Bratz? should have called them SLUTZI think from the title, it's pretty obvious that i hate bratz. They are dolls made to look like skanks and being sold to little girls under the guise of "originality in personality" These are not original in any way, shape or form. What they are is an adult marketing gimmick being aimed at children, in particular girls.
What it basically comes down to is this: These dolls perpetuate the idea of little girls being sexual creatures, even so much that they themselves think that way. they have no idea of the implications or that by emulating these characters, they are putting themselves in a potentially harmful situation. Parents are supposed to be in-tune with this sort of thing so that they can "smell the rat" as it were and avoid it. I see these pro-bratz parents as failures in parenting.
They don't understand that letting little girls dress-up in sexy clothes and play in make-up is what pedophiles do to "groom" little girls for abuse. Now, they don't have to put in that kind of effort because girls as young as 3 years old are wearing t-shirts tat say things like "slut" and "tramp" on them, and asking "do i look sexy?"
These same parents don't know where the sexual offenders in their area live because their thinking is that it can't happen to them. Many of these parents are also very religious, which is a bit of a contradiction in that they claim to want to protect their children and teach them about god and purity and all that, while simultaneously dressing them like mini-hookers and avoiding discussing what sex is and that they shouldn't let anyone touch them in their "private places".
You can't set your daughters up to think that their value is on what they look like and be body-centric, and then turn around and expect them to understand that their true value comes from who they are. If you've taught them to disrespect themselves and to have no dignity, you can't then expect them to behave in a dignified way. That is why my poor 12 yr old niece is considering sex. Because at 12, it has permeated the culture. she has friends that are already pregnant...because they aren't aware that sex has consequences, the least of which is pregnancy.
She knows several 12 yr olds whose 'boyfriends' are in their 20s and say things like " if you want a boy to like you, you have to have sex with him, even if it hurts really bad."
And my niece was on the cusp of the bratz phenomenon. she was about 8 when they were gaining popularity. She even worries for her 5 yr old sister who dresses in mini skirts and wants to be a "bratz" when she gets her boobies.
Sex and romantic relationships are being promoted to children in a way i cannot possibly grasp fully. In a conversation i had, i was informed that in an episode of "that's so raven" a seven yr old is trying to get two other seven yr olds to be in a relationship, and the boy likes and older girl and wants her to be his "woman". Since when did it become acceptable to refer to a woman by her gender as a form of endearment? This is what our kids are absorbing, whether we like to admit it or not.
Maybe if more parents weren't relying on TV and movies to raise their kids and actually did it themselves, they'd get it.
note: I tried very hard to find a pic of a prostitute/hooker/slut to compare w/ the bratz dolls, but i couldn't find one where the women in the pictures wore as little or as slutty clothing...sorry.
