When 4-year-old Hazel Alexander was introduced to Gabriela McBride, she knew they would have an instant bond.
Talking to her mom about her new "friend" -- who happens to be American Girl's Girl of the Year for 2017 -- Hazel couldn't contain her excitement.
"Mom, I know how to stutter," Hazel said. "I can totally talk 'her.'"
Talking "her" meant a distinct language she and the newest American Girl doll share. Both girls stutter, a speech characteristic marked by repetition in sound, prolonged pauses and repeated words. It's a way of speaking that still comes with significant stigma -- and stuttering advocates say Mattel-owned American Girl is helping to tackle that shame with Gabriela's release.
"There is power in a doll that provides affirmation that stuttering is OK."
"There is power in a doll that provides affirmation that stuttering is OK," Taro Alexander, Hazel's father and founder and president of the Stuttering Association for the Young (SAY), tells Mashable. "If there is a cool, beautiful, smart, compelling and talented doll depicting a girl who stutters, it tells girls like Hazel that they, too, are cool, smart and capable."
In the three-part book series that accompanies the doll, released on Jan. 1, Gabriela is a young black girl who stutters and also has a passion for poetry and dance. Through her artistic talents, she advocates for her local community arts center in Philadelphia after the city threatens to shut it down.
Gabriela is undeniably groundbreaking. She's not just a young black activist who stutters -- she's also the first black Girl of the Year for the American Girl brand.
But both the stuttering community and the black community have been waiting for years for major brands like American Girl to take notice of their lives. A doll like Gabriela may bring essential representation, but she is long overdue.
While Gabriela isn't -- and can't be -- everything these communities need, she's a starting point in the mainstream market for many girls of underrepresented identities.
Sharing the story of girls who stutter
The Gabriela doll doesn't actually speak, but her story holds particular significance for the estimated 70 million people around the globe -- including 5% of all children -- who stutter.
"Our goal with our Girl of the Year line is to create characters that reflect the interests and experiences of real girls today," Stephanie Spanos, senior PR manager at American Girl, tells Mashable. "We know stuttering is a relatively common communication disorder ... While not an issue that every girl is faced with, we know several are and many others will likely know someone who is."
That representation, Alexander says, has the stuttering community "jumping for joy" -- Gabriela is vital not just for little girls, but for everyone who stutters.
"It's a really big deal," he says. "It's like the thing that we've always wanted that we didn't even know we wanted."
"It's like the thing that we've always wanted that we didn't even know we wanted."
Alison Williams, a member of the stuttering community, says Gabriela's story seems almost ripped from the pages of her own life. Williams is a black woman who stutters, and she also realized her passion for the arts at a young age.
Now 23 years old with a degree in visual arts, Williams says Gabriela is a representation of her identity she never dreamed of seeing.
"I felt so connected to her," she tells Mashable.
But the community isn't embracing the new doll without some trepidation. Some of the language used to describe Gabriela's experience with stuttering isn't exactly empowering, according to stuttering advocates. Instead, it falls into a pattern of looking at the speech characteristic as something to correct rather than accept.
For example, Gabriela has been described by American Girl as using spoken word poetry to "overcome" her "personal challenge" of stuttering.
"I don't think saying she uses poetry to 'overcome' her stuttering is presenting stuttering in the best way," Alexander says. "There is a lot of talk in the community about the word 'overcome.' It is a really loaded word."
The hesitation at the seemingly simple word, he says, stems from the common media narrative that the key to "overcoming" stuttering is to simply work hard or gain confidence.
That belief, however, is simply not true.
"The reality is, for most people who stutter, stuttering will be a part of our lives forever," Alexander says.
Sharing that message, he adds, is not only essential for children who stutter, but adults, too. That's why even older members of the community are excited for Gabriela.
In fact, Alexander, a white man and father of three, says he can't wait to buy a doll -- for himself.
What it means to depict a modern black girl
Gabriela's release isn't just a milestone for representation in the stuttering community. This is also the first time American Girl has created a doll to represent a modern black girl.
The brand, which launched in 1986, has had at least one black doll as a part of its line at any given time since 1995. But all previous black dolls have come from historical periods, like the Civil Rights era or the mid-1800s -- until now.
