Are Bratz dolls a bad influence on little girls?

[happysally]

Hi, I am a new member and mother to two young girls. My sister lives in Australia and has just sent me an article about Bratz dolls and some of their new stuff - apparently they are making padded bras aimed at girls my niece's age (six) and everyone in Australia is in outrage. There's apparently some new Bratz dolls which come in leather and lingerie. I'm just wondering what other mums thinks about the Bratz range at all? Is anyone else concerned that these dolls are too risque for our children? Would really appreciate hearing other mum's views as there is so much pressure on little girls to grow up so fast.

I had a 1980' sindy that had belonged to my auntie, who eventually trained to be a hairdresser - my sindy was the only one with a green and pink mohican!

yes they are unless you think the use of the word "spaz" is ok

Nice link Moomin - at least Sindy can make direct eye contact now! I could never understand why she had to look at everything sideways!

because a direct gaze probably isn't Demure and Ladylike.

Re Bratz - DD has some, she also has Barbies, some cheepo dolls from tesco and Woolies, and some cloth dressing animals from an organic Indian cooperative, and from watching her playing with them, I think she just sees them all as dolls. I havent read all of this thread but I suppose if you make a big fuss and say you cant have one etc, kids are going to wonder whats the big attraction. Mind you we havent got the ones with the fetish underwear or whatever it was.

My 5 year old loves the small Bratz dolls.
Can't see a problem with them.
They all get put in the same box as all the Barbies she and her sister have and they all get played with the same.

She's never mentioned them as being different in anyway.

Sometimes bacause we're the parents we see wrong in lots of things, but at young ages, most children are innocent to it all.

I want to keep it that way as long as i can.

I saw one of the 'baby' ones the other day. It had full make up, was wearing a bikini and a miniskirt with a metal chain around its neck on which a bottle of milk was suspended.

What's that trying to say exactly? Or what's it trying to be. On one hand it's a baby on the other 20 something sex kitten smothered in make up and ready for a night on the tiles. It's totally f'd up. If I ever have a DD, I really hope they aren't for sale anymore.

And don't even get me started on the adult ones. What are saying? You should be like me, a pouting, bubbleheaded teenybopper who can't possibly leave the house unless in full hair, makeup and fully accessoried, skin-tight low cut cat suit, feather bower and the latest mobile to the destination of a) a date, b) a party via a rediclous pimp-mobile uttering two-word, brattish americanisms such as "whatever girlfriend". Maybe I'm being too serious, but I don't like to see girls emmulating some empty-minded, 'brat-culture' that has been invented, in all likelyhood by a room for of 30 something year old men and puts them in training for a lifetime of image-obsessed 'must have the latest, top/phone/cat-suit or society will shun me!' slaves to consumerism.

Sorry that was probably a bit much, but I hate them, they're trashy.

Bring back Barbie all is forgiven!!!

Also, Would just like to point out that if I did have a DD and saw her playing a 'Dana goes to Tescos to do the weekly shop', game, I would be most reassured and wouldn't be quite as upset by them as my last post indicates!

I'm with fussymummy. My dd plays with them, in the same way as she plays with Barbie, polly pockets et al. If she goes off the rails in her teenager years, it won't be the fault of some daft doll.

Have to admit I'm uncomfortable with Barbie as well, she seems to have been appropriated and sexualised by the whole 'Barbie girl' thing of recent years. dd is only 2.5 and so far I've steered her well away from Barbie, Bratz and all their merchandise.

just had a look at the bratz.com site because I didn't have a clue what bratz dolls are. They just look ugly to me with the over-sized heads and eyes.

I think they are utterly repellent

but if the dds like them I wouldn't stop them playing with them (they don't particularly)

am at the parents who throw children's toys away becaues they don't like them

tigermum your 12.46 post says it all - I agree completely!

