NEW YORK —- I am in Times Square. Jasmin stands a few yards away in stack-heel boots, a short fringed skirt and tight red blouse. Next to her is Meygan, wearing platforms and a see-through top. Then there’s Jade — all legs in a micro-mini.
These don’t sound like the kind of girls you’d want your 7-year-old to play with, but thousands of Jasmins, Meygans and Jades will be visiting good American homes in the weeks to come. That’s because they’re dolls — dolls as in Baby Annabell and Barbie. They’re called Bratz. These brazen figurines are supposed to be the hot doll this year. And they’re appalling.
I really am in Times Square — actually, in a Toys "R" Us store. The place is a giant casino for kids. Lights flash over banks of escalators, and agitation fills the air. Sammy Davis Jr. croons "Candy Man" out the speakers.
The odds are that the hip-hop Bratz will be bruising Barbie, who is all in pink as a lovely queen from Swan Lake. (The ladylike American Girl dolls can only watch from ringside.) Bratz maker MGA Entertainment expects its racy dolls to bring it $520 million in revenues this year.
The trampy Bratz dolls have raised adult eyebrows other than mine. Janice Shaw Crouse, of the conservative Concerned Women for America, has attacked the dolls. To be more accurate, she’s attacked feminists for not attacking them. This is one tough neighborhood.
"Somebody needs to take the chip off of some Lefty’s shoulder and hurl it down the aisle at Toys "R" Us and do a little damage," Crouse writes on the Concerned Women web site. Hey, Janice, why don’t you work out your aggressions on Toys "R" Us yourself?
The truth is, feminists also loathe the Bratz dolls. Patricia Leavey, a sociologist specializing in gender issues at Stonehill College, in Easton, Mass., calls them "hypersexual." She finds their pouty mouths, heavy makeup and large breasts repugnant.
These 10-inch-tall strumpets are part of a lamentable trend that marketers call "age compression." Girls are growing up fast and losing interest in dolls at early ages. Parents should know that girls as young as 4 and 5 are developing a fashion sense, which apparently runs toward the trashy. So by the advanced age of 9, America’s daughters are viewing dolls not heavily into fashion as juvenile.
This race out of childhood has created the profitable "Tween" market covering ages 8 to 12. Remember that these young ladies were raised on J.Lo and Beyonce. The 6-year-olds who watched Britney Spears do her sexy pole dances are not about to play with baby dolls.
Wait, there’s another awful aspect to the Bratz dolls. People who read the language of fashion immediately spot their appeal to anorexic chic. They have big heads relative to their small bodies, giving them the "lollipop" look of anorexics. The fashion world refers to ultra-thin actresses, such as Calista Flockhart and Katie Holmes of "Dawson’s Creek," as "Lollipop celebrities."
"Blown-up heads are almost a trend in the culture, which is horrific and grotesque," Leavey says. "The dolls are known for this."
Then there’s the racial aspect. The ethnically vague Bratz dolls come with position statements reflecting a ghetto culture. "My friends call me the ‘Funky Fashion Monkey,’ " Meygan tells us on the back of her package, "because even when I just hang, I still look good!" It’s hard to imagine black and Latino parents appreciating this portrayal.
What other force has unleashed the Bratz upon us? It is saturation advertising, which has left children numb. To attract kids’ attention these days, toymakers must go over the top.
And that brings a new dimension to little girls’ playtime. "If you’re just adding glitz on dolls," Leavey notes, "it will be jewelry, makeup and high heels, so it’s probably not going to go in a positive direction."
All this makes me feel almost protective of Barbie, a controversial figure in her own right — but one that has cleaned up her lusty act in recent years. I asked the stock guy at Toys "R" Us how these Bratz dolls are selling. "They have Barbie very, very concerned" was all he would say.
Froma Harrop is a Providence Journal columnist. Contact her by writing to
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