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 4 of 8)
9-01-2009 @ 9:30AM
lorigrbbs said...I agree with you. People need to go watch the YouTube video. There might be a split second that I didn't care for, but other then that I thought it was good. She wasn't pole dancing, that pole wasn't big enough to pole dance on. She was holding on, and she looked like she wasn't comfortable being up there. My 9 year old son watched the awards as did my mother and thought she did good. She was great in that act and besides she's already apoligized for it. I'm a Miley fan and supporter and all you people who bash her, aren't taking away her fan following. Just look at the Today show from Friday, people were waiting in line for 36 hours to watch her perform. Any how the pole thing is a month old, time to move on, now the doll looks fake, but not a good idea.
9-01-2009 @ 9:19AM
matt715 said...Wow ... where are the folks who'd think this is "fun" & "cool"? Remember when that one store chain sold thongs for little girls?
What's next - Little Miss Porn Star?
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9-01-2009 @ 9:24AM
DL said...First of all it starts at home!!!! Stop blaming tv, radio and movies for what you are suppose to be doing as a parent! If your little girl or boy grows up and wants to strip dont blame Miley- what a scape goat if I ever heard of one...so it's gonna be Miley's fault your kid's a stripper....Riiiiight.....
I saw the show and Miley was holding on to the pole -it was an icecream little thingy on wheels and she was trying not to fall off as they rolled her around BUT just for the sake of argument...ok let's say she was dancing on a pole- there's been far worse than that on television & still is these days- best advice- raise and teach your own d*mn kids- enough already.
As for the pole dance doll- it's the manufacturer you should be upset with. I doubt seriously that Miley or her father endorses this doll especially since neither of their names are on it and given all the flack they've been given over Miley's performance in which everyone claims she is dancing on the poll- I doubt seriously they are backing the product. Just as you want to protect our society and don't want your children to be followers of strippers don't become followers of idiots. Teach your own children so that despite what they see on tv or hear on the radio they will make wise decisions.
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9-01-2009 @ 9:37AM
Ms. GTO said...Exactly. This is the backlash that comes when parents continually use TV as a babysitter.
9-01-2009 @ 10:08AM
Marie said...I totally agree that it starts at home and I wouldn't say she is to blame for other children's inappropriate behavior but it doesn't make it RIGHT or OKAY for young children to be exploited on TV. Nor can you IGNORE the influences that admired stars have over other young children. Come on, how many times have you heard, "I want to be like Miley" Parents allow their children to watch her and sing her songs because she seemed like a wholesome country girl with good values on TV - until something like this throws them for a loop. She has a responsibility to the fans that she claims to love (many whom are pre-teens) being in her position. You can't say that she holds NO consequences for her actions. We wouldn't be having this debate if she held no influence. Being in the spotlight automatically makes you a role model. Whether you choose to be a good or bad one is the decision to make. I guess we're seeing repeated young stars teaching young kids "what you shouldn't do" lessons. I keep dropping bad influences for new ones hoping one of them come through without being marred. Next up, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato. I love Miley's songs, I hope she turns around and tries to compensate for this sour patch that she hit.
9-01-2009 @ 9:35AM
mwardrjdairy said...GREAT! The world is DOOMED because of a doll. Get off of your HIGH-HORSE and come down to earth. Next you'll want Barbie's with no boobs or butt because that promotes sex. OH NO! Isaid the "S" word. Guess I'm next to doom the world.
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9-01-2009 @ 9:36AM
Frank said...Check out Dr. Miriam Grossman's new book, "You're Teaching My Child What?" Those who write the "health education" curriculum, oversee the lesson plans and have the greatest authority in education believe that there are no taboos, and no boundaries on a teenager's sex life.
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9-01-2009 @ 9:37AM
Angiebaby said...I think there will be 2 distinct directions for this toy. The first, of course, is from parents who value their children and do not want to expose their sons OR daughters to the sexual sub-culture of strippers.
The other group will be parents who do not encourage their daughters to have self respect, get a good education or develop skills which will last a lifetime (not just until gravity kicks in). For those parents, run right out and get this doll for your daughter! Make it a family game by throwing monopoly money at the dancing hoochie doll! The sooner you can get your little girl training to fulfill her potential in the work force, the better....
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9-01-2009 @ 9:56AM
EyesOfTheTragedy said...The more we shelter our children the easier it is to lose track of their innocence. When we grew up we had Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, The Tazmanian Devil. Now, thanks to the change in society those are not considered politically correct because they emphasized violence, racism, sexism and the likes. All things that, as a child I never understood, cared about or even thought about. It wasn't until my parents, caught up in the hysteria of what they were now being told was happening sat me down and explained what those were and why they were bad that I had an understanding and was awakened to those things. Otherwise, I probally would have had many, many years worth of innocence in regards to those issues.
How long, on this track, until we consider Santa Claus a pervert. After all, he has hundreds of children sit and bounce up and down on his lap. Perhaps everyone who works as a Santa during the holidays should be a registered sex offender after their part time job is up? What about the Easter Bunny? Same thing ... Many children sit on their laps, something that even parents and grand parents are fearful of in this day and age because of the one a**hole that just might consider it wrong and call the police, who in this day and age can't take any chances and just arrest first, ask questions later because their afraid of being fired, sued or killed over something stupid.
Now, I'm not saying that Miley Cyrus is innocent. She's 16 or so ... Thats old enough to have an understanding of whats happening to your body and how it can affect other people. Not to mention she's been in Hollywood long enough and in the real world with real people to comprehend things. So yes, what she's doing could be considerd wrong in that video, very easily. But to the majority of her fans, the real children who are 9 or less, or around that age, they are just honestly playing "ring around the rosie", regardless of what the adult intention of the pole is.
