Chronicles of Chaos

December 5, 2006 | Print

Barbies v. Bratz: the problem with “little hottie” dolls

In “Little Hotties” from the December 4th New Yorker, Margaret Talbot writes about Bratz dolls stealing market share from the usually impenetrable Barbie.

I can’t remember seeing a Bratz doll, but when Talbot describes their sassy (sexual) look and the styled outfits, I immediately have a picture in my head. Somewhere I’ve crossed paths with Bratz.

I played with Barbies when I was 6 or 7 years old. I remember the townhouse and the convertible and the swimming pool. I remember wondering about the big boobs.

Amelia didn’t know about Barbies until a 4 year old boy (yes boy) introduced her to his collection. He is now 5 and has outgrown his Barbies, which also tracks Talbot’s research: Barbies are seen as dolls for little girls (or boys).

How lovely to think that the Hooters boobs (and other perfect features) establish themselves with the older toddler/preschooler set.

Amelia sort of had a Barbie at 3 years old. She found it in the closet of a rental house where we stayed during a vacation.

We were at a wedding and I was in the wedding and Wyatt wasn’t sleeping so no one was sleeping and somehow the Barbie found its way into our suitcase. Mom exhaustion is key to 3 year old smuggling rings.

Amelia called this naked Barbie with one chewed foot (found that way) a doll. I never corrected her with “Barbie”. Realizing that the doll belonged to someone else, we sent it back to the rental house owner.

It wasn’t until Amelia discovered the Barbie collection at her friend’s house that she asked for one of her own. I said, we have lots of other dolls, and I don’t like Barbies (at least not at the ripe old age of 36) and we’re not getting one.

“Why don’t you like Barbies, Mom?” she asks.

I believe answers to these kinds of questions are child and family specific. For example, I know Amelia will not drop the Barbie conversation if she feels I’m snow jobbing her. I also know that she reads my mind.

True, she won’t get the complete picture–my disdain for the Hooter boobs and my anger that the world isn’t full of great, non-toxic toys (I mean safe toys, not the ones that say they are safe but environmental groups have found are not) developmentally appropriate and engaging from a natural development rather than bells and whistles and battery operated perspective.

But Amelia does sense that I’m pissy about Barbie and that’s enough for her to stay on subject.

So I say something like, “I don’t like the way Barbies have big boobs and tiny waists because kids who play with them might think women are supposed to look like that and we aren’t. Women come in all shapes and sizes and that’s what makes us all special. We’re all a little different and we all learn from each other that way.”

I’ve let out my steam, and at the same time bored my 4 year old daughter. She lets it go.

Six months later I’m reading the Style section of the NY Times. On the front page, there’s an article about the Heather Locklear and Denise Richards fall out from Richards’ relationship with Locklear’s recently separated rocker husband.

There are a dozen little photos of Locklear’s and Richard’s heads–just their heads so all you see is their bright shiny hair, crystal blue eyes and glittery celebrity smiles. Amelia looks at the paper and points to the floating heads, “Look Mom, Barbies.”

Oh, I think, fascinated by the connection she’s made. Then, oh no. Then, we can never move back to LA.

The Talbot article has lots more fascinating doll details for parents. The one that’s sticking with me is how these doll companies market and sell their toys. Their approach has everything to do with what kids like and nothing to do with what might be good for them as developing girls.

Parents may disapprove of the sultry look of a Bratz doll, but if their daughter gets one as a gift, they may allow the doll rather than create an issue, or make the doll more desirable, by forbidding it.

The Bratz doll isn’t physically dangerous or graphically sexual. It’s not a clear no, so it can be a reluctant ok.

I don’t know what I’ll do when Bratz lands on our doorstep. So far, we’ve encountered Barbie, American Girl (her own marketing bonanza) and Groovy Girls.

I have friends who send their young girls to Waldorf, hang out with other Waldorf families, and in my mind, play with interesting Kathe Kruse dolls from Germany that are both creatively stimulating and developmentally right on target.

I’m traveling on a different path. Sometimes I wonder why Michael and I haven’t made more serious choices about choosing alternative schools (like living near one). I always return to the fact that for good reasons, at this moment, our path is more mainstream.

Yes, we’re vulnerable to Barbies and Bratz. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to give the reluctant ok.

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