Friday, August 18, 2006

Valley of the Tramps

James and I took Cecilia to lunch today and wanted to visit a nearby store so Cecilia could get out of her carseat and we could walk a bit (in air conditioning). We decided to go to ToysRUs since we are also browsing toys that might aid her in practicing walking. She already crawls like crazy, pulls herself into a standing position almost anywhere, and even cruises a wee bit.

While we were there we also browsed the Dolls section just to see what was being sold in the area of dolls for future reference. We were mildly amused and thoroughly appauled to discover Barbie has turned into a mother's worst nightmare. There is now the "My Bling Bling" collection by Mattel including Madison, Chelsea, Nolee, and, of course, Barbie. Now in addition to the waist Scarlet O'Hara would envy and feet only larger than my six month old daughter's and a C cup chest, little girls can play with dolls wearing knee-high go-go boots, miniskirts that couldn't fit on your thumb, and tube tops or other such tops that barely cover anything. (Of course none of these dolls wear bras.) Now I suppose I might just be thankful Mattel has not made them anatomically correct yet, but is this the "woman" that we should hope our daughters aspire to?

You know these are not primarily purchased and played with by 16 olds or older. So frighteningly Mattel must believe the market for such a doll to be out there among the younger girls. Perhaps Mattel has been making them like this for years and I just didn't notice.

I would not object to getting my daughter a doll when she is older but it will definately not be along this line.

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