I was on a live with @AG_4AllAges on Instagram, or Kristen. Kristen is a partner with American Girl and has all the World By Us dolls already and has read all 3 books. I asked her if there was any LGBTQ+ stuff in the books, since it was teased a bit, but Kristen said no.
I'm not sure how to feel. I hate queerbait, and AG basically just queerbaited the heck out of me. I know to be grateful that the LGBTQ+ community is getting somewhat of a shoutout in the community center, because LGBTQ+ representation is rare. But I'm sick of settling for tidbits.
It's 2021, and there is barely any LGBTQ+ representation anywhere. There's a fight I'm putting up for more that I can't tell you guys much about, but the Rebelle series, Kira's aunts, and 'Kira and Ruby's Rejects Club' by a little star are the only LGBTQ+ representation I know of in the AG community. There might be more, IDK, but even in real movies, there's next to nothing.
I remember back in eighth grade, my friends were obsessed with the series Voltron Legendary Defender. It wasn't really my thing, but I remember my friends being really upset when the series ended and it turned out to be just queerbait.
Just queerbait. That's how I feel about the World By Us community center.
Don't get me wrong, I love World By Us already. I love their stories and their focus on making the world a better place and the fact that they focus on real issues. Heck, when I was watching the author video and the fashion show, I teared up. But I'm just a little... disappointed.
I wish there was more LGBTQ+ representation in the world. But as Maritza said in the author video, "Why don't we start now making the kind of world we want to live in?" looks at Rebelle 2 and smiles
P.S: I know that the representation of people of color is important, and this post is not to undermine that progress that AG just made. I just needed to rant about the queerbait...
Are there any disabled side characters in the WBU books?