I think today’s prepubescent girls associate being a teenage girl with dressing skanky.
Which is actually irrelevant to this thread because those dolls are not skanky. They just have bad fashion that coincidently resembles those of prostitutes, because prostitutes also tend have bad fashion. It’s not like there’s a lot of cleavage or something sexually suggestive about these dolls. They just exhibit an exaggerated version of what girls perceive to be things that are “grown up” (high heels, thick make-up, tight colorful pants)
I’m always forced to laugh when people use the argument “kids are growing up too fast” in regards to anything – kids are “kids” much longer now than they ever were, IMO. No more child labour, most kids don’t work on farms or have to really earn their keep, even to mid twenties (myself included) rather treated and thought of as still not quite adults by the parents.
I don’t like these dolls, less because they look slutty than because they’re a rather stupid attempt by the toy makers at coming across hip and cool, similar to the Flavas dolls:
I just have to laugh when I see a TV ad for a line of dolls where one is spinning her little plastic hand on a little plastic turntable and talking about how cool and hip hop they are, when I know it’s most likely some pasty old balding white guy that drives a Lincoln Town Car that came up with that after seeing his kids watching MTV.
And if you want to talk skanky:
Those dolls are being promoted by the queen o’ skank herself.
Most of the dolls nowadays have that same huge headed big eyed slutty high school girl look. It’s irritating, but at the same time it really depends on the child. After all, my mother always thought that barbie back in the 80’s was super sleazy looking. (Remember “Barbie and the Rockers”?? My mother called it “Barbie and the Bimbos”!) But despite playing with loads of huge breasted tiny waisted big blonde Barbies in sparkly clothes, I never, ever wanted to BE Barbie. So I’d say that while Bratz and the other current slut dolls aren’t for the kind of girl who aspires to look like her dolls, they’re harmless for girls who don’t.
How are these dolls any different from Barbie dolls? Did the women in this thread who played with Barbies as kids all grow up to be materialistic, clothes-obsessed bimbos? I certainly didn’t, and I had my fair share of Barbies as a young’un.
I’m not crazy about the dolls, either–though I do like the fact that they seem to be all different races. But, really, folks, do these dolls pose more of a threat to children than lousy schools, poverty, inadequate medical care, politicians who pay lip service to children’s needs while slashing programs that help kids and their families, etc.? That’s what’s really outrageous. Forgive me if I can’t work up too much indignation over Bratz toys.
I believe if I were a teenage boy, and saw a girl dressed like that, I’d think, “Well, I might want to talk to her, but she’s obviously working. I could get arrested, hanging around that scene.” Arrested, or beaten up by her pimp.
My 4 year old daughter wants these dolls (course, she wants nearly every doll she sees in commercials). Every time she says this I ask her “Why do you want one? What would you do with it?” With infant dolls, her answers are usually “I like babies. I want to take care of them like Mommy does.” That’s fine by me, that’s a skill she can use later in life. For Barbies she says “Cause I want to dress them up in different clothes and put them on dates and drive them around in their cars.” Again, that’s okay, that’s social interaction and (hopefully) fashion sense that she can use now and later (she already seems to know what she’d like to wear and it’s usually is better than what I would choose). About the Bratz dolls she says “Because their cool Daddy. I wanna be like them.” She’s already started the sassy attitude and materialistic slants that I’ve seen in some pre-teen and teenage girls in real life that dress this way. It’s not something I want to encourage right now. So we’ll hold off on these toys until we can work with her on her current view of how girls interact with society at large. I don’t mind if she pretends with a doll, as long as it doesn’t seriously influence her in her real life views.
As an example, my son and I were into Battlebots last year. I bought some models and he had a few as well. After a while I noticed he was crashing and smashing his other toys as well (expensive toys) and pretending he or another toy was a killer battlebot. We took those toys away from him until he could show respect for his and others possessions. That’s where the responsible parenting comes in. If you don’t think your kid can handle the toy, don’t buy it. But don’t bash these toys because you personally have a problem with them or what they might represent to you. Kids (even your own) can have a completely different view of how to play with a toy than you do.
