great article! Thank you, I think we all feel like that!

here is another thought..

a better role model for girls today..

http://www.hulalagirls.com

Getting girls gaming for a green planet..

moove over bratz.. peace out Barbie..

My mom would not even consider for one second letting my sister or I own or play with Barbies. And, she WAS, the meanest mommy in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD.

Now...we are in our 30s and my sister and I agree that we appreciated the fact that my mom was not only adamant about her feelings that Barbie set impossible self image standards but she remained firmly planted in her actions to support her standards. A great role model. My sister and I are grateful to the amazing...albeit meanest...mother we have been blessed with. Then again, my mom's favorite motto was "I don't negotiate with terrorists and all of my kids under 25 are terrorists!" LOL. I love you Mom!

Erin
ExpectingExecutive
In order to change your life, you must first change your life.

But I have bought about 10 bratz for my daughter. I'll not disclose ages here but I have bought her Bratz. She plays with them and loves to dress them up but I see no trace of her wanting to be like a doll.

Remember it is the parents that raise the child, not the dolls. It's up to you to say no to them dressing like the dolls if you want. But another thing. Barbie's new look is not Bratz-esque. It is merely a doll with a non-swiveling waistline. And the old Barbie clothes (Which my daughter has) have never been large enoughs to fit the newer Barbie dolls. Always slightly smaller.

I don't get what all this fuss is about, and I don't know why you can't ease up. If you knew what the very first Bratz dolls looked like as I do, you would see nothing wrong ith the newer ones. The old ones actually had see-through belly-shirts and quarter inch long miniskirts with 3 inch heel on the shoes, and there was never a decently clothed Bratz around. Pick your kid's Bratz carefully. Go for Sleepover or Sportz ones. Sleepover have long pants and a normal pajama shirt, Sportz mostly have full outfits like soccer outfit and Lilee's snowboarding outfit that are like real outfits...not all Bratz are bad, just the older, more obnoxious ones.

That's all I gotta say here

~Emi

Am I the only one who thinks Bratz look like blow-up dolls?

Five Dollar Camera

Bratz dolls have really become my symbol of all that is wrong with the world. I can't stand them, and there's no way my daughter will ever own one.

I really like Groovy Girls dolls. They're soft dolls, but they're shaped like, well, girls, and they still have cute, hip outfits.

It scares me that real girls in advertising are even starting to look like Bratz dolls. Have you seen the new Children's Place ad?

Christina
A Mommy Story

I'd like to hear from a parent who actually bought a Bratz doll for his or her daughter. Clearly there's a lot of Bratz-buying parents out there, since they're ridiculously successful ($1 billion in sales from 2001-2003, according to this article), but several pages into a google search, it's difficult to find anyone who'll defend them.

As the mom of a toddler daughter and another girl due in January, I'm stunned that these dolls, with their incredibly limiting message to girls--that dressing purely to attract "boyz" and having a screw-off attitude are all that really matter--continue to succeed in a culture where girls have so many opportunities and choices.

In fact, my outrage at these dolls (and how Barbie is following suit to compete in this market), got me to read Lamb and Brown's new book, Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes. They devote a whole section of their book to Bratz vs. Barbie. A great read for anyone who's interested in how girls are being sold a warped, hypersexualized view of girlhood.

beachmommies.com

In addition to looking like a blow-up doll, these girls like they have already had several cosmetic surgeries. If these dolls are what are daughters are going to be "modeling" after, botox, boob jobs, and lipo customers are just going to get younger and younger.

Sick, sick, sick.

It's pretty skeezy and horrifying. We're fairly conservative so we started out (Yes me and my husband, who is male. I know. I surveyed him.) saying no toys that encourage our children to either become or frequent prostitutes.

Lately we've been opting for these Only Hearts Club dolls. They're a bit pricey but they're dressed decently and look like normal humans.

Daring Young Mom

Hey there,

Thinking back to my barbie doll playing days I think of what games, what roll playing I did with my dolls. My favourite barbie built a business and travelled the world with it with holidays in Paris.

I spent hours making clothes for her - mum saying the shop made ones were too expensive and not good enough quality and it was more fun making our own. I made her doll house and furniture too.

Now I have my own jewelry design business and make my own creations. So maybe the role playing and creative playing all paid off.

I've a healthy, womanly figure, I exercise each day and eat well and so can't pin point any ill effects from playing with plastic dolls with silly figures. But my parents had a great influence with how I played - encouraging and supporting the making of accessories and activities (cars, horse saddles, airplanes for traveling in etc) as well as getting out there and playing tennis and cycling and eating well.

