hear hear!
I remember buying not much else besides make up when I was 10.
I also recall thinking, well, 10 years old, time to grow up,stop playing with dols and get a boyfriend.(I didn’t no one wanted me)
And I agree with you. I just think that calling these figures “slutty” based on outward appearance gives little girls confused messages about sexuality. It’s not good for them to be too sexual. We also shouldn’t send the message that girls who act a certain way are slutty. We risk scaring them away from thier natural feelings.
That’s true, but do you disagree that these things look slutty?
I mean…they just do…to me at least.
What I mean by “imprinting” is the cycle of putting it in front of a kid’s eyes. MTV, dolls, magazines, sitcoms, older sisters/brothers, and not being told that they are “Too young to behave that way right now, maybe someday you’ll want to do similar things, but for now it’s more modest t-shirts and jeans etc. for you.” They aren’t being limited to age appopriate clothes, movies, and in some cases activities. (I know of plenty of parents who let their under 10 kids watch slasher type horror films. Could be harmful IMO.)
For some reason, parents aren’t thinking things through when they make purchases for their kids. Maybe in some cases, it’s because they are “super competitive” and want to have a more desirable child than others?
Or is it a modern version of a Victorian (or about that time I think) style picture I saw once, which had a mother, daughter, and the daughter’s doll all in identical outfits, same color, same cut? The doll and mother had make-up that was identical too.
Whatever it is, I think it’s going too far, and those who are adults today will rue this. Already, my mother-in-law and I both are noticing how rude, violent, and non-compassionate/merciful kids are now.
At least, the kids in this town. They don’t care about anybody else’s feelings, and will take whatever action is necessary to get what they want. Lying, cheating, tricking, beating, stealing, they’ll do it.
These are 7th and 8th graders we were discussing. Some of the kids in the classes were as old as 16, and 14 was not uncommon. She had inside knowledge of the “at risk” classes. She interacted with them. She named no names/identifying factors, but she spoke her worries in generalities.
Back on topic. IMO, these dolls help relay the message that to be “cool” and “liked” you have to be “sexy” and “grown up”. That’s not age appropriate for 9 year olds. Many 9 year olds still have trouble distinguishing from fact and fiction to some extent. They think “If I look grown up, I should act grown up.”
Popular media today shows “grown ups” drinking, and sexing. That’s what worries me. With my classmates at age 9, there were 2 kids who were really “cutting edge” and “grown up”. Yeah, right. They smoked! And let other classmates know it, and could be seen at times around town in the Summer showing it off! Popular media of that day showed “grown ups” smoking. Do you see what I’m trying to say here?
The round faced, big red lips look of those dolls looks a bit like Marilyn Monroe to me, not really whorish or like a prostitute. Heck, all the prostitutes I’VE seen don’t look that good. Prostitutes looking that good are fancy ones, are ones that comes to your place, and cost ya at least a couple hundred bucks to eh heh heh.
Anyway point is I do not think the dolls look slutty to me. Maybe not the virginal way barbie’s looked, but not actually whorish. At least they ain’t as anorexic looking as barbie is.
I don’t think they look slutty to me-just more “sassy”. Attitude.
Actually, I think they’re kinda cute. But that’s just me.
Guess what I saw at the drugstore today.
Not the cards we had, but what was described as four sticks of green (presumably puke-green) gum and stickers.
“Some things should have been LEFT in the 80s,” I said, gazing in horror at the things.
Actually the female dolls are a pretty accurate reflection of an inner city urban, middle to lower middle class latino/black fashion sensibility that dances on the edges of slutty, but is not, IMO, intended to be “whorish”. It may come across that way (and apparently does) to middle class white people, but I’m not sure they’re the intended target audience for the dolls anyway.
BTW the original Barbie was based on a whimsical German streetwalker dolls (intended for sale to sophisticated adults) the owner of Mattel saw in Germany on a visit there and purchased. The first Barbies faces were virtual clones of these streetwalker dolls faces (and looked it).
See
The dolls could be called slutty. I make it a point to refrain from using the word in any form. Doesn’t always happen that way, though :). I guess I don’t find them slutty as much as I find them bitchy. The materialistic attitude bothers me more than the sexual attitude.
I think kids (especially girls) are growing up too fast. I also think it is true that the media has influence. But where are the parents? I’m the product of a hardline feminist mother who still bought me Barbies. Today, I remember the values of confidence and self love she gave me more than i remember malibu bathing suit Barbie. When you start using the media as a scapegoat for bad behavior, you are in essence absolving the parents of responsibility for the lack of attention they obviously shown thier kids.
