fundies get upset by gays, but NOT bratz dolls?

[Lerkfish]

I'm just trying to wrap my head around this.
my 7 yr old son and I are watching cartoons, and the latest bratz doll ad comes on, with 11 (I presume) year old girls dancing EXTREMELY provacatively while dressed as cheap hookers.

I have not heard ANY protests against the bratz doll line, though I have against other dolls.

color me confused: its bad to think there are gay people in the world, but its ok to have your 7-12 year old daughters dress and act like cheap hookers?

The only thing I can think of is that fundies APPROVE of making their children attractive to pedophiles....

I mean, wtf?

[KingFlorez]

1. It's crazy

They only care about what can get them political point, not about things like this. Besides, all they care about is money, so I guess if this kind of stuff makes money they don't have a problem.

[valerief]

2. If the pastors don't denounce it, then the fundies don't think about it

It's a very hierarchical issue awareness process.

[Lerkfish]

5. that explains it, but its like straining at a gnat, and swallowing a camel

to use a biblical phrase

[Benhurst]

3. Have you ever seen the performers on Christian Music programs?

Enough said.

[Lerkfish]

4. no, I haven't. I don't watch fundie tv. are they bad?

[Benhurst]

27. Yes, especially the ones who claim to be alternative music for

young people. They dress like the professionals, jiggle like the professionals, do the same gyrations as the professionals, although the lyrics are about God and Jesus.

A lot of them must losers who didn't make it in the real music world.

[Caoimhe]

6. Bratz dolls are trashy imho

worse than barbies in a way

[Lerkfish]

7. well, I don't have a daughter, but it makes me uncomfortable for my son

to see these commercials. I mean, what is that teaching our son at an early age on how to regard women?
These commercials come on during children's programming.

[Caoimhe]

15. How would you feel if every time you dropped your son off

at school, there was a tricked out pickup truck in the parking lot (has to be someone who works at the school) near where the children go in with a sticker on it that said "MY OTHER TOY HAS TITS"

I started that thread yesterday http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=641961&mesg_id=641961 and am surprised at some of the reactions. No you aren't prude, you are a caring parent who wants your children to grow up with a balanced view of what makes us all different and valuable, for more than our body parts. I wish there were more like you!

*on edit* guess it got locked. I thought it was interesting, the reactions. Oh well.

[Lerkfish]

17. I"d find that upsetting as well.

I'd not do anything to remove it, but it would force me to have conversations with my 7 year old EARLIER than I'd prefer.
I want my son to grow up thinking of women as people, not objects. I knew I'd be fighting hormones on that, but I didn't think I'd be fighting commercials on during children's programming.

[TankLV]

32. I find it very uncomfortable to accidentally come across it.

It is disgusting.

Same with the so-called baby-hooker beauty contests where they make all the 8 year olds look like 12 year old hookers.

REAL nice!

But then most of these "mothers" are "fine christian women".

[CoffeeCat]

8. Bratz dolls really are a disgrace....the ads and the product are sick...

I'm no prude, but these dolls really cross the line.

Don't get me started about the Brazt commercials. I'm sure plenty of pedophiles enjoy those ads.

These ads are on Nickelodeon, during cartoons, and my girls (ages 5,6) see these ads and beg for the dolls. The tv ads feature preteen girls wearing clothing that looks like a bikini. The girls dance provocatively--pelvic thrusts and moving their hips. Their facial expressions are provacative too. It really is outrageous because the children who play with these dolls are not preteens. They are 3,4,5.

Bratz dolls are very popular in kindergarten. My kindergartner talks about how everyone has a Bratz doll, and why can't she. Our neighbor's child...who is 3, has many of these dolls.

They recently came out with a new line, Bratz Babies. These "baby" dolls wear black eyeliner, blue eyeshadow and their faces have adult features--large lips with lipstick, high cheekbones. They also wear low-rise, denim diapers (and no I'm not kidding).

