Dollieh Sanctuary

So last night I was channel flipping and imagine my surprise when I saw Monster High dolls on the Dr. Drew show on CNN! Seems he was tackling the major issue of whether sexy dolls were too much for tweens and young girls Near as I could tell the guests were two moms - one who likes them, one who doesn't - and a child psychologist. Here is a clip on CNN's website, I'm sure you can find a link to the whole episode somewhere if you are interested.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/05/25/drew.sexualized.HLN?hpt=C2

Oh goddess why can't these people just back away? These dolls are meant to represent teenagers and trust me I've seen a lot of anime characters wearing less then the MH dolls. I agree with Mattel's statement the fact that they're meant to represent Teenage Monsters drives away from it. No one cares what these dolls look like because most people buy them because they have lovely faces, completely posable bodies and they don't give out the same message that Barbie does. That woman in pink should have just kept her mouth shut. Hell they all should have kept their mouths shut. Go mom who got Clawdeen for her kid.

They can go two ways could have gone two ways with that discussion: He could have stopped interrupting her when she was trying to defend the product and show that kids don't see what they 'saw as horrible'.

Or they could have nut up and shut up.

They make the assumption that dolls are only for young children. I always had the impression that these dolls were targeting teens (12 to 17). I also know a lot of folks between 20-30 who love these dolls.

I do wonder about the actual age range of people who purchase these dolls. The flickr groups I stalk usually have older people who enjoy making designer clothing for these dolls. They're pretty popular because of the poseability and the body style.

pigeonweed wrote:They make the assumption that dolls are only for young children. I always had the impression that these dolls were targeting teens (12 to 17). I also know a lot of folks between 20-30 who love these dolls.

I do wonder about the actual age range of people who purchase these dolls. The flickr groups I stalk usually have older people who enjoy making designer clothing for these dolls. They're pretty popular because of the poseability and the body style.

I visit MonsterHighDolls.com rather frequently and the audience there is divided between adult (high school on up) collectors, adults who get them for their kids and the random elementary school kids.

I wouldn't really think of Monster High as being for a very young child, as their joints wouldn't really withstand rough play, from what I've seen.

Lokiholic wrote:I wouldn't really think of Monster High as being for a very young child, as their joints wouldn't really withstand rough play, from what I've seen.

This is what bothers me the most. It reminds me of the "violence in video games" issue that eventually led to the mature rating system on video game boxes.

"It's the government's job to tell me what I should or should not expose my child to!"

This is just a glaring testament of a form of child neglect. Why don't they just stop telling everybody else what to do and just raise their kids the way they want to.

Alopecia No Hime wrote:Or they could have nut up and shut up.

WIN!

Either you buy it for your kid or not. That's it. You're just giving whatever you dislike free advertisement.

While we're here I have to complain about Barbie. I mean all her crap is pink now! What happen to being in the now and having fashion sense. Having everything pink is no longer a trend. >:(

At least the box recommends they're for 6 and up. Bratz wore less and trashier clothes and had a pointless half hour commercial to boot. You don't want your kid to have it, don't bring it in the house. Personally I find their arced back a bit sexual but if I were playing Monster dolls with a kid I wouldn't bring that up.

As for ratings on video games I'm happy they don't let kids buy ultra violent ones. That's the last thing a kid like my cousin needs with with all the other problems he has. If something has adult content I like to know so I can make a choice.

I sort of wonder how they think those dolls will negatively affect a little girl, especially since those dolls are for 6 and up and by then most kids are out of the 'copy everything thats on tv' phase, and can tell fantasy from reality. Especially since, as anyone who remembers their playtime as a kid knows, kids will play with their toys however they want, regardless of what that toy is. I had a doll as a little girl that was always the Blue Fairy, no matter what I was playing. She didn't have wings or elf ears or anything remotely fairy-like to her, and was in fact a Stormer doll from the Jem and the Holograms cartoon, but four year old me decided she was a fairy. A little girl with a Draculaura or a Lagoona might be told they're a vampire and a sea monster, but to her they might be a princess and a mermaid. Kids will see what *they* want to see.

My little cousin calls her Corpse Bride doll a princess, when we were playing the princess was an acrobat who could fly in to a gift bag. She just gravitates towards anything pink or purple so if she visits my entire room goes in to hiding. She'd probably call Draculara "Miss Pink" and lose half her parts in the first five minutes.

Honestly, I feel like people read into things much more than they need too. If this trend continues with criticizing every little thing that is put onto the market that is even remotely different then sooner or later nothing will be there and all we'll end up with are very sheltered kids who know nothing about anything, much like their parents.

I'm not saying that Monster High teaches kids anything, because truth be told it probably doesn't but neither does Spongebob, Scooby Doo or any other cartoons or toys that kids can play with. If they think that girls will have body image issues because of their dolls I feel that they should take a step back and think "If my kid is going to be so influenced by a doll, am I raising them right?" rather than "This doll is too skinny, and it needs to go". To that mindset I say to hell with Barbie as well! She's just as unproportinal as MH dolls are but we practically kiss her feet.

Buy your kids the doll or don't, no one can tell you how to parent or what to let your kid watch/play with. Its up to you but don't knock it until you've listened to both sides of the arguement completely unbiased.