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Next Up, A Pole-Dancing Doll
Filed under: In The News, Weird But True, Toys
Would you buy your daughter a pole-dancing doll? Credit: Gizmodo.com
If anyone was wondering if the world was doomed, here is your confirmation.
The scoop on this new plaything came from Gizmodo's Jesus Diaz, and features a somewhat grainy photo of a doll in a shiny dress hanging on a pole. A giant heart emblazoned with the word "Pole Dance" is at the top. The box promises "Style." "Interesting." "Music." "Flash." "Up and Down." "Go Round and Round." It might've said "Ewww," "Gross," "Criminal"," but in all likelihood the upstanding manufacturers ran out of room.
No mention is made of inserting money anywhere.
In an email message, Diaz told us today: "As far as I can tell, it's a real product. It didn't seem PhotoShopped to me. It feels more like the typical Chinese-made product you can only find in low cost stores."
We were unable to confirm the actual existence of this product. Google searches turn up nothing more than references to the Gizmodo item. So perhaps there is some hope for the planet.
Then again, maybe not.
In case you haven't noticed, pole-dancing has become mainstream. Miley Cyrus' recent performance on the Teen Choice Awards on August 10th generated a lot of controversy.
Then there is the video of Miley's younger sister Noah, who is 9, dancing around a pole with some friends during a Teen Choice Awards pre-show party. Maybe they should re-name it the Teen Bad Choices Awards.
Going back three years, there was an uproar over a real pole-dancing product that some felt was being marketed as a children's toy. In 2006, the Peekaboo Pole Dancing Kit was pulled from the toy section of a British store after a public outcry. The kit included fake money, a garter, instructional DVD and of course, a pole.
Even if the Pole Dance doll turns out to be fake, the real problem is how easy it is to believe that it's real. So when anyone says that the pole that Miley and Noah danced around was not a stripper pole, they're wrong.
It was.
Let's face it, stripping has become mainstream. Does this mean that little girls who catch a glimpse of the Cyrus sisters will grow up and pursue pole-dancing as a profession? Hopefully not. If kids always became what they pretended to be when they were young, we'd be a nation of astronauts, fairy princesses and super heroes.
That said, sexualizing childhood is bad news from the get go. Little girls should not be learning that doing a sexy dance is a way to entertain? (There will be time enough in college to learn such behavior.)
What do you think? Is this pole-dancing doll real?












ReaderComments (Page 2 of 8)
9-01-2009 @ 6:40AM
Gardenguy05 said...Being christian has only a small part in it. The fact that people deny their spouses from seeing their kids and yet letting their daughters, ages 15 and younger, run around copying these supposed idols dressed and acting like sluts is retarded. Those who let their young daughters dress and act this way can expect a half decent chance of their daughters being raped and or killed. Miley Cirus and her friends are trash.
9-01-2009 @ 1:19PM
grimm said...Yes and I recall Lot was considered a good man in God's eyes even after offering up his two virgin daughters for gang rape to all the men of Sodom. Later, after Lot's wife was turned to salt by God for turning her head. Later, Lot's daughters got him to drunk so they could bear his children.
9-01-2009 @ 6:29AM
Gardenguy05 said...It's not the pole. It is the suggestive dancing going on around the pole. These "girls", not ladies yet, know exactly what they are doing.
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9-02-2009 @ 12:40PM
Dancergirl06 said...I definitely agree. I am personally sick and tired of hearing all of this horrible and ridiculous gossip about strippers and poles!! I WAS an exotic dancer for two and a half years. It's not what everyone makes it out to be; this horrible, degrading, disgusting act that trashy women do. IT'S A JOB!! I was supporting my daughter the best way that I knew how with the circumstances I was delt. The fact of the matter is that this world is consumed by sex. No matter where you look there it is. SEX SELLS! Get over it....you can't deny the fact that the adult industry brings in millions of dollars into this economy because we are psychologically the most sexually deviant creatures on this planet. So until someone figures out how to turn that button in our brains off, then people need to look at themselves. Focus on you not everyone else. Yes you can censor your kids from things but eventually they will grow up and decide for themselves what is right and wrong.
9-01-2009 @ 6:35AM
rkeith306 said...at 16 she knows exactly what she's doing! eyeroll
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9-01-2009 @ 6:57AM
Mona said...THANK YOU! It's a stripper pole. You know it and I know it. People make so many excuses for anything and everything. I feel for children these days. It's not just gangs they have to watch out for anymore; it's something much worse. It's people that think "everything's fine; we're all ok. We are not ok as a people.
9-01-2009 @ 7:00AM
hattienufff said...This is great. What's next? "Kindergarten for Ho's?" And we wonder why are children are so messed up.
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9-01-2009 @ 6:54AM
Cee64E said...Okay, to be fair there was ONE gesture that could be called a "Stripper move" during that whole thing, the rest of it was just using the pole as a handhold while the platform was moved during the song. Safety First, I'm sure the insurance underwriter demanded something for the girl to hang on to. There's also the impression I got that the song was about the sillyness of some OTHER female popstars acting that way. I'm not a Miley fan so I don't know the song and the words weren't real clear in the video.
As a second point. The younger girls were doing what ALL younger girls will do, which is a ring-around-the-rosie thing. I am the father of FOUR daughters and have seen all my kids do EXACTLY the same thing at the playground. Trash news like this is always trying to make little girls into some kind of sexual show just to boost the ratings. STOP IT YA PERV!! It's guys like you who are LEADING the charge to ruin by giving attention to stupidity like this.
As for the stripper pole doll? Looks like a gag gift you could find at Spencer's or Hot Topic to me...
