Target Selling Gender Inclusive Gingerbread Sweater

                The biological fact of the existence of two—count them, two—sexes is under attack as never before. As is the idea of a “Gingerbread Man.” For example, Target is selling a “Gender Inclusive Gingerbread Sweater” this holiday season. The sweater is apparently also size inclusive, coming in S-XL and plus sizes. The item features traditional red and green Christmas colors and sports an applique gingerbread person holding a candy cane and is made from 100 percent acrylic fibers. What makes the gingerbread figures on these sweaters “gender inclusive” is anybody’s guess.

                Moreover, The New York Post reports that an Auckland, New Zealand, café called The Tannery is selling “GingerBread Gender-Neutral Person” cookies. Those who have long dreamt of eating gender-neutral biscuits can purchase them for just $2.50 apiece. It is not known whether these prospective confectionery consumers will be required to address the cookies by their preferred pronouns.

                In other gender-neutral news, Mattel, maker of Barbie (and Ken) dolls, introduced “gender-neutral Barbie” back in September, hoping to appease the LGBTQ+ crowd. To no avail. Alex Myers, a trans writer, penned an op-ed for Slate in which he said he was “deeply skeptical” of Mattel’s business decision and motives. He panned the new small plastic toy person, saying, “On a basic level, the doll falls far short of actually embodying or even representing a nonbinary identity.” Myers doesn’t even like the marketing nomenclature, claiming that trans people don’t use the term “gender-neutral,” preferring instead the terms “gender-fluid,” or “genderqueer,” or “nonbinary,” or “nonconforming.”

Neither was he fond of the doll’s lack of genitalia, writing: “The bodily blankness erases so much of what the discussions — personal and political — about gender focus on,” and adding that “These dolls depict a sterile version of the very real and distinct bodies that trans people still have. Even though they refuse to adhere to sexual norms, a trans woman still has a very real penis, and some trans men have scars where their breasts used to be.” He noted, “These dolls do not have bodies that are like ours; these dolls do not have bodies that society reads in a gendered way at all. That sort of misses the entire point."

Wait, I thought that was the point.

 Moreover, saying “a trans woman still has a very real penis” is akin to stating, “an invertebrate still has a very real spine.” No, it doesn’t. And no, “she” doesn’t…because, if “she” sports “a very real penis,” “she” is not a “she” just because she wants to be.

In point of fact, Gingerbread men/cookies have always been gender-neutral. If they weren’t, parts would have had to be added to them. To my knowledge, no traditional gingerbread cookies have ever sported breasts or a penis. Maybe the woke folks would be happier if the name of these delectables was changed to “Gingerbread Homo Sapiens cookies.”

As for the sweaters, they could be made gender inclusive by the simple act of putting them on. But maybe the manufacturer should make them in “transgender sizes.” There could be a “pangender medium” and a “nanogender XLT,” for example. The possibilities would be endless.