Actually, now it seems to be All Webkinz, All The Time, which I despise far more than any Bratz dolls.

So its advertising and media that makes girls focus on looks. All this time I thought that’s just the way girls were.

HAHAHAHAHAHA. (oops — sorry — it slipped out)

OK… more seriously — the APA’s focus in their report was sexualization, which isn’t the same thing, by definition, as wanting to look good (although they do both relate to self-esteem).

And FWIW — I asked AC about Bratz last night, because she’s never liked them and I wondered why. She tells me it’s because they’re totally unrealistic — cartoonish, even.

And Ed — yes, that’s exactly right. Adults are projecting a much different interpretation. Sometimes, of course, there’s a damaged little kid acting out something they have seen (or that has been done to them), but the source won’t be a doll.

One cannot view kids through an adult prism — whether it’s clothes, or discovering your pre-school-aged daughter kissing a playmate. Kids will always try to emulate their elders, but that doesn’t carry the same emotional or cognitive implication. We tend to over-react to such things, and in so doing, transmit very unhealthy messages.

Maybe that explains the rash of “sexual harassment” charges being levelled against kindergarteners for “inappropriate kissing” on the playground

~EdT.

As to the report’s bagging on miniskirts, fishnet stockings and feather boas: Couldn’t they have waited until *after* Mardi Gras? I’m just sayin’….

There’s another, though: One cannot view kids through an adult prism — whether it’s clothes, or discovering your pre-school-aged daughter kissing a playmate. Kids will always try to emulate their elders, but that doesn’t carry the same emotional or cognitive implication. We tend to over-react to such things, and in so doing, transmit very unhealthy messages.