You probably saw it on twitter. Or Facebook. Maybe the news. Maybe you realized it yourself. Amidst the major release of "Star Wars Episode VII" memorabilia, there was a surprising lack of Rey toys for children, while Finn and Kylo Ren were everywhere. Why? That's a good question. Many attempted answers include, "We didn't anticipate the large popularity of Rey," and "We didn't want to give away any spoilers about Rey's role in the movie," and even "We thought about making Rey toys but we didn't think that boys would want to play with a girl doll."

Huh?

Two major lessons have been taught to little girls throughout this experience. First of all, toymakers have shown little girls across the country that they, like Rey, don't matter. Think it's a stretch? Watch this video.

Were you too lazy to watch it? I'll recap. Two age groups of girls and some boys are asked to perform acts "like a girl". They are told to "throw like a girl" and "run like a girl". The older girls, perhaps 16 or 17, proceeded to twirl their hair, whine, and feign uselessness. The boys responded similarly. The younger girls reacted with a very different attitude. The ran as hard as they could. They threw a mock baseball as hard and as far as possible. They tried their best and they acted with determination because they believe that to be a girl is to be strong. When does that change?

It changes when people underestimate young girls and make them believe that girls aren't capable of being strong or that a main character of a major movie wouldn't be as popular as her male counterparts because she's a woman. Or that in order to prevent spoilers about Rey's role in the movie, they pretended that she doesn't even exist. That the only demographic that mattered to those making the toys were boys and that boys didn't want anything to do with the super cool and powerful Rey just because she was a girl.

I'm sure some of you won't believe me. So many people in this world underestimate the effects of their actions. But by not making Rey toys, this industry is telling young girls that Rey is not important. And if Rey, the super cool and powerful main character of a new sequel to a major movie franchise isn't important, what does that make them?

This isn't the only time girls have learned this lesson. This trend of pretending female superheroes don't exist in the universe of toys has already begun. We saw it in the shocking lack of Gamora dolls for "The Guardians of the Galaxy" and The Black Widow for "The Avengers." Gamora, a green bad-to-the-bone heroine, was one of the five awesome Guardians. Unfortunately, boys apparently hate to play with girl action figures, so she was excluded from "Guardians of the Galaxy" merchandise. The Black Widow is a #fierce secret agent who apparently isn't important enough to be represented along with the rest of her superhero team. This industry has been telling girls how unimportant they are for years. But this time? Girls decided that they weren't gonna let it slide.

There is a second lesson that these young girls learned. But it wasn't from the lack of Rey dolls. It was from what they did to change it. This time, girls across America stood next to the toys that excluded their hero and asked an important question: "Where's Rey"? They wrote letters to companies like Hasbro and insisted that their decision to leave out Rey in their monopoly game (while including Finn, Luke Skywalker, Kylo Ren and Darth Vader) was bogus. They made phone calls. They didn't stand down. They stood up for themselves, just like Rey. And that's pretty awesome.

So when you are done releasing your new wave of Rey products and you insist that it isn't a big deal and that you "fixed the problems"? Remember that was a big deal to the self-esteem of young girls across the country. Remember that it wasn't you who "fixed" anything. Those girls are the ones who insisted you make Rey toys. Those girls are the ones who fixed their problem. Their problem was with how you perceived them. Next time, don't underestimate Rey. Don't underestimate these young girls, because girls are strong. They are brave, and they are powerful. You would be lucky to do anything "like a girl".