The topic at hand today is Bratz dolls. Well, no. It really isn’t Bratz dolls so much. It’s more about how our society has become so numb to the constant sexualization of girls that it’s hard for some to even recognize it anymore. And it’s about one small thing we can do to stem the proverbial tide.
So what am I carrying on about now? Well, for starters, I was recently vindicated by the American Psychological Association who ALSO sees a problem with society projecting sexuality onto younger and younger girls. While many insist that it’s all in good fun and that people like me are perverts for thinking otherwise, all I can say is “Ha! My instincts were spot on!” Padded bras for six year olds and toddler dolls in thongs and dolls dressed like hookers being marketed to little girls are NOT harmless.
See, the thing is, Bratz dolls are not going to make your daughters become prostitutes. But they are one very visible component of a culture of which the resultant cumulative effect is a loud and clear message that a girl’s worth lies with her sexuality. The dolls, simply put, are just a small part of something much larger; a general but very perceptible shift in how women are regarded in the world at large and it’s starting with our preschool age daughters.
So what do I want? I want something better. I want to change the world from place where a young girl’s worth is in her willingness to shed her clothes or trade basic human dignity for a few minutes of fleeting fame or infamy; a culture where girls don’t seem to mind trading themselves for things that are worthless.
I’m not talking about adults here. Adults can make as many stupid decisions on how to live their lives as they want. I’m talking about children and self-worth and I just can’t figure out where the disconnect is. I can’t find that corner we turned where respecting yourself stopped being as important as flashing for a free Girls Gone Wild hat, or giving a blowjob because it’s just oral sex and it makes you popular; or being “hot” completely displaced being accomplished or intelligent.
When did self-respect become so uncool? I’m not even sure I can effectively articulate what I mean to say here but if one single person considers leaving a comment lecturing me about how I can’t stop progress or the world is the way it is and I should just “educate” my child to be better or whatever, don’t bother. I refuse to accept that.
Additionally, everyone knows a child’s peers have infinitely more influence over them than their parents do after a certain point. My words will only go so far and frankly, I’m not just talking about my own kids. I’m talking about an entire culture of hypersexual skankiness that seems to be accepted as fine by nearly everyone. I just don’t get it. Don’t people want better for their kids? Doesn’t everyone want their child to aspire to something more than being a Hooters girl or a Penthouse Pet?
If you do, then maybe you’ll consider taking a minute to send a letter to Scholastic Books asking them to please remove Bratz books from the collections that they sell in schools.
Why?
The books promote precocious sexuality and shouldn’t be marketed to a captive audience of impressionable young girls at school.
“Any product marketed in the school carries that school’s endorsement. That’s one of the reasons marketers like to market in schools. They have a captive audience of kids, says Susan Linn, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School”
The author of Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood, added, “Commercially driven sexual stereotypes have no place in schools. By joining with Scholastic to market the Bratz brand, schools are undermining their own efforts to educate girls to nurture themselves and nurture their own academic development.”
Linn’s message is bolstered by a new report of American Psychological Association’s Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, which singles out the Bratz brand.
“The objectified sexuality presented by these dolls, as opposed to the healthy sexuality that develops as a normal part of adolescence, is limiting for adolescent girls, and even more so for the very young girls who represent the market for these dolls,” the task force report notes.
~ CanWest News Service, February 28, 2007
“The Bratz send a host of harmful messages about play, appearance, sexuality, and what it means to be a young girl,” said Dr. Diane Levin, professor of education at Wheelock College and co-author of the upcoming So Sexy, So Soon. “They teach girls to focus on appearance and fashion, to aspire to an eating-disordered body, and to play at being sexy before they’re even capable of understanding what sexy means.”
~ Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood
Earlier this year, Scholastic responded to one parent’s concerns with this response, which represents an attitude seen over again with corporations who refuse to accept any social responsibility for their actions. If that doesn’t chap your ass and get you primed for action…
I know you’re all busy but seriously, this will only take ONE minute of your time… Here’s where to go and send a message to Scholastic that parents (who also control the purse strings) want Bratz out of schools.