So to everyone ... Please don't sit your daughters down and explain why that is wrong. Focus their attention on something else instead and, as with all children, once the next big, new thing shows up, they'll no longer care about what they were doing a minute ago.
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9-01-2009 @ 10:26AM
Marie said...Nicely written. - Eyes of the Tragedy - I just hope that our young girls are as uninformed as we would like to think they are. With conversations in school, computer, etc it's hard to keep the whole pole dancing explanation mute. That's why it's so important that these role models refrain from exploiting themselves with such a young fan base. I feel forced to talk about why it is inappropriate, but I will take your advise. Trust me, it's not a subject I happily or confidently invite.
9-01-2009 @ 2:50PM
Cee64E said...Sheer Genius. Bravo!!
9-01-2009 @ 9:59AM
Tina said...It's so cheap and low class I can't imagine anyone buying the disgusting thing! Maybe some perv but the dolls head is like a little child's head! GROSS! That doesn't make it innocent! It actually makes it worse! Plus it's an ugly head at that..
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9-06-2009 @ 2:31PM
mommiedear said...I thnk carmen electra and the many excercise routines using stripper polls have made erotic dancing non taboo for the most part and main stream even. Is it appropriete to have dolls with polls ABSOLUTELY NOT! I dont know where the line blurs but is does for most! This isnt an isolated case....On www.truuconfessions.com moms have expressed their views on the subject of erotic insinuations and activities and their views are very diverse!
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9-01-2009 @ 10:19AM
Kathy said...Okay----so Miley Cyrus' dance on the awards show did look a bit "stripper-esque", and was in poor taste. Make no mistake--the folks who coordinated the program were well aware of the connotation, and expected the resulting media fall-out. It was orchestrated to create a media response. But, on the other hand, the film of Noah Cyrus and her friends "dancing" around the pole was nothing more than little girls spinning around a pole, entertaining only themselves. I did the same thing when I was a kid, and I can assure you as a 7-year-old in 1971 I knew nothing of strippers and pole dancing. To imply the younger Cyrus' actions were anything more than a little girl passing the time is utterly ridiculous. But again, the media loves to run with this nonsense. Furthermore, if the media had not played it up so much, most little girls watching the Miley performance, would have never thought a thing about the stripper connection. It was just a girl dancing on an ice-cream cart.
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9-01-2009 @ 10:23AM
yellowcatfrog said...The person was referencing Sodom and Gommorah. What was happening at Sodom and Gommorah was a lot of sexual activity. The commenter was stating that the world today is becoming like Sodom and Giommorah of Biblical times. Get your facts straight and learn to use common sense before you start laughing at other people's comments!
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9-01-2009 @ 10:34AM
judy said...Thank you teen idols for making our daughter's into sluts!
I wonder if the doll has a thong under her dress? LOL
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9-01-2009 @ 10:36AM
heidi mcdonald said...When is this going to stop???? Never, because someone will always thing it's OK and fight for the right to make that choice. The sad thing is morality is sinking so fast it won't be long. Our children are growing up in a society where everything we used to hold sacred is now out there to be turned into something discusting and cheap. And we wonder why freedom isn't freedom anymore. We have freedomed ourselves into to much freedom and the world has gone nuts. Sex between two married people who love eachother is becomming more obsolete. All this freedom to get into bed with whoever is distroying our minds, standards and health and our children. How can kids grow up in this and not have problems with making good choices when everything is acceptable and norm? What was wrong with the old values. OOPS no freedom.
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9-01-2009 @ 10:40AM
Aubren2009 said...So before I get any further, yeah, I think it's a real doll. I mean, why not? If it's coming out in Japan the things they have over there... Vending machines that have used girl's panties in them... woman who you pay good money for to NOT have sex with... And recently I've seen two cases in Japan where a woman put on a strap on and sodomized a guy, he sued, and the woman won the case claiming it to be accidental. Then there's a guy currently trying to sue this woman because he raped her and she didn't warn him first that she had HIV. I wish I were kidding about this stuff, but I'm not. I'm a writer and I can't make up crap this weird, so, yeah, not gonna thick twice about pole dancing dolly.
As for everyone else and the lot of you and the pole dancing and that what not... Really I'm gonna have to call up the phrase that makes the difference between Fundamentalist Mormon and Mormon on this one, which I am a member of the latter. The phrase is, "live in the world but not of it." If people are doing drugs, having open sex, drinking up a storm, and in this case, ragging on a 16 year old girl, who yes it is plain even to my eyes that she really could have made better choices in her day but it can't be helped now, for doing something at a teen choice award (and really, it's a "teen" choice award... I was a teen not all that long ago and I think you were too and I'm pretty sure we knew what pole dancing was and wasn't then and if we wanted or did not want to do it, at least if our parents were responsible enough) instead of just letting it all go, chalking it up to a bad decision made by someone else, and think, just for a moment, that maybe the bad choices of today did not come from one man or woman, but rather, from a large collective of people who were so wrapped up in trying to make everyone else see their point that they lost track of what the point was.
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9-01-2009 @ 10:47AM
Gama Deb said...I would hardly call walking around the pole. Strip pole dancing it was more like ring around the roseys. She was'nt hanging on it I just viewed the 1:30 seconds worth. I feel there was no harm done.
After all her big sister is doing it, She is just harmlessly goofing around.
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9-01-2009 @ 11:34AM
ines said...See this is where the problem is - comparing a strip pole to ring around the rosie. First off - ring around the rosie was played by kids who held hands and danced in a circle till they "all fell down". I don't remembrer EVER using a pole to play this. The problem lies with the parent who can't say no. What next? Kid Kocaine?