As Toy Fair, New York 2017 comes to a close, the TOTY (Toy Of The Year) awards are presented to outstanding new toys in various categories.  This year, the TOTY award for action figures was won by Mattel for its DC Superhero Girls.  The collection of action figures, that is composed of eight female superheroes, was designed to encourage young girls to be strong and powerful. Of course Wonder Woman and Catwoman have been around for ages, but to be quite frank they’ve always been sprinkled in with the male superheroes just to make things a bit more interesting, if you catch my drift. The DC Superhero Girls, on the other hand, shine the spotlight on female strength, courage, and overall awesomeness. With this collection of action figures on the shelf, perhaps a seed will be planted in the young minds of boys and girls that will inspire them to think of males and females as equals in their ability to do badass stuff.

In another great display of girl power, the TOTY award for dolls was presented to Barbie Fashionistas from Mattel.  This line of Barbie dolls is embracing more realistic body types and diversity by offering dolls in various shapes, sizes, and skin tones.  The collection includes dolls with curvy, petite, and tall body shapes, as well as the original (physically impossible to be human) Barbie body shape. Since real women come in many shapes, sizes, and colors, it is about time that the dolls that our youth play with convey that every variation of the human figure is beautiful in its own unique way. This not only teaches children to love themselves and their own physical appearance, but also that of their peers.  The simple experience of exposure to diversity through play as a child could lay the groundwork for our youth to grow into the most accepting and open minded generation of people the world has ever seen...