A commercial project developed through years of University of Minnesota Medical School research is preparing to distribute paper dolls with interchangeable clothing, hairstyles and removable anatomical parts to educators and health professionals beginning this fall.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A set of paper dolls designed to introduce young children to gender identity, anatomy and physical development is expected to become available this fall for use in some classrooms and clinical settings, including environments serving children as young as 4.
The products, described by their creators as the first of their kind, feature removable internal and external genitalia alongside more than 100 interchangeable clothing items, hairstyles and accessories. The characters are assigned gender-neutral names such as Sam, Rory, Avery and Parker, according to the MyGender Dolls website.
The project emerged from research conducted over more than six years at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Health before being developed into the private commercial venture MyGender Dolls, according to a New York Post report.
As part of the university research, transgender-identifying children, other participating children and their parents were reportedly paid between $20 and $60 to interact with the dolls and discuss anatomy and gender. Photographs presented at a 2024 conference reportedly showed early versions of the dolls depicting different stages of gender transition through removable anatomy, clothing and other interchangeable features.
The business was created by Dr. Dianne Berg and Dr. Nic Rider, licensed therapists who serve as University of Minnesota faculty members. Rider’s university profile lists they/them pronouns and describes a professional focus on transgender health involving children and adolescents.
Berg told the New York Post that the purpose of the dolls is to help children “learn about the different options that exist for who they can be.”
In a 2020 article that has since been deleted, Berg reportedly wrote that the dolls were intended to teach children that “there’s diversity in gender identity.” She also described using the materials with patients between 5 and 10 years old.
Other clinicians affiliated with the university project have said the dolls can be used to begin conversations with children about their bodies and how those bodies may develop in the future.
Critics have questioned whether children at the youngest targeted ages are capable of understanding the concepts being presented.
“They will find anybody who’s in trouble and use this as a tool to say, ‘this is why you’re unhappy,’” Dr. Quentin Van Meter, a former president of the American College of Pediatricians, told the New York Post. “The younger kids … are well beyond their ability to sort out fantasy from reality.”
The dolls are expected to be marketed to teachers, school counselors, pediatricians and mental health professionals. The available information does not specify whether parents will be able to purchase the products directly or whether schools using them will allow families to exempt their children from related activities.
Questions also remain about the relationship between the publicly funded university research and the project’s commercial development.
The University of Minnesota Medical School receives about $15 million each year in state appropriations intended to increase its research capacity. University representatives told the New York Post that public funding was not used to commercialize MyGender Dolls, but they did not disclose how much taxpayer-supported funding may have contributed to the research that preceded the company’s formation.
The institute’s overall research budget is approximately $1.4 billion, according to its 2025 annual report.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat who has supported transgender-related policies during his administration, received the Institute for Sexual and Gender Health’s first Distinguished Sexual and Gender Health Champion Award in 2023. His office reportedly did not respond to a request for comment from the New York Post.
University officials continue to maintain that taxpayer money was not used to turn the dolls into a commercial product. However, the university has not publicly identified the amount or proportion of public funding used during the underlying research and development process.
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