These are definitely something I will look into for my daughter. I hate those Bratz dolls, and at least the Gali girls look like a real kid. One of them actually looks like my little girl!

And really, the funny little movie had me when they listed the Gali Girls' qualities: "kind and compassionate; intelligent and curious; beautiful" and something or another, it doesn't matter. As long as the values that these dolls represent aren't overly thin with creepy big heads, overly concerned with clothes and being famous, and unintelligent, then I'm sold.

The only problem is the price tage - $65.

You may find that if you restart the meds your posts won't contain so many non sequiturs. And what's with the Anonymous already? Make a profile and c'mon in, the water's fine.

Anonymous, I have kids. Two, a boy and a girl. And yet I totally agree with Neal. The nerd is a safe space for kids away from the prisons that gender have become in North America.

My 7 year-old boy likes Transformers, Bionicles, Neoshifters, and cartoons where things explode and the bad guys are caught in the end. But he also likes things that some people count as "feminine": imaginative play, dancing, singing, art and beautiful things, reading. He enjoys running around with the boys in his class and gym class but he also can spend a recess playing with girls, if they are playing something generic like supermarket or house (fairy princess is too much for him). I have never worried about whether or not I would get grandchildren from this kid, even when he wore a dress as a little kid in day care during dress-up hour. Why? Well, the first reason is because I am not terrified of him being gay, because I don't believe it's a bad thing to be. The second reason is because our culture's current ideas of gender are so freakin' rigid that I can't agree with them, and I don't think our masculine ideal encourages men to become parents.

My husband has been told by a few people that they thought he was gay, because he doesn't like sports, he loves to hang out with people and cook for them, and he has female friends. Just tonight my cousin's husband was over with their new baby (she was at home recovering from dental surgery), and my sister remarked that he was so good with the baby that it made him seem effeminate! So it seems like the masculine ideal in this culture only loves sports or other specific activities, is anti-social, cannot cook or otherwise take care of himself, cannot be comfortable around women, and is a lousy parent.

Well, that kind of man, frankly, sounds like an asshole, hopefully the kind that is such a jerk no woman would ever want to procreate with him. I really hope my son won't grow up to emulate that idea of masculinity.

Sorry everyone, the myth of the Kaifung Jews is a hoax. An academic book, Orientalism and the Jews, contains an essay by the scholar Zhou Xun (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) about the construction of this hoax.

"Well, Rachel - instead of ridiculing you any more than the rest of the posters - I sincerely wish you to find your bashert and start a family. It may be much better than any therapist as a solution to your current need for a search."

Personally, I don't know if Rachel has a problem or not - I'm not an expert on anyone else's life. I previously expressed my dismay that she had engaged in sexual activity with someone who appears to have been completely unknown to her. I, along with most women, have too many friends who have been raped/abused to ignore the fact that a woman has to be aware of her personal security (and health), when getting intimate with a man. And yes, I know tha's a blanket statement, but it's true.

However, SnippedAt21, the solution to a woman's problems (if they even are problems) is not always getting married. Rachel, can, and should, take care of herself. And I say this as a married woman.

My aunts do this too, but with Jewishness.

One thing that they say that your aunts do not is, "she's Jewish, but she's trying to pass."

Cameron Diaz? Trying to pass. Courtney Cox - also trying to pass.

Apparently, back in the 40s and 50s, there really were Jews who tried to pass. Now, they see it everywhere.

However, I had a bad moment a few weeks ago. I was reading a story online about Amy Winehouse (hey, I think she's talented, ok?), and my son came up behind me, saw the image of this sickly, beehived, tatooed wreck of a woman, and asked, "Is she Jewish?"

I nearly said no.

My mother's family has been members of Conservative shuls since the fifties, and so we are no longer Jewish in the eyes of the Israeli rabbinate. No matter that we keep kosher (though not as kosher as it could be), try to go to shul on shabbat and the holidays (but the wrong kind of shul) and send our kids to Jewish day schools (but not the right kind of school).

Meanwhile, my husbands parents, who were married by the rabbinate in Israel in the 70s, are completely secular, yet now count as "bona fide" Jews. My husband had never been to Rosh Hashana services until he met me - not that I am criticising my in-laws, who, needless to say, have a lot of yiddishkeit. So I suppose by marrying a goy like me, he screwed up the bloodline.