It’s just a baby step but you CAN make a difference. You know…power to the people and all that :)
- Everyday Images: APA Reports Details Consequences of our Sexualized Culture
- Speaking Frankly With Girls
Related posts on IzzyMom:
Other Bloggers Discussing This Topic or Linking to This Post:
- Galvanized
- Mrs. Flinger
- Did You Ever Get the Feeling…
- I Should Be Folding Laundry
- Surrender, Dorothy
- A Mom, a Blog and the Life in Between
- Mamanista
- Whim
- Don’t Take the Repeats
- BlogHer
- Two Knives
- Triple Venti
Finally, a little tidbit of news that made my day…
Girls Gone Wild creator/douchebag Joe Francis now faces sexual assault charges (I’m not happy about the assault part, just happy that he’s finally getting his reward for being such a piece of sh*t), in addition to previous charges for contempt of court, tax evasion and bribery. I hope he’s found guilty on all counts.
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Couldn’t agree more. I hate those horrid dolls. Why anyone would buy their precious, innocent, impressionable daughter a doll that looks like either a porn star or drag queen is beyond me.
Little girls deserve to be just that - little girls!
I just couldn’t agree with your post or Jeff’s comments more. So far, I just have a son, and I’m as worried about him and other little boys as I am about little girls! The sexualization of little girls affects all children. The kind of music children listen to, the types of programs and movies that are considered acceptable for them, the marketing of toys that are just awful… It’s so disturbing. Don’t these people who make this crap have children?
This would be an awesome issue for Oprah to explore, since so many people seem to think, do or buy whatever she thinks, does, or buys.
It’s just so frustrating. Childhood is such a precious and pivotal time. It’s short enough without this garbage.
Love it! Moms Against Sluttifying Kids. That’s priceless. I’d join!
So well said (as you always are) but this article is so right on. I will be writing Scholastic and I never do stuff like that.
send the email. thanks for writing about this!
well written! I have bookmarked it to send to friends..
Bratz are not allowed in my home. I even just recently discussed this with my girls and would they want to play with a brat. They didn’t know the term and I explained it to both. They shook their head and said no. They both have friends who have them and tell their buddies they are not allowed to play with them.. not even in their house!!! Yippeee !love it when my rules apply elsewhere!
Keep up with your vigilance!
And I quote, “I’m talking about an entire culture of hypersexual skankiness…”
I could not agree more. I was really ticked off, to put it mildly, when one of my daughter’s preschool friends brought Bratz Valentine’s Day cards to their party…AND HER MOTHER IS A TEACHER THERE!!! What the hell?
As the mom to two little girls, I cringe when I see revealing clothes for little girls. Hell, even Holly Hobbie has been “pimped” out for the new generation. Pop culture embraces women as “sluts.” Not exactly the world I want my girls to grow up in, but it’s up to parents to say no to what the marketing machine deems cool. You can’t turn on MTV today without it bordering on soft porn. And yeah, I’m old, but I remember when “Porky’s,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” and after school specials were pretty racey.
Great post! I came via Mrs. Flinger’s blog.
I think my comment went into cyberspace, but I could not agree more. Especially with this statement: “an entire culture of hypersexual skankiness that seems to be accepted as fine by nearly everyone.”
As a mom to two little girls, frankly, I don’t want them to grow up too fast. I don’t want them to idolize mindless celebrities who think about nothing but the latest bag, drinking and drugs, and showing off their cooter.
Hopefully the tide will turn and the marketing machine that feeds this madness will get a clue. Even Holly Hobbie has been pimped out. Ugh!
It starts with the parents. I was in disbelief a few months ago at my daughter’s pre-K Valentine’s Day part when one of the girls brought Bratz cards to school! She’s 5 AND her mother works as a teacher at the daycare. WTF?!?
Kudos to you for spreading the news about this. I came Mrs. Flinger’s blog.
Jamie - that was the line that really struck me, as well!
Great post, Izzymom - I wholeheartedly agree with you!
I am doing the ‘combating the “sluttiness” at home’ that you didn’t want people to preach to you, but, it often seems like a losing battle, as it is so insidious out there. And also, like you said, pretty soon my influence will mean piddly little to my 10 yr old daughter, in comparison to her friends.
IzzyMom, this post should be front-page news in every newspaper. Thank you for articulating so well how I’ve been feeling since my daughter was BORN. It IS incredible how desensitized that our society has gotten to what commercialism has done to our girls — sexualizing them and teaching them to objectify themselves. I just had to link you in a post for it. Seriously, there should be an organized movement that could address Washington about this subject and get the public’s attention — and I nominate you to head it! ;) Seriously, you should think about it, though. Thanks again for a great post!
