My daughter is three-years-old… and much to my delight she has not entered the Bratz zone… (Nor will she if I get my way). But, it seems I have my work cut out for me. Have you been to the toy store lately? The shelves are stocked with Bratz Babyz, Bratz Kidz, the Bratz RC cruiser, Bratz Shrek, Bratz alarm clocks, Bratz CDs, Bratz video games, Bratz cosmetics, and that’s just in the first aisle.
The dolls with those famously huge heads and equally large pouty lips (not to mention their infamously toned midriffs) are EVERYWHERE! Gee, do you think it has anything to do with the fact that the new “Bratz” movie debuted this weekend? Surely, you’ve heard that Yasmin, Jade, Sasha and Cloe, the main characters behind the billion-dollar global franchise are now invading the big screen?
The movie has been the catalyst for debate among Bratz lovers and haters. The haters (some, but not all of whom are parents) say the dolls send a troubling message to the girls who play with them. Mainly that it is really important to be chic and sexy. Surf the web for a while and you’ll see numerous non-flattering references to the dolls, including calling them plastic “tarts” and “prostitutes.” And don’t get the American Psychological Association started in about their opinions of the dolls. The group sounded off about the branding earlier this year, mentioning Bratz in a broader report on the sexualization of girls: “It is worrisome when dolls designed specifically for 4- to 8-year-olds are associated with an objectified adult sexuality.”
One psychologist, who often gives talks on the sexualization of girls, recently went public with what happened when she showed a group of seventh graders a Bratz Baby. “They gasped,” the doctor said. More shocking to me was the psychologists own take on the dolls. “The baby looked just like a blowup sex doll in a bikini,” she said. The doctor also added that parents should be concerned by some of the social scenarios Bratz dolls are placed in. She calls them “‘Sex and the City’ scenarios for little girl dolls – hanging out on corners, at parties, in hot tubs.”
In the other corner you have the doll’s designers who argue that there are stylistic reasons behind the doll’s design. “A big head allows more hair play,” one designer points out. And those larger than life lips? “The lips are for styling,” the designer maintains. As for the film, producers say the aim was to create “a truly multiethnic group of characters who learn to value friendship over the need for social acceptance.”
Naturally, the movie’s producers want parents to give the film a chance. They say that simply watching a movie doesn’t make a girl bad. (One of the producers also revealed that the movie’s costume designer is a grandmother.) The bottom line says movie producers: “What’s wrong if your daughter has a little passion for fashion?”
Do you have a Bratz loving little one in your house?
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