Barbie Fashionistas Sassy Shops For Makeup Doll

Barbie Fashionistas Sassy Shops For Makeup Doll

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In 1960 America, 5.3% of all births were to unmarried women; in 2009 America, 41% of all births were to unmarried women. 41%!

Equally unsettling: 59% of boys agreed that it’s okay for an unmarried woman to have a child; 70% of girls said so.

Is it really so surprising? Every kid nowadays walks around with a cell phone glued to her ear or thumbs – sexting, not just texting. Meanwhile, Hollywood celebrates non-committed hookups, MTV parades sex as youthful entertainment, retailers cash in on our youngsters, pop music resounds with offensive language, and on it goes.

Even Disney is in on it, as is GapKids and others, by offering heels to teenyboppers. Says mumsnet’s Justine Roberts, “Some of the shoes I have seen on sale look more suited to a lap-dancing club than the feet of a young girl.”

And while Primark withdrew its padded bikini tops for girls as young as seven, not so Abercombie and Fitch, which simply deleted “push-up” and went with “Triangle” for its padded top bikini line.

Says Wheelock College’s Professor Gail Dines: “It gets young girls to think about themselves in sexual ways before that’s developmentally appropriate.”

Then there’s Wal-Mart’s geoGirl line of “sheer color cosmetics moms can buy their daughters.” Offerings include bubble-gum flavored lip gloss, light-pink blushes, even eye shadows and mascara, all at a cost of just $4 to $6-so suitably priced for our third to eighth graders.

Not to be outdone, Target sells Hello Kitty cosmetics-lip gloss, eye shadow, nail polish…

And the cash registers are humming.

The NPD Group, Inc. surveyed about 1,500 girls, 400 of whom were between 8 and 12, and found they use beauty products at least once a month. Says NPD vice-president and beauty-industry analyst Karen Grant; “Makeup use today is more likely seen by parents as a bonding opportunity. A lot of the brands the mother is using are actually what we see the young girls using, too.”

Next up: dolls. Mattel’s Monster High line takes Barbie to a whole new level. Clawdeen Wolf, for instance, comes decked out in a mini mini-skirt, way-high boots, and heavy makeup. Her favorite hobby is listed as “flirting with boys” and she describes herself as “a fierce fashionista with a confident, no-nonsense attitude.” Marketed to tweens and teens, she’s actually being scooped up by girls as young as five and six.

Apparently, this most popular of all Mattel fashion doll offerings is flying off the shelves, but be forewarned. As clinical psychologist Sari Shepphird, Ph.D. explains, “It used to be that dolls were part of childhood and represented and offered an extension of innocence, but now some dolls are encouraging the opposite of innocence.”

MTV is helping change childhood’s landscape, too. Take its #1 Cable show, Jersey City. A quick visit to its website offers a glimpse into what awaits viewers:

• “Snooki’s summer of hookups comes back to haunt her…”

• “The Situation reunites with his Canadian hottie…”

• “Things go south for Angelina when the house learns she slept with Jose after smushing Vinni…”

And, despite its TV-MA (for mature audiences) content rating, the show targets kids as young as 12. As for smushing, I refer you to Urban Dictionary online.

MTV’s Skins, also labelled TV-MA, is another ratings hit. The pilot included an introvert seeking to lose his virginity, coupled with a plan to score some pot and sell it at a party… According to the Nielsen Company: the first episode drew 1.2 million folks under 18.

Meanwhile, Hollywood is doing its part, too. Consider Switch, about a single woman having a baby without a man. Said Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, “She’s (Aniston) throwing a message out to 12-year-olds that, ‘Hey, you don’t need a dad.’ That’s destructive to our society.”

Aniston’s response: “Women are realizing more and more that you don’t have to settle, they don’t have to fiddle with a man to have that child.”

Then there’s No Strings Attached, about best friends who end up in bed together and try hard to keep their relationship purely physical without falling for each other. Said one reviewer: “This is going to be the funniest movie of the year.”

Oh, and Kevin Kline plays a pot smoking father who dates a 23-year-old…

Those two examples clearly make my point. So does today’s popular music. While Lady GaGa belts out, “I’ll get him hot, show him what I’ve got,” over the airwaves, Media Awareness Network notes that, “The midriff-baring Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears may be marketed under a “girl power” guise-but what they are really selling to their mostly pre-pubescent audiences is adult sexuality.”

Meanwhile, Dennis Prager points out that, “Among the five nominees for Record of the Year is a song titled, “F— You,” with the F-word, of course, spelled out and pronounced… The music industry is dedicated to lowering that which is elevated, destroying that which uplifts, and to profaning that which is held sacred.”

And, as if all of that’s not enough to make your head spin, there are not-very-childlike websites just waiting for our youngsters to log on. Take, for example, “The Miss Bimbo Game” whose homepage announces, “Become the hottest, coolest, most intelligent and talented bimbo the world has ever known.” Then come the directions: “Miss Bimbo is a dress-up game where you look after a Bimbo character as she goes through life:

• To progress in the game, you have to get her a hot boyfriend, a cool place to live, and find her a great job.

• You can also style your Bimbo and show her off to other players.

• You can compete with other Bimbos to see who’s the best dressed and most popular.

• Are you ready to become Queen of the Bimbos?”

Apparently, players–girls as young as seven–can even give their virtual Bimbos breast implants and feed them diet pills…

So where do we go from here and whom should we blame? The retailers and entertainment industry, or those of us handing over the cash and credit cards that fuel this new reality?

Carol is a learning specialist who worked with middle school children and their parents at the Methacton School District in Pennsylvania for more than 25 years and now supervises student teachers at Gwynedd-Mercy College. Along with the booklet, 149 Parenting School-Wise Tips: Intermediate Grades & Up, and numerous articles in such publications as Teaching Pre-K-8 and Curious Parents, she has authored three successful learning guidebooks: Getting School-Wise: A Student Guidebook, Other-Wise and School-Wise: A Parent Guidebook, and ESL Activities for Every Month of the School Year. Carol also writes for examiner.com; find her articles at http://www.examiner.com/x-6261-Montgomery-County-Wise-Parenting-Examiner For more information, go to http://www.schoolwisebooks.com or contact Carol at carol@schoolwisebooks.com.