We have boys in our family so different issues come into play. But still there are lessons about balance in life, marketers dreams and good business.

I don't like those nasty looking Bratz dolls and could never spend money supporting their production but that is all part of the power of the consumer. While the fun is in the creative playing. :)

Smiles
Belinda

Creatively Belle Blog

and unfortunately, I wasn't there when she opened the package, so my mom let her play with them. As it turns out, she didn't like them - they aren't well made, and they don't have feet - just pegs that go into shoes. They got "lost" pretty quickly.

I was originally anti-Barbie, but a friend bought one for my oldest when she took our girls to a thrift store at age 2. We now have a few Barbies, but they aren't really played with much. They only like playing with them at a friend's house where the mom makes lots of clothes for the Barbies.

Mostly my girls play with larger baby dolls, like the American Girl dolls or smaller ones like Playmobil or Polly Pocket. We have a bunch of Groovy Girls, too. I've wanted to buy the Only Hearts Club, and I think I'll give them as holiday presents this year.

Bratz are one of the reasons why I prefer to shop online - no begging when they see toys (or even toothbrushes!) I find objectionable.

Rachel
A Gaggle of Girls
Rachel's Recipe Box

I have a daughter sandwiched between two boys and she's had her fill of Barbies, Polly Pockets, Bratz and American Girl. She was always adventurous with her dolls-- cutting their hair and altering their clothes. She truly didn't care about the dolls' figures, she was too busy turning the bathtub into a vacation spa where the "gals" met each other for the first time from exotic locations around the world.
Sure enough, she's eleven now and has moved on to other things. If anything, those fake pieces of plastic spurred her imagination to new heights.

Karen
"Life is too short to pout all the time."
A Deaf Mom Shares Her World

It might interest you to know that Target stores in Australia are selling 'bralettes' (essentially padded bras for little girls) with the Bratz logo on them (scroll down to the end of the post). Arrgghh!!

With regard to Mom Mom Mom, I was really happy to hear that the organizations 'Dads and Daughters' and 'See Jane' initiated a successful letter-writing campaign to prevent Hasbro from making and marketing Pussycat Dolls dolls to girls as young as six!

SkylarKD

...at the risk of labeling myself "the bad parent," I admit it - I bought not one...but, two Bratz dolls and various other Bratz-type paraphernalia, over the years.

Although, not a very good excuse, I caved a couple of Christmas' ago after my oldest daughter received one from a classmate for her 8th birthday.

Yes, these big-headed and large-lipped dolls were all the rage and, quite honestly, not being able to swing a lot of the "must haves" on their wish lists, the Bratz made it under the tree.

And, eventually, in the garbage.

They had interchangeable body parts - EW! - which were quickly snapped off and lost among the couch cusions by New Years.

My oldest is 13 (and passed the doll stage, thank goodness!) but, she shares a bedroom with my 10 and 5 year-old...which is now Bratz-free.

Along with Betty Spaghetti, these dolls were not the smartest choices I've made for my children...I admit...but, I've since learned to be a little less concerned about being "the good mom" and hope to be a little more like you, Mir, by sticking to my guns about what my kids are, or are NOT, getting this year!

Phew, there...I said it...thanks, Mir for this thought-provoking post - I'm learning as I go!

--------------------------------------------
For more from Liz Thompson, read:
C.E. Fashion & Shopping
This Full House
The Imperfect Parent

I loved Barbies when I was a kid. I played with them until I was 10 or 11, when other girls in my school had given up on dolls already and gone on to dating. I was in no way, shape, or form ready to handle real relations with boys, so I retreated into my little Barbie world. They put on pretty clothes and dated and had sex with Ken. It was sort of pre-Bachelor, since there was only one guy and lots of ladies clamoring for him. I personally continued being a nerd. Life was good.

Ironically, although I loved gussying Barbie up and pimping her out, when it came to my life, I realized quickly that I hated heels, tight clothes, and makeup. I also was one of those no-sex-until-marriage types (shocking, I know) until I was 16 or 17. I left high school still a virgin.

I happen to really hate the Bratz dolls because I do think they are sexual in ways that Barbie isn't, even after admitting that my Barbies got a lot of action. I don't think that they will cause girls to be skanks any more than Barbie led me to be a princess, but they still totally creep me out.

Suzanne, BlogHer Contributing Editor - Feminsim & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

Good call, Mir.

If these dolls undermine the way you're bringing up your children, they should be avoided at all costs.

I don't think enough attention is paid to messages that are being sent to kids, actively OR passively... And then people want to turn around and blame those same kids for what they're doing as teenagers.

--
Bill Cammack
Video Editor
BillCammack.com