This from Fox News:
Oh, now my rant: COME ON PEOPLE!!!! [As I yell, scream and pull my hair out] Have you NEVER seen young daughters of mothers of breastfeeding babies? These little girls (most of them in the 2-3 year old age range) ALWAYS play like they are nursing their babies. It is healthy and normal. "This is how mommy is feeding my baby brother, and so this is how I'm going to play with my dollies." Children naturally imitate what they see grownups do, and it is already no different in breastfeeding families. A doll of this type will NOT harm girls in any way shape for form and the reason for the squeamish reaction on the part of these benighted adults is because they are CONTINUING to SEXUALISE breastfeeding when it is not a sexual function per-se. It is a biological function. Newsflash: Breasts are not just man-sex-toys, but are the biological mechanism whereby babies have been fed for time immemorial.
I get so sick of media articles like this that continue to perpetuate tired old stereotypes and make a bid deal out of something that is not a big deal. My girls played breastfeeding mommy when they were wee, and I can guarantee you that that did not "sexualize" them. Good grief. How many of us have observed our small children sticking pillows under their shirts and playing "having a baby" when they have a new sibling or one due?
I mean good gried! What's the solution? Let them all play with Bratz dolls instead?
It's not like kids grow up in isolation from the phenomenon of reproduction in a normal family setting.
I think this whole thing is another pointer in the anti-life culture in which we find ourselves.
Blarg and Grrrrr.
Controversial Doll Lets Little Girls Pretend to Breast-Feed
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
By Jessica Doyle
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Bebe Gloton means "gluttonous baby." She comes with a special halter top for young girls to wear as they pretend to breast-feed.
A controversial new doll is leaving some parents wishing for the good old Cabbage Patch days.
A Spanish toymaker known as Berjuan has developed a breast-feeding doll that comes with a special halter top its young "mothers" wear as they pretend to breast-feed their "babies." The halter top has daisies that cover the little girls’ nipples and come undone just as easily as the flaps of a nursing bra would.
The doll — called Bebe Gloton, which translates as “gluttonous baby” — makes sucking noises as it "feeds."
Click here to see Bebe Gloton on 'FOX & Friends.'
Like many other dolls, Bebe Gloton can cry, signaling she wants more milk.
Although many health care providers promote the benefits of breast-feeding, parents around the world have criticized Berjuan, saying the idea of breast-feeding is too grown-up for young children -- and may even promote early pregnancy.
"That's not cool," Lori Reynolds, of El Paso, Texas, told KFOXTV.com. "No, I would never get that for my child."
But other moms said they support the product.
"I think that it’s great that people want to have a doll that promotes breast-feeding,” said Rose Haluschak, also of El Paso. “Most dolls that are purchased come with a bottle. That is the norm in society, an artificial way to feed your baby.”
Dr. Manny Alvarez, managing health editor of FOXNews.com, said although he supports the idea of breast-feeding, he sees how his own daughter plays with dolls and wonders if Bebe Gloton might speed up maternal urges in the little girls who play it.
“Pregnancy has to entail maturity and understanding,” Alvarez said. “It’s like introducing sex education in first grade instead of seventh or eighth grade. Or, it could inadvertently lead little girls to become traumatized. You never know the effects this could have until she’s older.”
Alvarez said breast-feeding reduces childhood infections, strengthens maternal bonding and increases the child’s immune system. But introducing breast-feeding to girls young enough to play with dolls seems inappropriate, he said.
“What’s next?” wrote Eric Ruhalter, a parenting columnist for New Jersey’s Star Ledger. “Bebe Sot — the doll who has a problem with a different kind of bottle, and loses his family, job and feelings of self-worth? Bebe Limp — the male doll who experiences erectile dysfunction? Bebe Cell Mate — a weak, unimposing doll that experiences all the indignation and humiliation of life in prison?
"Toy themes should be age appropriate. I think so anyway.”
Oh, now my rant: COME ON PEOPLE!!!! [As I yell, scream and pull my hair out] Have you NEVER seen young daughters of mothers of breastfeeding babies? These little girls (most of them in the 2-3 year old age range) ALWAYS play like they are nursing their babies. It is healthy and normal. "This is how mommy is feeding my baby brother, and so this is how I'm going to play with my dollies." Children naturally imitate what they see grownups do, and it is already no different in breastfeeding families. A doll of this type will NOT harm girls in any way shape for form and the reason for the squeamish reaction on the part of these benighted adults is because they are CONTINUING to SEXUALISE breastfeeding when it is not a sexual function per-se. It is a biological function. Newsflash: Breasts are not just man-sex-toys, but are the biological mechanism whereby babies have been fed for time immemorial.
I get so sick of media articles like this that continue to perpetuate tired old stereotypes and make a bid deal out of something that is not a big deal. My girls played breastfeeding mommy when they were wee, and I can guarantee you that that did not "sexualize" them. Good grief. How many of us have observed our small children sticking pillows under their shirts and playing "having a baby" when they have a new sibling or one due?
I mean good gried! What's the solution? Let them all play with Bratz dolls instead?
It's not like kids grow up in isolation from the phenomenon of reproduction in a normal family setting.
I think this whole thing is another pointer in the anti-life culture in which we find ourselves.
Blarg and Grrrrr.
Comments
My daughter pretended to breastfeed her dolls, too. What toddler with a breastfeeding mom doesn't? What could be more normal? For that matter, I think my son pretended to breastfeed dolls a couple times, too, as a toddler. Heh. Let's see how *that* freaks out the critics. Phooey on 'em.