Barbie -- she's "slutterrific!"
James Lileks takes on the pornification of girls' dolls:
But Barbie isn't stupid. As a role model, you could do worse. You could do the Bratz, which are grotesque pumpkin-headed creatures with Kate Moss coke-hag bods and bedroom eyes. And the "bedroom" in this case is a motel room on the outskirts of Vegas littered with crack vials and crumpled cigarette packs.
I know, I know: Kids grow up faster today, which is why it's important to provide 10-year-olds with slutterific dolls so they'll know how to dress for their photo in the escort section of the free weekly. But why Barbie gets people riled up and the Bratz get a pass -- go figure.
I bring this up only to note with despair that Barbie has gone Bratz as well. For the holiday season Mattel is bringing out the "My Scene Bling Bling Barbie," an attempt to out-skank the Bratz market by tarting up America's sweetheart. Her lips now contain so much collagen she looks like she'd make a sloshing sound if she puckered up; her eyes are bigger, the mascara looks like she was attacked by a rabid Sharpie, and her lids have that come-hither half-mast appearance that make her look as though she smoked half a pound of hash on the way over from China.
This is a subject dear to my heart. My daughters are surrounded by girls with Bratz dolls and Bratz doll accessories (backpacks, toothbrushes, purses, pajamas, T-shirts, etc.). Naturally, they want what all the other girls have, and they don't quite understand why I describe the Bratz dolls as "ugly and inappropriate" -- though they often parrot those lines, sometimes to my great embarrassment, as when my older daughter exclaimed, at a friend's birthday party, "That's so ugly," when her friend opened a Bratz doll present. Anyway, they seem to have accepted my final word on the Bratz doll controversy; they know that they will be free to buy Bratz dolls and all related Bratz items when they turn eighteen. God help me if they still want them then.
I am not a doll fascist. The girls have been allowed to have the old-school (as opposed to bling bling) Barbies and Disney Priness dolls, even though I sometimes feel like I've compromised with Satan -- not so much because I'm concerned about body image and rigid gender roles (or, rather, I am, but I think these dolls have far less impact in that regard than people think) as because I'm worried about the role that consumerism already plays in their lives. I regret the extent to which our lives are inundated with things.
But that's a subject for another post, I suppose.
As for the Bratz dolls ... why, you might ask, do I hate them so much when the connotations of their dress and make-up are lost on many of the little girls who are allowed to have them? As Lileks points out, it's the sheer creepiness of foisting such ugly images on children. It reminds me of the dance recital that my husband and I recently attended for our oldest daughter, who was performing in the ballet portion of the performance. We had to sit through all the contemporary dance numbers, which consisted of little girls dressed like ... well, like Bratz dolls ... shaking it to very loud hip-hop music. In one number, a little boy, who couldn't have been more than nine and was dressed like Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch, smiled knowingly at the audience as a bunch of little girls in red sequins and full Bratz regalia, danced around him. At the end of the number, all of the little girls turned on the little boy and began to beat him up (in pantomime, of course). My husband whispered to me, "Oh, good, the hos have finally rebelled against the pimp."
Am I letting prudery get the better of me? Maybe. Heck, I'll say it loud -- I'm a prude, and I'm proud! Sometimes we have to have the courage to be prudes and squares (and even hypocrites) for our children. For me, the issue is partly one of preserving the distinction between childhood and adulthood in a culture that appears hell-bent on erasing it. I may have given in on Barbies, but I'm for holding the line against Bratz dolls. I hope it's not already too late.
But Barbie isn't stupid. As a role model, you could do worse. You could do the Bratz, which are grotesque pumpkin-headed creatures with Kate Moss coke-hag bods and bedroom eyes. And the "bedroom" in this case is a motel room on the outskirts of Vegas littered with crack vials and crumpled cigarette packs.
I know, I know: Kids grow up faster today, which is why it's important to provide 10-year-olds with slutterific dolls so they'll know how to dress for their photo in the escort section of the free weekly. But why Barbie gets people riled up and the Bratz get a pass -- go figure.
