I was nuts, especially since our three children were boys. But now I notice Eleanor Roosevelt is the latest Barbie Doll and six Dr. Seuss books will no longer be published because of racist images. I should feel vindicated. But People Magazine says “Mr.” has been dropped from Potato Head “to be more gender inclusive.” Hasbro has introduced a Create Your Own Potato Head Family kit so users can craft potatoes into gender configurations of their choosing. In 1952, Mr. Potato Head was just a box of plastic parts and the consumer supplied the potato. Eventually plastic potato bodies and a Mrs. Potato Head were added. I guess Mr. Potato Head always received top billing but now anyone who does not identify as a boy can also feel like they can grow up to be a primary Potato Head. And they can have any gender Potato Head as a partner. I applaud Hasbro for doing its part. I began this post trying to establish that I am on the side of fixing stereotypes. Blatant and subtle representations can both do harm. But I confess that the Potato Head makeover did make me laugh.