"American Girl is proud to have one of the most inclusive and diverse selection of dolls in the industry."
And although the series has been around since 2001, Gabriela marks the first black Girl of the Year. There have been previous non-black dolls of color featured as Girl of the Year, but they have all been of East Asian or Latina descent. The majority of the previous 14 Girls of the Year -- a staggering 11 -- have been white.
Gabriela joins two other black American Girl dolls currently on the market -- Melody, a Civil Rights-era doll, and Addy, a former slave. Though the three dolls seem like a sizable portion of the 10 dolls currently available through American Girl, 2017 marks the first time this many black dolls have been a part of the brand at one time in the company's 30-year history.
Only four black dolls -- including Gabriela -- have ever be a part of the mostly white brand.
But Gabriela's release arguably comes too little too late for black girls who long have seen little representation in the American Girl line. Many activists say the doll is a step, but not a leap, in the right direction for a brand often criticized for its lack of black representation.
Yet the brand argues its line of dolls is diverse, claiming it is one of the most diverse in the toy industry today.
"American Girl is proud to have one of the most inclusive and diverse selection of dolls in the industry, and it's an area we’ve been committed to since the very beginning," Spanos says.
Debra Britt, founder of the National Black Doll Museum of History and Culture in Mansfield, Massachusetts, says her long critique of American Girl has been with the way in which they tell fictionalized stories of black girls.
"They come up with these stories when we have our own stories," Britt tells Mashable. "We have our stories to tell, and our stories are never told."
"Black folks always have to come with an additional struggle."
Though Britt says Gabriela provides essential representation for both black girls and girls who stutter, she's critical of the decision to give the first black doll an experience with speech difference. She isn't alone -- it's a critique that appeared on social media soon after Gabriela's reveal. Some consumers wondered why the first modern black American Girl doll has multiple stigmatized identities, while previous white dolls never had similar hurdles.
"Black folks always have to come with an additional struggle," Britt says of Gabriela's experience with stuttering. "We just aren't great as we are."
But many argue this criticism feeds into the social opinion that speech difference is inherently shameful -- the exact opinion stuttering advocates hope the doll curbs.
Williams, for example, says she sees the doll's experience with stuttering as an amazing thing, and she "feels bad" for a society that interprets the backstory as anything but powerful.
"That's almost like a slap in the face," she says. "I understand that if you are not a person who stutters, it may seem like a bad thing. But I am a black woman who stutters. If that's a problem for someone, that's their problem -- not a problem with this doll's story."
The cost of representation
With each doll costing $115, the price of American Girl dolls has long been a point of contention for the brand -- especially when the hefty price tag doesn't include additional accessories and books.
The release of a modern black doll who stutters has expanded that conversation into a critique of the high cost of representation.
"It's great that American Girl is taking this first step. But it is just the first step."
With black dolls still a rarity on store shelves, Gabriela -- at least on the surface -- provides an important type of representation for girls of color. But economic barriers affect who can afford this form of representation -- especially shutting out black communities due to income inequality.
$115 is a steep and often inaccessible cost for many girls of low-income families, many of whom could benefit from Gabriela's vocal advocacy of community programming for communities of color.
Britt says she rarely recommends American Girl to black families looking for black dolls due to economic cost. Instead, she recommends black-owned companies, like Pretty Brown Girl and Double Dutch Dolls -- dolls made for and by the black community.
Just an initial step
With barriers in cost and questions about how inclusive American Girl's introduction of Gabriela actually is, there is still more to want from such a doll.
But, Alexander argues, the stuttering community can -- and should -- still celebrate this step, while being critical of where representation needs to go from here.
"Yes, we have this exciting news -- but I think equality and representation is something we are still struggling with in this country in a major way," he says. "It's great that American Girl is taking this first step. But it is just the first step."
Even if Gabriela's creation is just a beginning, Williams hopes young black girls who stutter will gain confidence from her story simply being out there. After all, she says, it's representation she could have used as a child.
"It's so important for young black girls who stutter to know that they can still be vocal and share their voice," Williams says. "If girls like the girl I was take something away from this doll, I hope that is it."
