Honestly, they look like hookers

  I hate to admit it, but fast food restaurants will get me going there sometimes just to get the toy.
  It started in 2002 when we took the family ice skating and I found a "Captain Hook" toy abandoned in the warming house. Captain Hook came with the back part of a pirate ship. You had to collect all six toys to make the whole ship.
  I thought this was so cool that I drove around town seeking out all six parts. They are now hidden in my closet because I don't want the kids to mess them up. (Talk about messed up!)
  Soon after were the LEGO Galidor toys. Ours are in a plastic box, and I've never considered getting rid of them. Each Happy Meal toy is a simplified version of the real LEGO toys, and they were perfect for my son, who was 4 at the time, because each toy divides into only three pieces: head, torso, legs.
  For a couple weeks, all three of us would get a Happy Meal and a toy. My son would line up his army and play for a long time. Getting these toys coincided with his emerging ability to play for a long time by himself, so I remember the toys fondly.
  At present, we are staying far away from McDonald's, until their "My Scene Barbie" toys are done, which should be Oct. 28. I won't let my girls play with Bratz dolls, and the My Scene Barbie is Mattel's version of Bratz.
  They just look like hookers. I'm not as concerned about their clothes as their makeup. No teenager should wear that much makeup to go skating (which the doll are doing). Maybe if they're getting dressed up for a fancy evening out, but still, they're supposed to be toys for little girls. Why are they made up like that?
  We hear people complain about the "sexualization of girls" so much that it becomes a cliche. It loses its meaning unless we stop think about what it's really saying. Girls being seen as sex objects. Their bodies being seen as something that would give sexual pleasure, even though they're too young to understand that, feel that or enjoy that. We're talking about encouraging a heinous crime against children.
  Is it overreacting to object to sexy toys for girls? Would the designers say that the toys are simply pretty? I let my son play with war toys because I don't want him feeling judged; I don't want him to feel like he has to hide from me the fact that he likes that stuff. I try to do the same for my girls. They can play with Barbies, I buy them princess dresses. One of them will be wearing a lot of make-up for Halloween.
  But I draw the line at Bratz. I draw the line at My Scene Barbie. Something about them just doesn't seem right.


Photo credits: I swiped the Peter Pan photo from the seller "kittykatty" on ebay (bidding closes Oct. 21!). The Galidor toys are mine. The My Scene Barbies are being displayed on the Commercial-Free Childhood website.