I am no fan of Bratz dolls nor the prostiTot-ing of our little girls. But as I read all these comments, I must ask: Has anyone actually READ any of these books? What is the CONTENT like?
Clearly the concern voiced here is what the Bratz portray and represent. But as a librarian, I would absolutely take a look at what is inside a book before I complained about the outside.
Our school is having a bookfair next week and I will definitely be on the lookout for these.
I haven’t seen them but two of them are called “Catwalk Cuties” and “Dancin’ Divas” They sound like porn titles.
Good for you. I’m all for combatting sluttiness at home. (but I didn’t want people throwing that at me as a catch-all solution. To me, that’s like insisting that promoting abstinence stops teens from having sex when we all know it doesn’t.)
Good luck :)
Great post. I came over by way of Zero Boss. I’ve sent a personalized email over to Scholastic. Thanks for spreading the word about this.
Great post. I came over by way of Zero Boss. I’ve sent a personalized email over to Scholastic. Thanks for spreading the word about this.
Had to correct my mistake in the last comment. I actually came over from a link on Triple Venti.
Had to correct my mistake in the last comment. I actually came over from a link on Triple Venti.
I did it. Felt great! I actually have a meeting to talk with the director of my dd’s school about getting rid of scholastic altogether. Bratz are awful, but even without them, the advertising has outweighed the benefits in my mind.
Thanks for the link here!
Hope you’ll visit my blog too:
http://www.outside-the-toybox.com
http://blackstate.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1285
Holly Hobbie hasn’t been “pimped out” for the new generation. She dresses in some lovely craft-kit-esque ruffly clothes and some other boho-chic nice country fashions. She’s the great-grand-daughter of the original Holly Hobbie. She has a new show on Nick Jr. about her friends and her new life on the farm (they moved to the farm.) It’s a very charming series.
But I agree with your opinions on Bratz dollies. Three years ago, when I was eleven, I was in just-about-I’d-say the demographic for them. I didn’t like them, their clothes were weird and they had huge eyes and lips, with no noses, their faces made them look like those grey aliens. They were really edgy and cartoonily designed and packaged. A very little few of the outfits were nice, but I didn’t want to buy them as I am used to not buying nice toys and we are and were poor. Also, I didn’t ever like girl dolls. I’ve only ever liked virtual pets/Tamagotchis/Neopets/Pokemons cute fluffy animals/creatures and Rubic’s Cube types of colourful puzzle things and adventure things when I was younger. These dolls didn’t do anything particularly intresting. Some came with bobble-headed pets, but they were secondary to the dolls so these cute animals played second fiddle to humans. I didn’t have any friends when I was younger.. I had some pets though. I liked animals more than people, they were cuter. I didn’t ever like rap, it was too adult and mean. The singers’ voices were too low and not like the squeaky voices of cartoon rabbits. So I deemed them ugly and gross.
Holly Hobbie hasn’t been “pimped out” for the new generation. She dresses in some lovely craft-kit-esque ruffly clothes and some other boho-chic nice country fashions. She’s the great-grand-daughter of the original Holly Hobbie. She has a new show on Nick Jr. about her friends and her new life on the farm (they moved to the farm.) It’s a very charming series.
But I agree with your opinions on Bratz dollies. Three years ago, when I was eleven, I was in just-about-I’d-say the demographic for them. I didn’t like them, their clothes were weird and they had huge eyes and lips, with no noses, their faces made them look like those grey aliens. They were really edgy and cartoonily designed and packaged. A very little few of the outfits were nice, but I didn’t want to buy them as I am used to not buying nice toys and we are and were poor. Also, I didn’t ever like girl dolls. I’ve only ever liked virtual pets/Tamagotchis/Neopets/Pokemons cute fluffy animals/creatures and Rubic’s Cube types of colourful puzzle things and adventure things when I was younger. These dolls didn’t do anything particularly intresting. Some came with bobble-headed pets, but they were secondary to the dolls so these cute animals played second fiddle to humans. I didn’t have any friends when I was younger.. I had some pets though. I liked animals more than people, they were cuter. I didn’t ever like rap, it was too adult and mean. The singers’ voices were too low and not like the squeaky voices of cartoon rabbits. So I deemed them ugly and gross.
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