I think there are much bigger issues here, because these dolls and the way they are marketed--exploit children. The dolls do look like wild teenagers who wear very revealing clothing, platform shoes like hookers and make-up and big hair that a stripper would have.

I think anyone who cares about children should find this disturbing.

[Lerkfish]

9. exactly. what IS the message?

why do they want our children to emulate "hookers" at such an early age? what is really going on here?
remember the furor over Joanbenet Ramsey and the contests she was in? Wasn't the country outraged by that?
What has happened in between? Oh yeah, Bush became president, but beyond that?

what is the deal? Why aren't more parents objecting?

edited: I did have "sluts" instead of "hookers", but I hate that term, even though its appropriate here, just in general.

[squarepants]

12. because parents don't...

pay attention to a lot of things. The television babysits the kids. I'm not a parent, but I also see a lot of things on tv that I don't think kids should be looking at. On the other hand, I tend to get upset at parents and organizations who actually fight to get things taken off tv. My opinion is, yes, there are some things on tv that offend people, be it dolls, sex, violence, or whatever, BUT, though it might offend ME, that doesn't mean that it offends someone else. It's not like someone is holding a gun to my head making me watch these things. I always have the option of changing the channel or simply not watching tv. One has to apply the same situation if they have kids in the house. People responsible for putting on movies, commercials, and tv shows are interested in money, and the only thing they care about is what sells (can't blame them. It's their job) and they could care less about much of anything else.

[Lerkfish]

14. I can and do monitor PROGRAMMING> I cannot control COMMERCIALS

you do understand the difference?

at any rate, I'm not saying I would do anything about it, just pointing out the inconsistency of what offends or motivates fundies to act.


and btw: you didn't have to tell me you weren't a parent. :)

[TankLV]

33. Actually, I dont' think the country was outraged at all by these "contests

At least that's the impression I got living thru that trashy gossip 24/7 spectacle.

[formernaderite]

29. If you don't let your rkids watch tv

you won't have to worry about "what" the latest products out there are. None of my kids, the youngest is at the end of her high school career, watched tv until they were about 11...the oldest turned 14 before we even bought a television. Sure there were toys that other kids had...but with no context to what to do with them...my kids were never that interested. Turn the tv off. Pre-schoolers have no business watching that crap.

[Lerkfish]

37. IMHO that's an extreme in the opposite direction.

AGain, *I* am not for censoring or anything like that, I'm asking why fundies get upset about one thing, but not another. I"m highlighting their inconsistency.

I have no problem with my son watching the PROGRAMS he watches: Spongebob, Fairly Oddparents, Teen Titans, etc.
What you have done with your family is fine by me, but I'm not taking away the tv for my own child. And btw, he doesn't watch unless we're in the room.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

10. Jon Benet Ramsey

case in point

[incapsulated]

22. Yep

They have no problem, it seems, making young girls into sexual objects. It is part of a sexist and at the same time, sexually repressed culture, imho. It is truly like they are unaware of how inappropriate it is, because objectifying women is so second nature, and they are in denial about their own sexuality.

These dolls and commercials are just like the baby beauty contests that so many were appalled by but this is about merchandise so everyone turns blind. This culture is insane and sick.

[zbdent]

11. The Bratz dolls do not come with a plastic "baby"

from a supposed unwanted pregnancy . . . (Fundiedodoes went nutz over Barbie a few years ago, promoted "single motherhood" . . .)

[TreasonousBastard]

13. I think a lot of them are, but...

you just don't hear much about it. Not much fundraising or politicking to be done there.

Methinks yer typical fundie family would no more have a Bratz doll in the house than a statue of Baal, but none of the gasbags see any profit in fighting them. So far.

[Lerkfish]

16. Actually, no, my fundie brother-in-law has a full line of bratz dolls for

the young daughter.

[TreasonousBastard]

18. Well, that shut me up, and...

I guess there's a whole buncha fundies out there I don't know much about.

Now, I'm more scared than ever.

