I found this via Rachel (a former Morristown resident). Seems the Hasbro toy company is preparing to sell dolls based on the neo-burlesque stars of the Pussycat Dolls, aimed at the six to nine year old market for li'l girls. I suppose since this group of new-strippers also are making music CDs then why not more product tie-ins with the Sex Pistols O.D. Kit Slam Dance Playset, or the Gundown the Rappers Bling Shoot Out? Would a rational parent seriously want to provide My Little Stripper Dolls for your six-year old girls? (Maybe Hasbro could call it Skanky and sell it alongside Slinkys!)
She also notes the super creepy thousands of dollars folks spend on life-size "Real Dolls", which looks like training kits for serial killers and sadists.
Well, Alrighty Then.
ReplyDeleteActually, the nieces play with Brats, which are very, very, very freaky.
Checked out the Bratz dolls link. "Look good! Have fun!" These cultural objects seem to strengthen the shallower traits of young females. I know every female is not going to be a professional woman, but I'd give a daughter mind-growing toys.
ReplyDeleteI saw a cable show which went inside a factory making male love dolls for women.
A songwriter friend called from Nashville last night. We decided it was futile to write for the youth market because it's the shallowest, stupidest generation in memory, and we just can't be that dumb.
People say to me, "The Editor, you would make such a good mom. Why don't you have kids?"
ReplyDeletePussy Cat Doll Dolls is just one more answer to that question.
Now hold on - just because Marketing Wizards hurl turds at kids does not mean that the kids are idiots.
ReplyDeleteSifting through the near-infinte, constant dreck is a near impossible task for any mind, young or old.
I once had a news editor tell me "Our average reader reads at a 6th grade level, so be careful what you write."
That infuriated me - not that I write like a verbal quantum physics equation.
However, if the "product" we offered them assumed them to be idiots, then I would be simply writing idiotically. So, I just wrote as honestly and distinctly as I could, and if I felt a need to provide context for a reference I did - and sometimes I did not in sheer blind hope it might encourage the reader to search for some meanings on their own.
(Geez, when did this response become a lecture??) For instance, Wintermute, you often cite information but provide links to explain the info further.
Now I know that's kinda hard to translate into music lyrics - and honestly, writing tunes in hopes of reaching ANY group is a task I could never attempt. Writing/performing music has always seemed a near thankless task.
I've seen many a fine group have to battle the sounds of bottles, menu orders and and worse over the years and know it is a daunting task.
Shutting up now and considering these issues for some future post.
Well - almost shutting up.
I know some friends my age and younger who'll likely buy some pussycat dolls.
But marketing them to children is just a loopy and dangerous idea.
I bought the niece vocal lessons for her birthday.(Thought it might build some confidence.)
ReplyDeleteI also helped fund a couple of trips to the Pink Palace and to the state capital last week when her school went where she wrote a mock bill with Roy Herron on making, get this, free gas for Tennesseans.They did the whole political process of getting a bill passed. (I'm just a bill, I am only a bill ... acid flash back from SchoolHouse Rock.)
He actually was very cool about the whole thing.
I also helped pay for a birthday trip to Chicago. She got to see life outside her bubble.
I have her a couple of computer games where she can write screenplays for kids.
She has those damned Bratz, but at least I'm trying to avoid those stereotypical crappy toys. Wintermute, remember GI Joe, so I'm not so sure this is gender-related. And Guns, can't forget toy guns the kids across the street play Iraq War with (shudder) although my favorite pajamas these days has cowboy and indians on them just like when I was a kid.
It's all a matter of perspective
I had Barbies, and played with them a lot, and they were all filthy whores who shared the same Ken, but somehow dolls explicitly based on a band of strippers just really put me off.
ReplyDeleteThe Real Dolls, however? They really scare me. Whatever happened to good, old-fashioned masturbation?
I agree w/ Rachel.. after reading the 'Salon' feature.. I need to wash my eyes out w/ bleach.
ReplyDeleteTits, I sometimes have wondered if Barbie sex was an indication of some deep moral flaw.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to know that you too had slutty Barbies.
Slutty Barbies with Ina-Gada-Divida playing in the background. i also had some Cowboys and Indians who were dirty, dirty boys.
ReplyDeleteyet another way in which a pre-fabricated, mass produced Stripper Doll would remove the natural use of imagination that other toys provided.
ReplyDeleteheh heh.