Object Lessons is a series of short beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of
ordinary things. The haunted doll has long been a trope in horror movies but like many fears
there is some truth at its heart. Dolls are possessed-by our aspirations. They're commonly used
as a tool to teach mothering to young girls but more often they are avatars of the idealized
feminine self. (The word doll even acts as shorthand for a desirable woman.) They instruct
girls what to strive for in society reinforcing dominant patriarchal heteronormative white
views around class bodies history and celebrity in insidious ways. Girls' dolls occupy the
opposite space of boys' action figures which represent masculinity authority warfare and
conflict. By analyzing dolls from 17th century Japanese Hinamatsuri festivals to the '80s
American Girl Dolls and even to today's bitmoji Doll reveals how the objects society
encourages us to play with as girls shape the women we become. Object Lessons is published in
partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
