These pictures look mighty strange; the articles they accompany are even more so (though quite informative).
Really, what are people doing to our children? Is this some perverse form of revenge on the next generation by some world-dominating network, to get back at today's kids for their (the adults) miserable childhood days?
About sexually provocative baby dolls dressed in leather and lingerie being marketed to girls as young as three:
From the Herald-Sun (Australia):
Outrage over sexy baby dolls
Jane Metlikovec
August 31, 2006 12:00am
Childhood experts have slammed the latest range of Bratz Babyz, claiming they are tantamount to child pornography.
But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it was powerless to strip the dolls from shelves.
"We have mandatory product safety standards . . . but there is no arbiter for bad taste," a spokeswoman said.
The Australian Childhood Foundation and the Australian Family Association have warned parents not to buy the "Sugar and Spice" twins Phoebe and Roxxi, which sell for $40 in department stores.
Phoebe "Sugar" is dressed in a fluffy pink jacket with pink and black underwear, while Roxxi "Spice" has an open fake leather jacket and skimpy red and black lingerie. Both dolls have baby milk bottles hanging off chains strapped to their legs.
The packaging carries a choking hazard warning, and says the dolls are unsuitable for children under three because of their small parts.
The AFA calls the dolls immoral.
"The portrayal of children in sexual poses is prohibited, and these dolls border on that," AFA state vice president Angela Conway said.
"We are appalled by the lack of corporate responsibility displayed here. These sexualised images of children are disgusting."
Distributor Funtastic said they had received no customer complaints about the dolls, and Bratz Australian sales are likely to reach one million this year
"The styling of Bratz is very edgy, but nothing is meant to be real," a spokeswoman said. "These dolls are clearly cartoon depictions."
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Buying into Sexy: The sexing up of tweens
Broadcast: January 9, 2005
When you were nine, what did you want? A Barbie doll? A train set?
These days, young boys and girls are hungry for something else: padded bras and flirting tips, video games with bikini-clad babes and music videos that feature plenty of sexual innuendo.
Sex has always sold, but now it’s children that are buying. Tweens, kids aged eight to 14, are a hot target for companies. And now more than ever, sex is being used to get their dollars.
Tweens are being bombarded with sexy images by the makers of clothes, toys, video games, music videos -- all aimed at getting this freshly- coveted demographic to buy, buy and buy some more.
To get a sense of their world, we spend a day with 12-year-old Amanda.
Amanda Amanda, 12, says 'You get more attention' when you wear sexy clothes.
“Tweens, we don’t want to be kids anymore,” she says. “But I guess we also don’t want to have all this responsibility, we just want to have fun.”
We decide to tally up how many sexed-up images Amanda sees in an average day. We wake her up at her mom’s house at 7:00 to start our count. Her bedroom is bright pink, from the walls to the bedspread. Plastic stars dangle from the ceiling.
“I think that whole glittery thing is still a little bit of the child in her,” says Amanda’s mom, Alma. “She’s still got a bit of that, but now … it’s more of a sexy look.
"I think it’s just the influence of pop stars. I don’t think it’s that she wants to look sexy. Not for boys. I don't think she's even noticed boys yet.
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May I just say that my toys (dolls especially) looked nothing like the hideous playthings of today and did not in any way "force" me to grow up and be an adult before I was prepared to cross over to adulthood.
2 comments:
Those Bratz dolls are grotesque. Why are we in such a hurry for our kids to wear makeup, and when did it become acceptable for our little girls to dress up like streetwalkers? Whatever happened to being fresh-faced and innocent?
Catherine, I tried to think of how this whole thing morphed into what it is now -- children dressing and acting like streetwalkers, and then such becoming acceptable. I can't trace the whole process but what I do know is that media has A LOT to do with it!
Barbara, I've visited your blog several times already and it's wonderful! Yesterday I saw the Moms & Dads for Modesty post and bookmarked it so I can post it here soon. We need to promote things like that!
Thanks for dropping by, both of you, and come back soon!
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