Little Boys of Color Finally Have a Doll of Their Own

When I was growing up--all those centuries ago--girls had all the fun toys. Namely, Barbie and her assorted dream accoutrements, which she could afford thanks to the myriad jobs she held down while Ken lazed about the beach house and crashed her convertible while cruising for GI Joes.

But this notion of "boy" toys and "girl" toys robbed me, and countless other baby gays, of the opportunity to play with dolls, and especially Christie, aka, Black Barbie--the Michelle of the Barbie family.

Well, now, in an effort to challenge the problematic cult of masculinity perpetuated by gendered toys, not to mention the glaring lack of diversity in those toys, Melanites is offering an alternative.

These "action pals"come in a "diverse range of skin tones, facial features, and hair types reflective of society's changing multicultural demographic." Instead of toys promoting war and violence--howyoudoin' American gun culture--Melanites dolls aspire to defy gender stereotypes and inspire young boys of color to dream big and think as individuals.

"I'm creating dolls for boys because I want them to have a space that's free of the pressures of hyper-masculinity and any other stereotype that tells them that they have to be this way or they have to express themselves that way," Melanites creator Jennifer Pierre told HuffPo.

"You can't be what you can't see and our stories, our lives, our history everything that encompasses who we are it needs to be accurate, it needs to be out there, that's why I decided to do Melanites."

Check out a video on these new diverse action pals below: