By A line of University of Minnesota-linked therapeutic dolls that allows children as young as 4 to interchange genitalia, reproductive organs, clothing and hairstyles is expected to debut this fall in some Minnesota classrooms, according to a report by The New York Post.
The product, called MyGender Dolls, is scheduled to launch in 2026 for clinicians and educators working with children between the ages of 4 and 10.
“MyGender Dolls are a first-of-their-kind therapeutic play approach designed for gender diverse children ages 4–10,” the company’s website states.
Taxpayer-funded 'transgender dolls' with removable/swappable genitalia are heading to Minnesota classrooms this fall for kids as young as 4.
Developed at the University of Minnesota as “therapeutic” tools so children can “learn about the different options that exist for who they… pic.twitter.com/Ekzevi6xrg
— Michael Hennessey (@Snowflake_News) July 26, 2026
The company says the dolls are intended for mental health providers, pediatricians, school counselors, educators and other professionals working in clinical and educational settings.
“We make gender fun!” the website declares. “Our award-winning dolls and services are community-informed, research-driven, culturally-attuned, and grounded in gender-affirming clinical practice.”
MyGender Dolls began as a research project at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Eli Coleman Institute for Sexual and Gender Health. The institute was previously known as the Institute for Sexual and Gender Health and contains what was formerly called the National Center for Gender Spectrum Health.
The project was developed by University of Minnesota psychologists and researchers, including Dianne Berg and G. Nic Rider.
Although the current commercial website offers limited product details, university reports and professional conference materials provide a clearer picture of what the dolls include.
A program for the 2025 Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health conference described the product as a collection of two-dimensional doll bases representing different body sizes and skin tones.
The accompanying vinyl pieces include “internal reproductive organs, external genitals, hair styles, clothing, and other accessories” that can be peeled off and attached to the doll.
Children can select a body and then layer the accessories in different combinations to create representations that allow “exploration of who they are now and how they see themselves in the future,” according to the conference description.
A now-deleted University of Minnesota project page similarly described the concept as resembling traditional paper dolls, except that children could select bodies, genitalia, clothing and other accessories to “visualize their anatomy and genders.”
The university’s 2023 annual report said children could choose from bodies of varying ages, shapes and skin tones. Earlier project descriptions also advertised more than 100 clothing, hairstyle and accessory options.
Researchers presented the dolls as a way to reinforce the idea that a child’s gender is not determined by anatomy.
“It’s really important to address the belief, ‘I’m not a ‘real’ boy because I don’t have these private parts,’ versus, ‘I am a real boy, whatever my anatomy looks like,’” Berg said in a University of Minnesota Foundation article that has since been removed.
“It’s about helping children develop tools to cope with messages in society that could lead to shame,” she added.
Researchers also recruited transgender and gender-diverse children between the ages of 5 and 10, along with their parents, to participate in focus groups involving the dolls. Families reportedly were offered between $20 and $60 per group to play with the materials and discuss gender and bodies.
The university’s 2024 annual report described MyGender Dolls as a set of therapeutic tools for licensed therapists to use with children and their parents or caregivers. It said research and development had been supported through grants and donations.
The project also received a University of Minnesota Early Innovation Fund award in spring 2023. The university says the fund can provide as much as $10,000 per project to advance early-stage innovations toward commercialization, although the exact amount awarded to MyGender Dolls has not been publicly disclosed.
The university’s latest annual report says the Eli Coleman Institute spent approximately $1.5 million on research in fiscal year 2025, up from $1.375 million in 2024. Those figures cover the institute’s entire research portfolio and do not show how much was spent specifically on the dolls.
A university spokesperson told the New York Post that no public funds were used “to support MyGender Dolls’ commercialization efforts.” The university did not provide the newspaper with a detailed accounting of the earlier research and development expenses.
The Post reported that the dolls are expected to reach some Minnesota classrooms this fall. However, the newspaper did not identify a specific school, district, purchase order or classroom that has formally agreed to use them.
Neither the university nor the company has publicly named the participating schools. The company’s website says the products are launching in 2026 and are being marketed to clinicians and educators. It currently invites interested professionals to join a waitlist and does not list prices.
The Post’s report therefore provides the basis for the claim that the dolls are headed to classrooms, but the scope of that rollout—and which Minnesota schools are involved—remains unclear.
Critics argue that using interchangeable genitalia to teach preschool and elementary-aged children about gender crosses an ethical line.
Dr. Quentin Van Meter, a past president of the conservative American College of Pediatricians, called the dolls “just a grooming tool” that has “no place in an ethical medical care world.”
“They will find anybody who’s in trouble and use this as a tool to say, ‘this is why you’re unhappy.’ This is absolutely grooming,” Van Meter told the outlet.
“The younger kids—many of them still believe in the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. And you’re then presenting them with paper dolls that kind of look fun, and you can change clothing, hair, genitals… It’s well beyond their ability to sort out fantasy from reality,” he said. “It’s profoundly inappropriate.”
The developers maintain that the dolls are a developmentally appropriate therapeutic resource designed to help gender-diverse children communicate feelings that may otherwise be difficult to express.
The commercial launch nevertheless means a controversial experiment developed inside a taxpayer-supported public university is moving closer to schools and clinical offices.
Whether Minnesota parents will be informed when the dolls are used—and whether they will be given an opportunity to opt their children out—remains unanswered.
