I done talked Mego on the TeeVee

[MegoRobyn]

I could never buy a female action figure or doll. My mother made it perfectly clear that I could not have one. I remember once in grade school, a friend gave me a pretty mini doll with long blonde hair. I can't remember the name of the doll, but since it was the early seventies, I think it might have been Dawn. I knew my mom wouldn't be happy, so I had to keep it on the "down low." I hid it in my sock drawer in my dresser. Well, one day , she found it and confronted me about it. She didn't scream, but she gently said something , "you know you can't keep this," and she took it away and I never saw it again.

However, my mom didn't have a problem if they were male dolls like GI Joe or the Six Million Dollar man, but she drew the line if they were female. One year for Christmas, I got almost the entire set of Marx's Jungle Adventure including the jeep, the gorilla, the elephant, the tiger, and the two male figures, but not the female figure.

Then, when I was collecting the Star Wars figures, she told me I couldn't get Princess Leia. My best friend was also collecting them, and knew I needed Leia, so she gave me Leia for my birthday. I could see the look of disappointment on my mom's face, but she didn't say anything and she let me keep her.

I was also a fan of the Bionic Woman and Charlie's Angels, and I bought almost all the merchandise--except the dolls!
Eventually, I outgrew toys, but years later as an adult, I was at the flea market and I saw the Bionic Woman doll in a bin for $5, so I bought her. I think I still had this feeling of guilt, or thinking to myself, "what would mom say," but it was sort of liberating in a way. It brought me joy and I felt like a kid again.

It all seems so silly now. I don't play with the female dolls any more than I do with my Big Jims or GI Joes. I like to pose them in different situations, or change their outfits once in a while, but I don't get on the floor like a kid and play make-believe. LOL I just like owning them all (male and female), and being able to walk into my room and admire them anytime I want.

That is a harrowing story, Ronny. Wow, Mom had issues, bless her heart.

My father didn't like Megos at all, no matter what gender, he thought they were dolls. He bought me Best of the West and Evel Knievel stuff but he hated the Megos, but tolerated them after threatening to throw them out.

And the thing is, I secretly loved that they were dolls. I'm transgender, and I knew back then there was something different about me and I had best keep that to myself for safety reasons. I mean, if I had asked for Barbie I would have been severely reprimanded. So Batman and Robin Megos were like this fig leaf, a doll it was okay for boys to play with. But I never would have asked for a Batgirl no matter how much I wanted one.

Then---get this---my father's father, my grandfather the patriarchal Baptist preacher that he was, somehow gave me a Batgirl for my 10th birthday. Fortunately by then my Dad was out of the picture so I got to keep her. She's been my favorite ever since.

The sensible thing of course is to let kids play with whatever the hell they want to. But some people are hung up on this gender stuff.