My point? Stay with your kids. Let them be exposed (within reason) and don’t freak out about every little thing they see, hear, or read. Talk these things out and take time to impart your values and ethics. Kids need thier parents and more and more often, they are going AWOL.
I bought two Bratz dolls today.
They are Christmas gifts for my daughter. They do not seem any more “whorish” to me than regular Barbie dolls. This does not mean that I do not love my daughter, or that I encourage her to dress they way the dolls are dressed. The point of having dolls is to play. Everyone wants to be glamorous, , playing pretend with dolls is one way to do that.
When we were little, the main thing our Barbies did was exchange outfits.
And they went on dates to “dimly lit” placesand came home with their clothes askew.
We were weird all right…!
LOL…my Barbies were BAD.
They were hookers, had eating disorders, got raped, robbed, committed suicide, kidnapped and tied to my Barbie furniture.
My cousin and I used to watch Guiding Light and Days of Our Lives with my mom, and get ideas from there.
Oh, don’t get me started on what my GI Joes did with Barbies.
Seriously, though… it don’t look all that whorish to me. It looks pretty much like the dolls are wearing the clothes that the women of today are supposed to want, assuming you watch a lot of MTV and suchlike. They’re now, they’re wow.
As a parent, I have learned that what kids want… they WANT. Society can go take a flyin’ leap. Good sense can go take a flyin’ leap. Taste can go take a flyin’ leap.
Parenting is the art of determining what a child may have, and what the child may NOT have, and dealing with it in the best manner possible. And to do this, you gotta determine WHY the child may not have it, and be prepared to deal with THAT as well… because “I don’t approve,” cuts NO ice with children. They wanna know WHY you don’t approve.
Now, I’m a rational guy. I have always hated the answer, “Because I’m Dad, and I pay the bills, and I say so.” That’s a bullshit answer, far as I’m concerned. It told me nothing except “I’m an autocrat, and I don’t like the look of that thing. Fuck you.”
…so if you’re gonna give the kid a straight answer, you need to be able to say WHY you don’t approve. You have to THINK, unless you wanna sound like Hitler.
…and you know what? Thinking about why you disapprove of a certain thing can lead to a variety of unforeseen conclusions. This doesn’t mean the kid needs the toy, or has a right to it, or should have it. A good parent can say “no.” But thinkin’ about why the kid shouldn’t have something often boils down to two conclusions: “This toy is bad,” and the uncomfortable, “I dunno why I don’t like it, but I don’t.”
…which leads to further thought and introspection. Why do I not approve of this thing? What evidence exists that it is bad? Or am I just knee-jerkin’, here?
It’s a useful thing for me to keep in mind when I get a knee-jerk reaction to some new MTV thing or other, these days…
You’re bringing back memories Guin. It really became fun when my bestfriend ( a boy) taught me how to tie firecrackers to the dolls and light them.
My mother was not amused.
Wow… I’ve been told on several occasions that I look like a Bratz Doll. Didn’t even know what they were before that. I like 'em, actually, but then I’m an adult.
Come to think of it, I do tend to dress that way. Maybe I should tone down the ole wardrobe a bit …?!
…must…not…ask…obvious…question… 
I would not buy this crap for all of the reasons mentioned and more that come to mind… parenting is the best step in the battle against this marketing. IMHO, the parents that are buying this crap are lazy, they don’t want to think about anything, they don’t want to teach their children anything useful… just want to quiet their own brats. Give them what they want and everyone’s happy, right? Makes me ill.
I agree with ** Master** about explaining why if a parent won’t buy a particular toy or article of clothing. How will a child ever learn how to reason if the parent themselves cannot explain their feelings and reactions to something?
[hijack]Quentin Tarantino once said his mother let him watch whatever movie/TV show he wanted if he could understood the point of the film. For example, if he watched a violent movie, she’d ask him about the violence and how it made him feel, was it truly an important aspect to the movie. [/hijack]
I don’t think these Bratz toys can be made into a teaching tool but I could be wrong. I still wouldn’t buy them and I KNOW why.
These dolls look as if they’re stoned.
Zabali- I totally know what you are talking about. I feel bad for my son because he is acting “his age” and the other kids in the neighborhood, that in most respects, would be his friends, blow him off and make fun of him for being cautious and naive. My son feels the conflict of being accepted and behaving the way his parents are raising him at home.
My 7 year old niece had her birthday party today. She got a small bratz doll from her 9 year old sister. But her favorite toy was still a baby doll.