I bring this up only to note with despair that Barbie has gone Bratz as well. For the holiday season Mattel is bringing out the "My Scene Bling Bling Barbie," an attempt to out-skank the Bratz market by tarting up America's sweetheart. Her lips now contain so much collagen she looks like she'd make a sloshing sound if she puckered up; her eyes are bigger, the mascara looks like she was attacked by a rabid Sharpie, and her lids have that come-hither half-mast appearance that make her look as though she smoked half a pound of hash on the way over from China.
This is a subject dear to my heart. My daughters are surrounded by girls with Bratz dolls and Bratz doll accessories (backpacks, toothbrushes, purses, pajamas, T-shirts, etc.). Naturally, they want what all the other girls have, and they don't quite understand why I describe the Bratz dolls as "ugly and inappropriate" -- though they often parrot those lines, sometimes to my great embarrassment, as when my older daughter exclaimed, at a friend's birthday party, "That's so ugly," when her friend opened a Bratz doll present. Anyway, they seem to have accepted my final word on the Bratz doll controversy; they know that they will be free to buy Bratz dolls and all related Bratz items when they turn eighteen. God help me if they still want them then.
I am not a doll fascist. The girls have been allowed to have the old-school (as opposed to bling bling) Barbies and Disney Priness dolls, even though I sometimes feel like I've compromised with Satan -- not so much because I'm concerned about body image and rigid gender roles (or, rather, I am, but I think these dolls have far less impact in that regard than people think) as because I'm worried about the role that consumerism already plays in their lives. I regret the extent to which our lives are inundated with things.
But that's a subject for another post, I suppose.
As for the Bratz dolls ... why, you might ask, do I hate them so much when the connotations of their dress and make-up are lost on many of the little girls who are allowed to have them? As Lileks points out, it's the sheer creepiness of foisting such ugly images on children. It reminds me of the dance recital that my husband and I recently attended for our oldest daughter, who was performing in the ballet portion of the performance. We had to sit through all the contemporary dance numbers, which consisted of little girls dressed like ... well, like Bratz dolls ... shaking it to very loud hip-hop music. In one number, a little boy, who couldn't have been more than nine and was dressed like Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch, smiled knowingly at the audience as a bunch of little girls in red sequins and full Bratz regalia, danced around him. At the end of the number, all of the little girls turned on the little boy and began to beat him up (in pantomime, of course). My husband whispered to me, "Oh, good, the hos have finally rebelled against the pimp."
Am I letting prudery get the better of me? Maybe. Heck, I'll say it loud -- I'm a prude, and I'm proud! Sometimes we have to have the courage to be prudes and squares (and even hypocrites) for our children. For me, the issue is partly one of preserving the distinction between childhood and adulthood in a culture that appears hell-bent on erasing it. I may have given in on Barbies, but I'm for holding the line against Bratz dolls. I hope it's not already too late.
posted by Kate Marie | 9:59 AM | Permalink
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10 comments
10 Comments:
I don't have kids, but I'm with you on this one, and I don't think your response is prudery.
There's something deeply creepy about the larger society emulating ghetto culture as more "authentic." The vast majority of middle-class kids, white and black, who dabble in hip-hop/ghetto culture are merely playing; knowing it's a dead end, they eventually grow out of it. On the other hand, kids who actually live in the ghetto, who aren't educated, and who start off with fewer options, take it as a validation of their lifestyle. The message to them is: "This is all there is, no matter where you go." It's wrong to derive cheap entertainment from the ugly culture of the poor and the ignorant and then leave them, and only them, to suffer its real-life consequences.
KM, I am proud of you. Everywhere you turn, someone wants to push your kids to grow up too fast -- slutty clothes, trashy "music," asking if they have a little girlfriend / boyfriend, encouraging 10 year olds to go to dances (maybe they can learn to freak dance?).
A few years ago, I was aghast to see 2nd and 3rd grade girls wearing designer clothes, carrying purses, and wearing heels at a birthday party -- the heels making it impossible for them to climb on the playground equipment and bounce in the moon bounce. They didn't seem to be having as much fun as the girls who dressed more kid-like and all the boys.
And Bratz are ugly.
Egad! This is Barbie? She looks anorexic as well as slutty. No kid's getting one of these from me!