I dont think girls necessarily want to BE like their dolls though

otherwise I would have wanted to be a rabbit when I grew up

totally agree tigermum

and yes, maybe our dds see them as 'only' dolls at the moment but these dolls are meant to be aspirational. they are selling a lifestyle and an attitude. that's why, when girls get old enough, the want merchandise that is associated with these dolls, e.g. unsuitable clothes, mobile phones, whatever ( not as in whatEVER!). if you have a look on the Bratz website and run through the video links for instance, you see them accepting a new friends only when she's removed her glasses and had a complete makeover (i.e. to look like a hooker).

maybe some people think this is an overreaction but I don't think so. I work with teenage girls and know how low the self-esteem is of a lot of them. Too many of them think dressing tartily and letting boys shag them gets them noticed; they think buying designer accessories and being accepted by the girly cliques is the only way to be accepted and liked. This sort of behaviour is happening at lower and lower ages. I'm not saying Bratz are the cause of it all but they certainly contribute. The messages they send out are insidious and cynical. The makers have got it sussed - Baby Bratz for little ones, which lead to the bigger Bratz when they get older which leads to the Bratz clothes and the Bratz attitudes and the Bratz lifestyle which is somehow held up as desirable.

Yes, I don't have to buy them and I won't. But I also reserve the right to an opinion about something that I think is potentially damaging to young girls, esp those without the guidance at home or the wherewithal to understand or balance the messages they are receiving.

{and as an aside look at this - it's from the Dove campaign for real beauty website and it shows what a real woman would look like with Barbie's vital statistics]

enid, bratz is the only stuff I chuck though. I grin and bear all the other tat the children are given.

I just loathe bratz - the early sexualisation thing is a real pet hate of mine. No cropped tops for my 7 yr old, either.

Me - I don't like them. DD - now 5 - loves them!! And got one for her birthday yesterday, along with a Barbie Mermaidia, lots of crafty bits (which makes me v. happy), books and fairy dolls. She took the doll to bed last night and said she was lovely. This morning - she picked up her old teddy and loved that too. DD can play will all her toys - her values about life, etc she learns from me and her Dad.

Think they are hideous, but middle-aged librarians are hardly Hasbro's target market
I do have a problem with the aspirations attributed to the Bratz characters - as SueW says, riding in limos, cutting a demo disc, etc.
But I think you have to bite your tongue over what your children want to play with/get given for birthdays etc.
We all know that the "Barbie discovers a cure for cancer" special edition dolls were the ones that sold in single figures

I've watched the Bratz programme on CITV & it is fairly harmless, even promotes girls using their initiative & being clever.
The dolls are hideous though, with their hugely exaggerated pouting lips and sulky faces. I haven't seen any dolls in leather & lingerie, but I often think the Bratz clothing range for kids is not very "nice"!!!

lol dds think going in a limo is at the very pinnalce of life

i blame Best Of Friends on CBBC

I can really see your point Moomin. I just feel that as far as dd is concerned I am quite happy (sumg? complacent?) that her views on life are giong to be far more influenced by her home envirnoment, and her friends, than the presence of a couple of ugly dolls. She doesn't relate to them as versions of her in any way- she hates clothes like that, and actually bemoans the fact the the dolls don't have more jeans and things, but she loves their hair. I agree about the merchanising, and she would have padded bras over my dead body, but I can live with the dolls.

Moomin, I'd rather build my dd's self esteem from the values she sees at home,support positive friendships and promote positive role models rather than get my knickers in a twist at a doll. We can't change the world around us, but I prefer to fight the battles that are worth fighting and chill over toys.

That's what I was trying to say, only better, Mateychops

why am i 'getting my knickers in a twist' just because i have an opinion that is negative about these horrible dolls? The insinuation there is that my opinion is out of proportion and hysterical. and i think i can safely balance out giving moral guidance to my dds with having opinions at the same time. you don't have to just do one or or the other!

yes, I'm aware that most parents (here anyway) will have the ability to show their dds that Bratz are just one toy in a huge range and they will make sure their kids are balanced enough to distinguish fantasy from reality... but some parents don't/can't do that (see my earlier post about 7 yo wearing thongs to school) and Bratz don't help