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9-01-2009 @ 7:21AM
alioto said...Wake up...there is nothing innocent about giving little girls access to a stripper pole. This is not a jungle gym at your local school playground. it is a STRIPPER POLE intended for stripping. Watch the posing and posturing of the girls in this video. They know what they are about, they're just too young to pull it off. Give them a few years...its a shame.
9-03-2009 @ 3:36PM
alanchesnee said..."Trash news like this is always trying to make little girls into some kind of sexual show just to boost the ratings. STOP IT YA PERV!! It's guys like you who are LEADING the charge to ruin by giving attention to stupidity like this."
That's because the religious right wingnuts have their marching orders and they have been out there trying to silence free speech and subvert our Constitutional rights to such expression free from such religious oppression. Attacking free Mercantilism is just one aspect of it. In case you didn't know, here's their marching orders:
“Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society.”
- Dr. D. James Kennedy, Pastor of Coral Ridge Ministries, ‘Reclaiming America for Christ’ conference, February, 2005
This is why every time you turn around the extreme right religionists are busy attacking everyone who, in their extreme religious opinion, doesn't think or act exactly as they dictate they should, in their narrow religious opinion. They're really no different than the wingnuts on the other side of the planer: their minds are all wrapped up in sex and the immediate gratification of passing judgment upon everyone else who doesn't think just like they do...in their religious opinion.
9-01-2009 @ 6:56AM
PJ said...I have always had a huge issue with anything sex related when it comes to kids. We have put way too much adult stuff in front of them & have taken away their innocence. We've become so desensitized to all the violence, sex, disrespect, etc that our tv shows, movies, etc. put in front of everyone.
I have never been a prude when it comes to adults. However, even that has now slapped me in the face. My husband has left his family of nearly 8 yrs for a stripper (oh yeah, she stopped dancing for him..... her savior..... he's gone thru nearly $30,000 in 6 months.... I guess I'd stop dancing if I had someone spending that kind of money on me, too. Wonder if she realizes that his money is almost gone and the balances he's racked up on credit cards is MORE than he's ever racked up. He used to pay off the cards 100% every month - now he's got over $10,000 worth of balances.)
We need to stop doing this to kids. So many are not being taught values, morals, & ethics any more (neither girls nor boys). Everything is about immediate gratification, fun, self-centeredness, etc. We need to STOP!!!!
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9-01-2009 @ 7:07AM
mabel eads said...The only people who should be sliding down a pole are the Firemen who are called to put out a fire. Then there is Santa at the North Pole. Those are the only two who should be associated with a pole!
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9-01-2009 @ 12:31PM
Louise said...Santa slides down the 'North Pole'? LOL!!! Never heard of that one!!
9-01-2009 @ 7:15AM
MIKE said...I "RANK" THESE MORONS IN THE SAME CATAGORY AS A PEDAPHILE....ANYONE WHO TRIES TO "INTRODUCE" SEX TO A CHILD BY ACTIONS OR PRODUCT....WHAT THE HELL IS THE PURPOSE OF DOING THIS ???? A CHILD DOES NOT HAVE TO BE EXPOSED TO THIS CRAP AND THERE IS NO NEED FOR IT....
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9-01-2009 @ 9:06AM
Mihir said...caps lock...it's like cruise control for cool.
/sarc
9-01-2009 @ 7:16AM
Dee said...Okay, the talk about the Miley Cyrus pole dance has gone on so long, I HAVE to say this! She was dancing on a wheeled ice cream cart. The cart moved. In order to do this cute stint for the show, they needed a way to keep her aloft of the ice cream cart, so rather than strap her onto it, they put a pole through it and told her "hold on to this", thus she would not fall. Now suddenly it is Miley Cyrus is embracing the stripper community because she held on to a pole during her song! If anyone watched the whole thing, they would see her move completely half way across the auditorium on it, but somehow no one has grasped this concept yet! The sad irony of all this blabber is if they had set her atop the cart to fend for herself and she fell off, you would all now be commenting on how her father only wants to make money on her and doesn't care about her safety. Give me a break!
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9-01-2009 @ 7:25AM
Elena said...Dee, thank you for saying what I've been thinking! These people who criticize Miley Cyrus haven't really looked at the video. Miley clung rather ungracefully to that pole as the cart it was attached to was wheeled acrossed the stage. The pole even had a horizontal metal piece that Miley clung to. There was so pole dancing. It was one short part of the performance. Miley looked uncomfortable the whole time while on the ice cream cart. It wasn't sexy, period. Now the short shorts she wore I did have a problem with. Then again, they're something that tons of teen girls wear. As for the doll? That's pretty disgusting.
9-01-2009 @ 8:30AM
Music said...If anyone thinks that the choreography, producers, her dad, etc didn't know what it "looked" like when they practiced it over and over again prior to the show - you are being nieve. Of course it wasn't done over the top just enough to cause the riot it has. They'll defend themselves. No one has mentioned the short shorts or the fact that she's on top of a cart that says "Miley's Ice Cream??!" This is not an issue of perceiving something as inappropriate due to preconcieved notions. It is blantly inappropriate and those trying to defend any innocence behind it are in denial. When Miley twittered that she was happy about being compared to Brittney Spears it wasn't just to bypass the obvious connection. She knew exactly what she was doing up there. She could have substained from delievering this horrible message to millions of young girls. I really like her music, it's unfortunate that so many young girls feel they have to reach out sexually in order to get ahead. It's a shame that the media counts on this kind of controversy to make $$ also. Yep, here I am feeding into the frenzie. But I'd rather voice my opinion and stick up for our children's innocence than turn the other cheek. It's a big disappointment, not to mention disgusting.
9-01-2009 @ 12:33PM
Louise said...I agree.
9-01-2009 @ 12:36PM
rkeith306 said...Dee ... yadda yadda
If you have ever been to a parade they have props that are there to provide safety while the float moves that don't look like a stripper pole.