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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not allow my daughter to have bratz and monster high dolls

98 replies

7InTheBed · 27/10/2012 21:32

my daughter is 8 this christmas and keeps asking for a monster high doll.
last year she wanted a bratz doll but we got her other stuff that she wanted as i just hate these dolls.
I just feel they are completely innaproprialy skinny and have silly lollipop heads. The brats look like baby prostitutes and the monster high ones are also really tarty.
she has some disney princess dolls that she plays with loads- a belle and rapunzle but although these are slim they are at least not dressed tarty and are in long dresses.
maybe im being neurotic but i just feel these dolls are horrid??
anyone else feel the same??

OP posts:
redlac · 27/10/2012 21:52

BUT that's the whole point of Monster High - they are the kids of monsters like Frankenstein, Dracula etc!!

MrsJay honestly if I was to show DD a fuckin pink velour playboy trackie she would tut and go off and pull on her black leggings and black t shirt in DISGUST! Not that I would ever buy something so hideous as velour

peeriebear · 27/10/2012 21:53

I don't mind the Monster High ones. At least they're not fucking pink!

peeriebear · 27/10/2012 21:54

lol redlac 'fucking pink'

Wigeon · 27/10/2012 21:54

Very interesting and thoughtful blog post from someone who had a meeting with Mattel, the makers of Monster High, specifically about the appearance of the dolls. Feeling rather glad that my DD (4yrs) is not yet the target market for them! I would have no quarms in not buying them for her.

And for those who think that "they're just dolls", and "don't spoil her fun", I give you Pink Stinks, which eloquently explains why this kind of thing matters.

ninah · 27/10/2012 21:54

I have to say, she did quite like it [hwink]

Mrsjay · 27/10/2012 21:55

MrsJay honestly if I was to show DD a fuckin pink velour playboy trackie she would tut and go off and pull on her black leggings and black t shirt in DISGUST! Not that I would ever buy something so hideous as velour

you made me laugh I agree with you
, and yes monster high is exactly that a monster high school, I am sorry but little girls like older cooler girls and these dolls represent older 'gothy' girls and they think they are cool, personally i preferred bratz to barbie well dd2 did not me Grin

HocusPocusPigInACaldron · 27/10/2012 21:55

I don't buy Bratz for my dd's, even when they were given loads of them from older cousins dh and i agreed they needed to be binned, they do look like hookers, much more so than Barbies i have brought.

DD2 6 does have some MH dolls though, she likes anything spooky, odd or creepy.

redlac · 27/10/2012 21:56

Great minds Peerie

You can't really equate the bratz dolls with MH ones (well apart from the ones they have brought out which are rip offs of MH ones).

JaquelineHyde · 27/10/2012 21:56

People who buy Bratz dolls and Monsters High dolls have the same disgusting taste and poor judgement shown by the types of people who buy inapropriate clothing for their children.

OK so you may not do both (thank Christ if you don't) but the decisions that are made in buying either are pretty similar in my opinion. (No need for any for fuck saking it is my opinion only, why are you so touchy about this I presume you have bought one or both for your children)

Original poster
7InTheBed · 27/10/2012 21:56

actually if some of you read my post correctly i said she has 2 disney princess dolls but not Barbie.
Im not saying anything about women that wear these clothes i just feel that the dolls are dress in a manner that sexualises them and make girls think this is how they need to be as an adult/ teenager.
I fould a thread on this now and it seems quite a few people feel the same. I will let my daughter play with a baby doll or a princess because they are not prevocative, she can look at a disney princess which (well the ones that we have anyway) no look too different to a real womans body. these dolls have stick thin legs and bodies (like they have an eating disorder) and she wont look a baby doll and think i want to look just like that and try to look like that as its a baby.
I just dont want her to have a warped and manipulated view of whats normal??
how do you know that this kind of influence does not encourage a distorted self image or 'ideal' of what they should look like. And the heads are... lets not go there??
I dont actually agree that barbie/ disney princess are ok but i have to let her have some le-way.
I just feel i need to draw the line somewhere.
As for saying- but its what she wants so just let her have it..... well if she was asking for foundation for her face cos that was the in thing shall i get her that at 8 just because 'its what she wants'.... i dont think so....
i have to also say that we dont let our children watch mainstrem tv so they dont see advertsor whatever for these things it just because its what some and i stress some of ther friends have.