As for kids growing up too fast, who exactly determines how fast is too fast? The parents, that’s who. If you think that someone is allowing their kids to grow up too fast then don’t let your kid hang around with them or their parents. Kids will grow up at their own pace and you don’t have that much control over it unless you’re really an overbearing parent.
I don’t think the dolls are that bad, but I can’t stand their accessories. I watch Nickelodeon a lot with my 3 year old son, so I see all the commercials and you can buy a “lounge” (read BAR) or a limo that comes fully stocked with champagne and the glasses. Let’s encourage little girls to glorify drinking!
What’s the difference between the lounge and limo and having a parent with a fully stocked bar or that orders drinks when the family goes out to eat? Doesn’t that “glorify drinking”?
IMO, Bratz are a good thing in that, for instance, my boyfriend’s 12 and 9 year old cousins, who live in a county whose population is 96% caucasian, are, by Bratz, exposed to different races. With Bratz, they learn that yes, they can be good friends with people of different races.
I worked at a toy store during christmas last year, and the one of the biggest sellers was the Bratz spa. IMO, if this “teaches” girls anything, it teaches them to take care of their bodies.
torie Yes, exactly. You can’t just point the finger at the media, it’s also parents who either have no clue, or who are lazy. My parents weren’t AWOL, there were there as I watched “Tom and Jerry”, telling me that if I did that to my little brother, it would seriously hurt or even kill him, and he wouldn’t get back up. Rather than sit there and complain later on when my brother and I imitated the cartoons, my parents took positive action, and helped instill common sense into us.
They also did this with other things. I “filled out” early, and at ages 10 and 11 I had to bring my birth certificate to the local pool to prove I was under 12, so I’d get in for fifty cents, instead of seventy five. I was allowed to wear a modest bikini, (basically a 2 peice, full briefs and seperate top) but also was told it was ok to tell someone “No” if they wanted to touch me. Some of my friends were older, and letting boys “pet” them. (I definitely was not comfortable with the thought of doing things like that, I wanted to be a kid.)
Being a parent takes constant “maintaince work” to make sure your child will grow up ready to be the best “them” they can be, and able to deal with all they will encounter well. Some parents are still doing this, as is evidenced by Horseflesh.
I think a lot of it goes right over thier heads, because, seriously people, your toys don’t dictate your life. If your mom doesn’t let you dress like that, she doesn’t, regardless of what doll she buys you.
What if somebody said baby dolls, which have been around since the beginning of time, encourage girls to become teenage mothers?
I don’t like these dolls because they do look slutty and I think it sends the wrong message. If you choose to buy these dolls for your girls you need to explain to them the problems with the way they dress and the attitudes they are said to have. If you don’t buy them, explain why.
If I had a daughter I would not buy them because I think it sends a message that it is acceptable for a girl to dress like that and it is not (at any age!). They are materialistic which I don’t think is a positive attitude to show a child. Children pretend with dolls and I don’t think I would want my child pretending to be materialistic.
I’ve never liked the Bratz dolls and so my daughter doesn’t have any. I’m not sure what I’d do if someone else gave her one, but so far no problems there. I have a similar problem with the body and ethnicity image that Barbie projects, since my daughter is never going to be a blue-eyed, blonde vixen. Not sure that I’d go so far as to call either a prostitute, though.
I would have never ever thought the word “sluttly” from looking at these dolls. Like Guinistasia, I thought (and am still certain that) “sassy” was their aim. They’re not trying to project any type of sexuality with these adorable, innocent little things. You think a little girl is going to pick this up and say, “I want to have sex with all the boys, like her!”? TJust because she’s wearing lipstick and makeup? That you think “slutty” upon sight of these giant-headed cartoon-looking dolls probably says more about your view girls than the toymaker’s.
There is a billboard here in town for a gentlemen’s club. The women featured look exactly like the Bratz dolls.
While I am sure there’s a time and place for such a look, I’m going to have to vote that no way would I buy some of those trollopy dolls for my daughter.