A 22-minute video posted on the University of Minnesota's own website shows clinical psychologist Dianne Berg presenting coloring book images of naked children — one a young boy in earrings and a hair bow in what reviewers describe as a "sexually provocative pose" — as part of a program targeting kids as young as four years old.
The program's stated goal: building a "foundation for pleasure oriented positive sexuality" in preschoolers.
Berg, a professor at the university's Eli Coleman Institute for Sexual and Gender Health, created what she calls the "MyGender Dolls" project — paper dolls with interchangeable genitalia marketed for ages four and up. The dolls are designed, in her words, so that "children understand that private parts do not have to define one's gender identity." The coloring books that accompany the dolls depict naked children with mismatched gender characteristics. One image shows a child with female genitalia but masculine features — muscles, short hair — on the upper half of the body.
This wasn't some rogue side project. The Eli Coleman Institute received $1.35 million in research grant funding in 2024. Your tax dollars paid for naked paper dolls for kindergartners.
A separate initiative at the same institute, the GenderFlex study, interviewed 43 children between the ages of five and eight about their gender identity. Co-directed by Nic Rider at the university's National Center for Gender Health, the study asked children questions like, "Suppose you were not born yet and you could choose what gender you would like to be, what would you choose? Boy? Girl? Or another gender?" One researcher dismissed concerns by insisting that "cis kids will be confused if you ask them about gender, and we know that this isn't true."
Pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Quentin Van Meter, former president of the American College of Pediatricians, reviewed the materials and didn't mince around the diagnosis. He called the coloring books "kindergarten pornography essentially" and labeled the program "sexual abuse." The underlying gender theory, Van Meter said, is "a house of cards built on sand" pushing "deceitful ideas" onto children too young to understand what's being done to them.
"Sex is determined at fertilization. Period," Van Meter said.
Three separate federal investigations are now underway. The U.S. Department of Education has opened an inquiry. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee is investigating. And U.S. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, has launched his own probe into the MyGender Dolls project.
Berg's university bio has been quietly removed. She's listed as being on sabbatical from May 15 through October 19. The institute's official statement offered nothing but boilerplate about being "dedicated to being a global leader in advancing science" and "improving lives through high-quality, compassionate, and evidence-based care." Compassionate, evidence-based care — for a program that hands coloring books of naked children to four-year-olds and calls it building "pleasure oriented positive sexuality."
The College Fix, which broke the story after the videos surfaced, documented Berg's May 2019 presentation titled "Beginning to Understand Body Dysphoria in Pre-Pubescent Gender Diverse Kids." In it, Berg recounts working with a seven-year-old who saw the materials and said, "That's me!" She frames this as a success story. A child too young to ride most roller coasters saw a naked cartoon figure with mismatched body parts and identified with it, and the adults in the room celebrated.
Berg described the children in her programs as "gender creative." The coloring books, she said, teach that "all kinds of gender expressions are okay." The goal was moving children "beyond binary expectations of gender" while making them feel "confident and comfortable" in their bodies.
Three federal investigations. A $1.35 million grant. Paper dolls with interchangeable genitalia for four-year-olds. And the professor who built the program is on sabbatical.
