And What Did Today‘s Viewers Think About Dr. Phil’s ‘Barbies For Boys’ Advice?

Raising My Rainbow is written by the mother of a slightly effeminate, possibly gay, totally fabulous son. She’s chronicling their journey on Queerty right here. Read up on RMR‘s cast of characters.

On Wednesday, on the fourth hour of the Today show, hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb discussed Dr. Phil’s opinion that boys should not play with girl toys. While Kathie Lee and Hoda disagreed with Dr. Phil, not all of their viewers did.

Today‘s poll question of the day read: Is it okay for boys to play with Barbies?

And the results?

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63.1% said yes (955 voters)

29.6% said no (448 voters)

7.3% were undecided (111 voters)

Now I’m no mathematician, but I don’t like those numbers. Nor do I like the comments viewers left after voting in the poll.

• “Baby dolls, absolutely. Barbie dolls? Redirect to something that doesn’t scream drag queen.” – Baba

• “If by playing you mean ripping his sister’s barbies to shreds with tools he stole from dad’s workshed, sure. Redirection is in order for this situation. Get out the rescue hero guys or the lincoln logs for him to build barbie a summer home.” – Nate

• “Definitely NOT!!!!!!! that’s why (there are) so many FREAKS in the world now…boys shouldn’t play with any Female dolls…ok nothing wrong with GI Joe cause they don’t have hair 1st of all and they are skinny lil men. Barbie (has) female parts and have hair and make up.” – Monique

• “Boys should play with action figures and girls should play with dolls.” -Derrell

• “There is too much ‘feminism of America’ and I admire my husband for his masculinity…boys should be ‘taught’ masculinity!” -Jan

But here are comments from people – who are fabulous like me – and think that boys should be allowed to play with Barbies, or whatever doll they choose.

• “For goodness sake let children be children. If they play with Barbie or GI Joe does it really matter?” – Karen

• “If you try to suppress your child’s interests @ a young age, you may be doing harm for them in the future. Absolutely! Gender is a social construct and there is no reason to limit our children’s expressions and creativity.” – Jenn

• “People who say no are just being homophobic.” – Rob

• “i was a jock all thru school. i do all the remodeling work on my house, go to the gym , never played with barbies or dresses, i’m gay.” –Rob Bob

• “The idea that toys are gender specific is outdated and offensive. Instead of teaching compliance we should be focusing on acceptance.” – Beth

• “I found it interesting that so many replies to this question were wallowing in veiled fear of homosexuality. I teach nursery school, and find that your statement is correct. Most children don’t have a problem until someone else slaps a label of “wrong” on what they’re doing. In general, play is a major vehicle for a child to discover his world, and they have a heck of a good time exploring it all. A boy can learn so many positive things by playing with a doll. Gentleness, protectiveness, aspects of caregiving and responsibility for a “little” person. These things don’t make him Gay, they make him a potentially good member of an adult society…” – E.S.