Anne Woods: A Weekend for Superheroes
Bratz Belt Too Suggestive?
Filed under: Opinions
If you saw a girl wearing a belt with a buckle that says "Enter," what would you think? You know, right above that bit of anatomy that teenage boys are always trying to figure out to get into? Yeah, that's what I'd be thinking too. And if that belt were an accessory to an already trashy outfit? Now suppose that girl were a doll -- a Bratz doll, to be specific.
That's what Victoria Staley, a mother from Orlando, FL, is dealing with now. She bought her 7-year-old daughter a Bratz doll but didn't notice the sexually suggestive belt buckle until after her daughter fell in love with it. (Now it's her favorite doll.) Then her daughter asked about it. "She's like, 'Why does it say Enter?' What am I supposed to do?"
Staley called the manufacturer but was told that the belt was designed that way on purpose. "The way he was explaining, it's supposed to be like a seat belt," Staley said. "Like how a seat belt in a car has enter, you enter the seat belt. I'm like, 'Well, you're still entering.'"
Personally, I wouldn't buy my kids Bratz dolls even if the buckle said "Study hard." But, I guess for some people, trashy is okay, but only to a point. Where would you put down your foot?
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That's what Victoria Staley, a mother from Orlando, FL, is dealing with now. She bought her 7-year-old daughter a Bratz doll but didn't notice the sexually suggestive belt buckle until after her daughter fell in love with it. (Now it's her favorite doll.) Then her daughter asked about it. "She's like, 'Why does it say Enter?' What am I supposed to do?"
Staley called the manufacturer but was told that the belt was designed that way on purpose. "The way he was explaining, it's supposed to be like a seat belt," Staley said. "Like how a seat belt in a car has enter, you enter the seat belt. I'm like, 'Well, you're still entering.'"
Personally, I wouldn't buy my kids Bratz dolls even if the buckle said "Study hard." But, I guess for some people, trashy is okay, but only to a point. Where would you put down your foot?
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ReaderComments (Page 5 of 5)
1-19-2009 @ 12:51AM
bill said...They should make a bratz male doll that's a wife beater and the matching wife doll has a black eye. LOL
Reply
1-19-2009 @ 1:07AM
leah said...I take offense to your comment. I am a single parent and for one i don't believe that these dolls are to blame for the problems of teenage pregnancies and such, it is the parents. They are the role models, not Barbie, not Gi Joe, or bratz. Kids learn from their peers and others.Not from toys. I grew up playing with barbie, and i knew that i didn't need to look or dress like her. I learned to be me from my mother and the strong women in my family. My daughter is only eight and could care less about how her dolls are dressed. she knows that real women do not dress like that and if she has a question about why they dress the dolls that way , i explain it to her. that is your job not a stupid toy, jeez. I mean come on, lady.
Reply
1-19-2009 @ 12:54AM
bill said...I liked the Garbage pail kids stickers.
Reply
1-19-2009 @ 3:01AM
pam said...I AGREE THAT THE DOLLS ARE NOT APPROPRIATE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN. AND ALSO THAT WE AS PARENTS SHOULD START THIS AT HOME. SOME MISINFORMED PARENTS LEAVE THE DECISIONS TO THE WRONG PEOPLE. I.E. TEACHERS, THEIR CHILDS FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, T.V. AND MUSIC. DOLLS USED TO BE PLAYED WITH BY YOUNG CHILDREN, NOW, THEY ARE USED FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AS STATUS SYMBOLS AND COLLECTOR ITEMS. I AM TRULY THANKFUL THAT MY DAUGHTER WAS NOT RAISED TO BE A GIRLY-GIRL. SHE DID NOT LIKE DOLLS, ( STUFFED ANIMALS, YES.) WE BOUGHT HER A DOLL HOUSE AND SHE USED IT FOR HER LITTLE PLASTIC ANIMALS TO PLAY IN. CHILDREN ARE SUPPOSED TO HAVE GUIDENCE, AND GIVING GOD THE PRAISE, HE, I AND HER DADDY DID GREAT! SHE IS A NORMAL 13 YEAR OLD, WITH CRUSHES ON BOYS, AND KNOWS WHAT IS NOT APPROPRIATE AT CERTAIN TIMES.
Reply
1-19-2009 @ 4:59AM
thedarkestone767 said...That is so wrong.
Why buy a doll named BRATZ anyway? I mean, is that teaching our little girls that being a "brat" is cool?
Ummm...no thanks!