OP posts:
Bumpstart · 27/10/2012 21:57

Wigeon

Great links there, gives us some context about WHY we don't like these anorexic dolls.

HappyBloodBlackPumpkinEater · 27/10/2012 21:57

Yanbu, it's your money, you can choose. however, when she has a part time job as a teenager and wants to dress up like that herself, you might wish she had got it out of her system when younger!

Hippymum89 · 27/10/2012 21:57

My DD (7) thinks they'rs gross, same with bratz and all those other chavvy tarty crappy pueces of plastic. She obviously picked up on my feelings for them, but she agrees so no problem there- [hwink]
Just have a discussion with her telling her why you think they are horrid
Might work [hhmm]

Mrsjay · 27/10/2012 21:58

oh when we went to see frankinweenie (which is hilarious) there is a new monster high film out soom

Bumpstart · 27/10/2012 21:59

7 in the bed,

I think you are spot on. You know what you are doing is right.

Have a look at wigeon's links. They are really interesting.

MissPricklePants · 27/10/2012 22:01

I think they are over sexualised, I think they can influenece how some girls feel they should look. I am a goth btw and don't dress like a Monster High Doll. Playing with dolls isn't an issue, a baby doll is not over sexualised or out of proportion. Its down to the parents though so if my DD asked for one it would be a no.

Mrsjay · 27/10/2012 22:02

but disney princess are twee teenagers with longer dresses sigh she is your dd and obviously it is your choice what she plays with but what if in years to come your dd decides she wants to dress a bit 'alternative' I wonder how you would react, and the don't dress like hookers

IsabelleRinging · 27/10/2012 22:03

So you all get your kids whatever they want, even if you feel it is inappropriate? Hmm

OP, if you don't like them don't buy them, she is your DD and you should do what you feel is right.

redlac · 27/10/2012 22:04

I was fucksaking because my daughter like MH, Tim Burton, corpse bride, frankieweenie, nightmare before Christmas and she is the very antithesis of a playboy bunny wearing 6 year old. I would no way put her in Playboy anymore than I would buy her a Bratz doll. She likes Monster High as it appeals to her quirkyness and of course I am going to encourage that as she is a individual and I don't want to quash the need in her to be a bit different

She doesn't look on them and aspire to be thin and caked in make up she looks at them and aspired to be different like them!

rhondajean · 27/10/2012 22:06

I'm very grateful my child prefers mh to Disney princess. I prefer not to promote the message that girls need a prince to rescue them and should be princess like and dainty.

Give me the monster kids, fangs fins and all, any day.

Mrsjay · 27/10/2012 22:06

So you all get your kids whatever they want, even if you feel it is inappropriate?

obviously not but I dont think these dolls are inappropriate. I have 2 daughters both have managed to grow up into young women without dressing like hookers Hmm or being weight obsessed because they may have had a bratz doll . dd1 wasn't interested in any dolls dd2 did she had barbie and bratz I see no harm

WorraLiberty · 27/10/2012 22:07

I genuinely have never met an adult who thinks she has to dress like Barbie or a Princess just because she played with a couple of dolls as a kid.

You're waaaaay over thinking this.

Most teenagers' greatest influence when it comes to clothes is their friends, not toy dolls.

Mrsjay · 27/10/2012 22:07

and dd1 had those gothy fairys when she was younger that is the extent of her dolly playing with, MY dds would have been into monster high if they were younger

WorraLiberty · 27/10/2012 22:11

I was obsessed with Action Man when I was a kid

But I don't remember going clubbing in full combat gear, a green face and a feckin plant on my head....

MissPricklePants · 27/10/2012 22:12

My best friend developed anorexia at 12 as she felt she was too fat due to seeing skinny models/dolls etc so I think some girls are really affected by these issues. Obv not all of them are.