[Lerkfish]

19. don't feel bad. They are a mass of contradictions...at least in MY family.

That same brother in law was proud his other 15 year old daughter had a prom date...with a 22 yr old guy.
His ex wife is shacked up with a convicted child molestor. And she goes to a holy roller church.
I'm not making this stuff up.
I wish I were.

[TreasonousBastard]

21. I got some stories from my family, too...

but I gotta say most of the fundagelicals I know aren't all that contradictory and live their beliefs.

Maybe I'm just lucky I don't know many of the bizarre ones.

[Lerkfish]

23. You're lucky, I'd say. For one thing, fundies don't follow the beatitudes.

when they support preemptive war.
That's not following: Blessed are the peacemakers.
Nor are they following Jesus when he said "turn the other cheek"
preemptive war just don't fit into christian teachings, nor does torture or bigotry.
yet, many fundies accept all those things quite handily.

so, yes, my bro in law is a bizarre example of contradiction, but any and all fundies who support the war in Iraq, or who don't care about torture, or who consider Iraqi children of less importance than american children...all these are walking contradictions if they also claim to be christians.

[TreasonousBastard]

28. It's not just a fundie problem...

look at all the Catholics, Lutherans, and others whose churches have condemned this war but still support it. They seem to have as little concept of Just War as they do of the beatitudes. Except when convenient, it seems.

I am constantly amazed at the number of Quakers, who should be considering the Peace Testimony as one of the primary leadings of our faith, who don't seem to think this war, or most of the others we've been in, to be much of a problem. Not that many in numbers, but for there to be any at all is shocking. We don't even accept Just War. Or at least we're not supposed to.

It's a human problem, with our ability to disassociate our actions from our stated beliefs.

[Lerkfish]

36. sad, but true. NO HUMAN should support war, period.

[Doctor_J]

20. Probably the Bratz Doll entrepenuer is a GOP donor

those people can kill children on TV and not get scolded.

[Lerkfish]

24. thanks for all the replies

I appreciate it

[mzteris]

25. Read what the inventor has to say

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/25/1072308628624.html?from=storyrhs

[Lerkfish]

26. appalling, but interesting.

[GRLMGC]

30. Thank you!

I hate those things. They're hideous. I don't really believe in sheltering children too much but if I had a child, I would not want her playing with those dolls.

[OnionPatch]

31. My 5-year-old daughter received one for a gift

from guess who: our Republican neighbors! (Who are also swingers....yeah, the party of morals.) I asked them why they wanted to give our daughter a "slut doll" and they just laughed.

I hid the doll after the initial excitement wore off. Taking it away immeditately would have made her all the more interested. Sorry, but my five year old isn't playing with a doll who looks like a cheap hooker.

[Skittles]

34. some people have no sense at all

I always tell the parents what I am getting their kid

[NMMNG]

35. They have not been told to hate them by their pastor, the AFA/FOF/CWA,

or Faux News. They don't think independently, but need their church or some organization to tell them what to become indignant about. That's why modestly dressed dolls are an outrage simply because their manufacturer contributes to an organization that promotes self-assured young women, while dolls that are done up like miniature prostitutes don't get a raised eyebrow.

[danimich1]

38. I won't let my daughters have those dolls, either

They usually get one or two Bratz dolls at birthdays, and we put those in the "back to WalMart" pile. Thankfully my daughters don't like them. My oldest daughter does have the Bratz Leapster game, though. The actual games are excellent (all educational and fun), but inbetween games they say things like, "Let's chill out at the mall," and talk about fashion. It's pretty annoying. My daughter has said to me, "Mom, I like the games, but those Bratz dolls say a lot of nonsense, and they annoy me." Thankfully, for a 7-year-old, she has some sense!

[NMMNG]

39. Welcome to DU!

It is nice to see kids with some sense. All too often they simply clamor for whatever they see on TV, or what their friends have. Enjoy your independent thinking daughters!