This is what happens when you are a mom. You’re up at 11:00pm at night, struggling over the thought of how you’ll safely protect your angelic toddler from the heathendom that is… Bratz Dolls.
The above, (lingere-earing, chola-lip-provectress,) is just one example of how I want to bitchslap Mattel. I don’t know if it’s the tits, or the lips, or the ‘come hither and pay me money to make sex with you’ eyes, or maybe, it’s everything and the fact that it’s being marketed to kids as young as three. But here she blows.
Mattel,
WHAT THE HELL. Seriously. Your dolls? Bring out the angry-mom-violence. I have sudden rage over implants and leopard print lingerie. You’re selling strip-club models to my kid, and that, pisses me off.
But what pisses me off more, (in all honesty,) is the COMPLETE and utter lack of intelligence on the population who buy these pieces of trailer-trash. (Because I mean, what’s next… Juno dolls?) My fiance’s little one, digs these dolls. (Just like she digs her tight BEBE shirts.) Suddenly I’m a mom to an aspiring 17 year old, and I look in her baby blue eyes and I want to sit her wombmother down for a short talk. Little girls, should be little girls- not budding porn stars. I just don’t understand the need to allow them to play with models that only care about looks. I’m not a barbie girl- but at least Barbie has occupations. I think it would be -hilarious- to see a lingere decked out, “doctor Bratz” or whateverthehell their stripper names are. (Dr. Angel Elise Babycakes.) WTF.
We’re planning my stepdaughter’s room. I’m hoping that by only allowing her to bring sensible toys into our home, we won’t be raising a future pregnant 16 year old. (Because really, what’s going to happen when you’re dolls all have collagen-lip-injections and Kim Karadasian’s ass, right?) And how on earth do I keep my 2.5 year old, (the one I’m incredibly strict about raising,) away from the filth that is, BEBE and BRATZ.
I hammered down tonight, (and felt bad after laying the law,) but if Josh could see the demise I see in these little girls who are growing up to only want to be ‘pretty and popular,’ he would understand. I’m not sure her mother is the type to care more about preserving her daughter’s innocence, than being the ‘cool mom.’ And it’s an observation that baffles me. Her mom, in all reality- pisses me off almost as much as Mattel- both giving into her whims and starving her for affection while she’s at her boyfriend’s house, and leaving her daughter to her toys all weekend.
Go there, and look at the ways those shirts are cut. (For ages 4-10.) You seriously want your 4 year old to have an ‘hourglass’ figure?
Then go here -look at the micromini skirts, and puke.
And in researching? Bebe… doesn’t make a kid’s line, so that means that that SMALL shirt, (the one that fits a very, very skinny 8 year old little girl,) is made for WOMEN. (And her mother bought it for her.) So it’s the same company, same sizes as these… You want your shirt to stand for BEBE: A term of French derivation to denote a french antique doll that has a child-like appearance. The original french meaning was newborn child.
And the worst part- the very worst part in all this, is that my entire life, of marching for women’s rights, and speaking at Take Back the Night- I’m powerless to the ignorant attitudes of others. I can make the ‘not in my house’ rule, but how long until Ava encounters the dolls, or the clothing in school? How will I explain to my precious girl that her face- in it’s perfection and innocence- is enough. Her body, budding in it’s glory in pre-teendom, will not look better with phrases that remark about her sexuality and innocence? How will I stop the flood when the water is always going to drip down?
These are the same parents who bought her a two piece bathing suit, (complete with triangle cut outs to cover her, “boobs.”) *Of which she has none, so the fabric just kind of flops around, and she tugs at it and runs around. It almost looks wrong- I remarked on this as I stared at all the girls on Labor day at the playground. I wish you could have seen- they all ran around, (no one older than 9ish,) in tight bikinis playing tag and screaming- their hair brushing against their faces as the echos of, “you can’t get me!” and the giggles ripped through the air, until you saw the little bodies- almost shoved into something that didn’t belong. Pieces of fabric covering nothing- but no doubt the hope that it might next year, was there. This is the time where boys are still, “gross” but yet they wear the very thing to attract them, but they don’t know what they are attracting. “What does someone mean when they want to be more than friends,” my stepdaughter asks me, and I look to Josh. They wear the costumes to get attention, but have no idea why. It just seems, so damn wrong.
About twice a year I encounter something else that makes me ache for my daughter- because she should be able to be a kid, and not be busy practicing how to be an adult, (at eight.) Suddenly it’s cute for girls to wear shirts that say, “buy me stuff!” and “I’m really easy to get along with as long as you worship me” I mean- hell.. I’d even opt for the Japanese pornstar- Hello Kitty! (Which started out as novelty items in Japan, along with used underwear in vending machines,) because really… what’s a peodophile to do, right?
We blame people who are sexualizing our children, but we don’t blame ourselves, when the sexuality is watered down tee-shirts and whore-ish dolls with wide eyes of surprise. It’s disgusting, and we have the power to say no- but we’ve been caving into ‘what’s cool.’ Our children- are just that- CHILDREN. They are not mini-adults- they are small and they are learning. This is where I’d typically insert a line about how they need guidance-… but you MUST know what I mean.
When I was eight, I saw through it. I saw through the marketing, and my mom reminds me I refused to advertise on my shirt, (a practice that still stays with me.) I refuse to buy my child anything that offers her as a free billboard, because her body, and her innocence, IS PRICELESS. It’s not worth a $24.00 t-shirt, or a $10.00 doll.
Girls need aspirations that reach farther than being ‘beautiful.’ Beautiful doesn’t teach you how to balance a checkbook, or how to not give in when the peer pressure is too much. It doesn’t teach you that your redeeming qualities- are the ones you already posess, the ones you can’t give away, and the ones you never have to cover or enhance with make-up. And it doesn’t teach you the thought you can be anything… and that’s what troubles me the most. This is why.
My stepdaughter and I recently had a discussion while driving to her grandfathers. She’s an intelligent kid who has very certain ideas about things, but I’m seeing the ‘bratz’ and the ‘bebe’ coming out. For instance, we talked about her ideas for school. She hates math, (don’t we all,) and thinks girls who like math are ‘stupid,’ and does NOT want to go to college because then she’ll have to ‘waste’ her money on ‘boring stuff’ instead of buying ‘nice clothes and a nice car.’ (To which, after picking up my jaw from somewhere around the brake pedals) I tried to explain that college was ‘an investment,’ to which she replied, “my mom didn’t go to college and she has a nice car and she’s pretty.” And if that didn’t say it all…. nothing will. Girls are still being taught that looks are the only thing that matters, only it’s in more of an agressive way now- it’s worse. Because it’s nothing to be ‘pretty’ anymore, because ‘pretty’ isn’t enough if you don’t have the clothes and tits to go with it. They’re becoming plastic molds of what they think ‘beauty’ is, instead of seeing the things they do, believe and feel, as beauty in itself.
So- I’ll be the wicked stepmom, who doesn’t allow mid-driffs and Bratz, and wants my girls to spend days exploring, and realizing that the best dreams are not found in the Limited Too dressing room, or the Disney Channel- they’re found in the very basis of who they are, and who they are becoming- sans the eyeliner.