Thanks, CIV. I know what you mean about pushing kids (especially girls) to grow up too fast. My favorite playmate for my girls is the eight year old boy next door -they ride bikes and skateboards, jump on the trampoline, and play on our playset together. That's the stuff I used to do when I was growing up, but I guess I have only myself to blame if my daughters do that stuff less than I did when I was a kid.
On my daughter's fifth birthday, she received a Bratz doll as a present. My husband and I had the unhappy task of explaining to her later on that she wasn't going to be able to keep it (though we did tell her she could get a doll to replace it).
Jeff, thanks for reassuring me about my prudery. I don't really like to think of myself that way, so it's nice to know I don't necessarily *seem* that way. I think you're dead on about the harm that the middle-class fascination with ghetto culture does to those who are its true victims -- the "underclass." It's the worst form of cultural vampirism, and I don't mean that in the "Elvis stole the black sound" sense, but in the "making a buck off the real misery of others less fortunate for our momentary pleasure" sense.
I think more parents agree with you than you may realize, but many of them are afraid that they might seem "uncool" or, worse, racist.
For what it's worth, the CEO of the company that makes Bratz is an Iranian immigrant in his 50s. The woman who came up with the initial concept is described as "Greek-American," and their designer, Carter Bryant, used to design Barbies, so I imagine he didn't exactly grow up in the 'hood himself either:
http://www.davidrowan.com/2004/12/times-magazine-how-bratz-beat-barbie.html
Thanks, Jeff. That's really interesting.
I suspect you're right that some parents have given in on the Bratz thing out of a desire not to appear "uncool" or racist. I remember reading (maybe it was in the "Ready or Not" book that I linked to) that when Barbie first appeared on the scene, mothers *hated* her, because she was too "adult" and Mattel by-passed the parents and tried to market Barbie directly to kids. The rest is history.
Ah, Rachel, not all little girls are slaves to fashion. We watch no TV in our house and have no fashion mags around. Stuffed animals make perfect substitutes for dolls, as they don't scare off the boys and can be whatever age, sex, ethnicity, or whatever the kids want them to be.
And what do you have against immersing oneself in books and machines or working in engineering, labs, or libraries? Is that a woman's only alternative to being a fashion victim? Can't an engineer, male or female, dress well. (OK, maybe that's a stretch.)
This may be hard to believe, but there are rather normal kids who like classical music and math and science and sports and could not care less about "not smiling" and being cool. In fact, I know quite a few.
Rachel's comments must be a joke. I can't imagine anyone who isn't on the Bratz payroll devoting so much time to defending dolls that look like prostitutes or to championing the idea that the highest calling of parenthood is to make sure one's children are unsmiling, sexualized, and "cool."
I'm with Jeff on this one. So much of Rachel's comments are so horrifying and/or laughable that she's either got to be joking or, as Jeff said, some paid representative of the Bratz company. That would fit in with the Borg-like "resistance is futile" line.
Bratz...they truly don't respect themselves. That is what we have had to tell our 6-year daughter who is surrounding by this marketing at school. Besides look at their name "Bratz" is a clear indication of their attitude or lack of respect in attitude. We wonder why children tonight have no respect for adults, why 12 year old girls get pregnant and it's ok, why children can sue their parents and divorce them if they don't get their way - because we allow them to keep up with the fashion and the trends regardless of the lack of taste.
In our house Bratz are not allowed - period. We have stated that very plain and lovely that we want more for our daughter than a short skirt with thong underwear and sexy eyes.
Barbie has some issues too - no doubt and she does role model some "perfect" ideas of beauty that are unrealistic but atleast she isn't someone you would be ashamed to take to church or a wedding or to the movies.
As a mother I am angry that we walk through the toy aisle at Target and my beautiful innocent 6-yr old can get a sex education because she is so bright and asks too many questions about why my parents say no. I'm not a mom that just says "just because" but I struggle how to keep it on a 6-yr old level but be honest. So simply stated girls who dress like that imply that they have no respect for themselves or others.
And YES! they are ugly. I've yet to see a girl dressed like a Bratz that wasn't on a street corner.
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