Bratz, Barbies, and bonobos

I bought my first Bratz recently. Looking over a Giving Tree at my athletic club, where Christmas present requests from needy children were hanging, just about every six to nine year old girl wanted a Bratz. So I headed off to Fred Meyer and entered a new doll world.

They’re a lot hotter and hipper than Barbie. More controversial, also, as a fascinating article in The New Yorker (“Little Hotties: Barbie’s new rivals”) discusses at length. These excerpts convey the essence of the Bratz appeal. And for many mothers, the fright.

"Bratz dolls have large heads and skinny bodies; their almond-shaped eyes are tilted upward at the edges and adorned with thick crescents of eyeshadow, and their lips are lush and pillowy, glossed to a candy-apple sheen and rimmed with dark lip liner. They look like pole dancers on their way to work at a gentlemen’s club.

…Bratz dolls don’t have Barbie’s pinup-girl measurements -- they’re not as busty and they’re shorter. But their outfits include halter tops, faux-fur armlets, and ankle-laced stiletto sandals, and they wear the sly, dozy expression of a party girl after one too many mojitos.

…You could never imagine a Bratz doll assuming any of the dozens of careers Barbie has pursued over the decades: not Business Executive or Surgeon or Summit Diplomat -- not even Pan Am Flight Attendant or Pet Doctor. Bratz girls seem more like kept girls, or girls trying to convert a stint on reality TV into a future as the new Ashlee or Lindsay or Paris."

The article says that Barbie was originally aimed at nine- to twelve-year-olds. Now, girls widely see it as a toy for three- to six- year olds. Many girls older than that like to destroy their Barbies. Like, in the microwave oven.

Why? The author of “Little Hotties,” Margaret Talbot, suggests that “Barbie now represents a ‘mommy figure’ for many girls, and they don’t particularly want to play with a doll who reminds them of their mothers.”

What seems to be driving the ascendancy of Bratz over Barbie, in large part, is the increased sexualization of young girls. In the old days “sassy” meant rude and disrespectful. Now, says Talbot:

What Bratz dolls are both contributing to and feeding on is a culture in which girls play at being "sassy" -- the toy industry’s favored euphemism for sexy -- and discard traditional toys at a younger age.

My daughter Celeste was born in 1972. When she and her friends started to play with dolls, a lot of them actually looked like chubby babies. I suppose you can still find dolls like that. But they’re not going to elicit screams of joy when opened on Christmas day.

In a few months I’m going to be a first-time grandfather. Celeste is going to have a girl. My daughter will have to decide whether to go the Bratz, Barbie, or whatever other doll route little girls want to travel on a few years from now.

This mother says, “you can’t say no to a Bratz doll forever.” I’m pretty sure my daughter won’t even try. After all, she lives in Hollywood. There most of the women you see on the sidewalk bear a decided resemblance to a Bratz or Barbie.

And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. As a man, you’d expect me to say that. But I have some scientific reasons for my “hottie is good” attitude that go beyond my inherent male chauvinistic pigness.

The November 30, 2006 New Scientist tells us why bonobos “Make Love, Not War.” The article says, “Humans, like chimps, are notoriously aggressive. So how come our other close relative, the bonobo, is so peaceable?”

There are a bunch of reasons. Not the least of which is sex.

"Bonobos are famous for it. Aside from the typical male/female activity, they also engage in more 'creative' behaviours: wet kissing, masturbation, oral sex, female/female and male/male couplings, group activities, the list goes on and on. The only restriction seems to be incest between mothers and their children.

Chimps by contrast restrict themselves almost entirely to male/female sex and don't have nearly as much of it as bonobos. What's more, males are dominant, frequently use food to lure females into having sex with them, and sometimes beat uncooperative females."

It looks like Britney and Madonna may be on to something.

That said, an over-sexed society has its problems. But so does an over-violent society. And if I had to choose one over the other, it’s obvious which way we should go.

Give me a Bratz over a GI Joe any day.

Comments

[Idler]

The “sex vs. violence” meme is a false dichotomy that has been utilized by sloppy thinkers to justify self-indulgence. It confuses categories and obfuscates ethical questions.

Self-indulgence of all sorts need to be discouraged, not least because where self-indulgence reigns, you’re likely to have a social environment that is both “over-sexed” and “over-violent,” such as much of urban Britain today, and places in the U.S. where “gangsta” culture dominates.

Perhaps a “gangsta” male doll would be a good complement to a “Bratz” doll. You do G.I. Joe an injustice by imputing to him some kind of moral corruption. Perhaps bonobos can do without them, but heroic figures give human children a means of channeling aggression into socially useful expressions. Equally importantly, they help them to face their fears.

I suspect that children’s heroic fantasies are an indispensable building block of courage, which is nearly the opposite of self-indulgence.

[Rain]

I won't buy my granddaughter a Bratz and wouldn't even if her mother wouldn't bean me if I did-- which she would. I don't want my granddaughter dressing that way, seeing the emphasis on anorexic faces with heavy make up and short short skirts is the way to be. The beauty of Barbie is she was a woman and the girls could make her any career they wanted her to be. It wasn't their mother. It was them when they grew up. If today's little girls don't want to grow up to be strong women, we are in big trouble. As for GI Joe. Some are real cute guys, look more manly for the little boys or girls than the very unmasculine looking Ken dolls; but I am staying away from buying them as I don't want to glamourize war to my grandkids. It is necessary sometime, but it should not be romantacized or turned into a game-- in my opinion.

[kelsey]

hi how are you doing todat

[Angel]

Beauty of Barbie? Sure she has any occupation, but she's still as unrealistic as Bratz in proportion.

I do agree that girls should be taught to have higher asperations than just to look pretty, but that is why YOU as parents much teach them. Teach them that Barbie and Bratz are just toys and that there's more ot girls than what television says. All to often these days we try to remove whta we disagree with rather than watch kids. If you don't like Bratz, them you have every right not to buy them.

The big issue I have with dolls (including baby dolls) in general is that they're almost alwats blonde haired and blue-eyed. I am glad Bratz has diversity (Barbie does occassionally).