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1-19-2009 @ 5:23AM
holly said...my two cents are as follows: GET A LIFE. you are reading sexually suggestive words into childrens play things. crazy idea...IF YOU DONT OVER REACT LIKE IDIOTS, THE KIDS WONT OVER REACT. they only want to experiment and do it all when mommy and daddy go ape dung over "sexually suggestive" words. who cares. honestly i wonder why you all have kids if you are going to get all insane asylum crazy on every little detail. if you dont believe the toy maker that its supposed to be a miniature version of a seatbelt, you are incredibly dense and probably stupid too. in the older models of the Oldsmobile brand of car, they do have the word enter on the thingy that the belt snaps into. the brats doll is modeling that belt for Oldsmobile since GM itself has a belt that actual kids can wear that says GM on the belt buckle and looks like a real seatbelt, but no that one isnt sexually suggestive.....get a life....either both belts are sexually suggestive or you are over reacting and need a good swift kick in the butt and some modern day schooling by me. and if the bratz company wants to come out with a belt that says "like a rock" for one of the male bratz dolls, somebody is going to throw a fit about that...GIVE UP CAUSE YOU ARE ALL STUPID AIRHEADS WHO REALLY DONT NEED TO HAVE KIDS IF THEY ARE GOING TO REACT TO WORDS PRINTED ON A CHILDS TOY ACCESSORY. and then the one after that is going to accuse disney of making kids think its okay to drink alcohol in large amounts because of dumbo and the pink elephant scene. the kid is gonna do what they want regardless of what mommy and daddy want so teach them and talk to them and maybe it wont be so bad later on.
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3-02-2009 @ 8:05AM
Victoria said...My 5 year old is not allowed to have anything to do with Bratz... I have spied some up at the preschool, but she does not play with them because she herself thinks that they are "gross". We also cannot stand Hannah Montana trash that is sold, she is disgusting also... Her grandmother bought her a loud Hannah Montana barbie type doll, and she won't play with it because it sings so loud. Also the trashy thong type panties are a turn-off!!! We go for more wholesome things when we play...
Reply
3-02-2009 @ 9:27AM
hoosierbaby64 said...Are you all serious? Have you not walked the toy aisle lately? Barbie is more slutty than the Bratz ever could be. They wear shorter, more opaque, sluttier shoes than you will ever find with Bratz.
Bratz were geared to be more "street wear" like what the kids are actually wearing in the real world. Look ate the fashions that have been around and are still in stores. Barbie has yet to do that. They design their own based on what "they" like not what is really out there and I can tell you it is pretty racy for the most part.
My now 13 y/o once had every single Bratz doll and all the cars etc. Why? because she liked them just as my older daughter was into barbies. MY older girls all said they wish Bratz had been in existence when they were little.
Are any of my girls hooch's? No Are any street walkers? no. They are all good kids, parents etc and my granddaughter has all the Bratz my youngest passed on and I do not have a whore for a 4 y/o granddaughter. Just like I didn't with my older girls and the Barbies.
You who bitch and moan need to open your eyes and get out of your doll shell. Unless you make it a sexual item your child will not see it as that. I never had my youngest say she was going to be a streetwalker just like a Bratz doll just as my others didn't choose their life path because of Barbie. She never let her Bratz guys do anything sexual because she doesn't live that way, see adult world at home etc. Her Bratz dates consist of going to the bran, grooming horses, tacking up and going riding or they go to horse shows etc. Even when all the girls from her barn got together they didn't play the "oh I'm so sexual" game of dolls. They played like they would in real life. Did she wish to dress like the Bratz? yes and she did with so many of her outfits. Her denim jacket with pink fur collar and black to the knee flat boots were "da bomb" She has always been stylie and her style of dress was often copied by the kids at school because it was kewl.
For those of you wanting to burn Bratz at the stake...Did you know schoolteacher Barbie from the nineties was made without panties? She even had a mini dress on. There are six barbies on the shelf right now that show more than any Bratz doll ever has and would actually be kicked off campus for wearing what they are. (if they were really worn in real life school) They are wearing things that look cheezy and sleazy all at the same time. OPEN YOUR EYES to the whole pic. Do not just pic and choose. Just because you think if it has a Barbie item it has to be wholesome and good it is. That is untrue. Look at the barbie ailse and look at the Bratz. Big dif.
At least Bratz didnt try to convince my daughter that you have to have the perfect body, could be a toothfairy, could be a fairy princess etc. Bratz are "real life" for the most part. Bratz let my daughter play like she would at school etc since when does a teenager go about the mall wearing a pink tulle dress and wear a crown and carry a wand? (well besides those with odd tendencies) Wake up and grow up.
My daughter never once played with her Bratz dolls in a provocative way. Because she wasn't raised that way. It is how we teach our kids and I highly doubt this child in above article ever even noticed "enter" and without parental guidance they would never link "enter" to a penis entering or as an invitation to. Just a mom with issues.
and since we are attacking Bratz why has no one criticized GI Joes and 99% of the male dolls of any kind for having the "penis grabbing" hand? That looks more adult and perverse than any Bratz doll could ever look.Yeah yeah I know its posed that way so they can hold their tool and their gun....on that note I I rest my case.
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