The American Christian manufacturers of the doll have created it to promote breastfeeding and claim that “the whole purpose of The Breast Milk Baby is to teach children the nurturing skills they’ll need to raise their own healthy babies in the future".
It's all a bit pointless though, because surely the only families who would buy such a doll are pro breastfeeding and this is what influences women in their feeding choices. Anyone who has issues around breastfeeding would never buy this doll for their child so the message the manufacturers purport to be spreading is not going to get to those they are trying to target. In any case, I know many little girls who happily mime breastfeeding their doll to copy Mammy so what's wrong with a little imagination?
Although negative comments about the doll are to be expected, some of the feeling it has generated is quite extreme and not a little bizarre. On online forums, the doll has been called creepy, perverse and there has been much metaphorical wringing of hands with cries of "let them be kids" and "don't take away their innocence". These sorts of comments speak to me of a deep-seated discomfort with the very idea of breastfeeding that is pervasive in our society although it's not PC to express it, so reacting to the doll is a free pass to voice these deeply held negative feelings. Something you hear expressed often is "I've no problem with breastfeeding but...." Well, ladies, don't worry. Breastfeeding is unfortunately not infectious so you can happily let your daughter play with the freaky kid in number 55 and her perverted nipple bib and she could still grow up to make you proud by only using her nipples for the sexual pleasure of herself and others.
I bet the same women who think this toy will sexualise their little girls allow them to play with Barbie, who looks like she's heading off for a night of debauchery at the Playboy Mansion. So it's ok for breasts to be part of little girls' play if they are pumped-up fetishised super-bazookas but not ok for nipples represented by pretty little flowers to enter into things.
I understand that in a society where the threat of paedophilia is ever-present in mothers' minds that anything which relates children and sex is scary but surely the sorts of comments above would be more justifiably directed at pop-culture rather than a harmless toy?
It frightens me that I am bringing my daughter up in a society where a tiny minority of women identify themselves as feminists, and the Playboy bunny is emblazoned on little girls' pencil cases. And a breastfeeding doll is seen as threatening little girls' innocence.
I hadn't seen or heard tell of this toy until now. It is a sad state of affairs though, that when one does, they know immediately that it is more than a bit likely to cause controversy.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to see which stores in Ireland choose to stock the doll. Might Hamley's decide against it, not wanting to be seen to promote a toy that sexualises a young girl's breasts.... while happily advocating and providing a nail bar, where children can get manicures? In my opinion, these nail bars and the likes of the Brats Dolls and Moxie Dolls, are a far more (potentially) dangerous pursuit for a growing- and deeply impressionable girl.
I guess it it up to the buyer and the parents to decide: do I want my child to grow up to... dare I say it... breast feed their babies OR, do I want my child to grow up prioritising beauty, provocative fashion and body modification above all else? Tough call.
It really seems quite ridiculous that there has been such a fuss about this doll when as you say all of the other stuff encourages them to be "old before their time", which is a charge one Outraged Mammy levelled at this toy. Wouldn't you love to have a peek into their homes to see just what toys they deem appropriate? Bet you would find many of the above there.
ReplyDeleteThe most annoying part of the whole thing though is that of course it doesn't sexualise breasts. But it will be seen by many as doing so. One of the posters on an online forum was going on about them being too young for the "birds and the bees". The fact that anyone who has gone through the experience of getting pregnant and giving birth still feels the need to use such a ridiculous euphemism to avoid saying the word sex says a huge amount about Irish society I think!
I’ll admit to having felt a little uncomfortable at my initial exposure to this doll. I’ve had, since puberty, a difficult relationship with my breasts; they grew quickly, before I was emotionally equipped to deal with them, and I carry baggage relating to that experience to this day. I didn’t want boobs, and the attention they brought, when I was still a little girl. I wouldn’t want to encourage my daughter, if I had one, to be conscious of her breasts at such a young age. But then, my experience was a sexual one, I felt that even at the time, and perhaps by teaching her from a young age that her boobs were multi-purpose, she would learn to feel a sense of ownership of her own body, as I never have.
ReplyDeleteI thought the doll was a bit mad myself when I saw it for the first time and I wouldn't have felt a need to blog on it had I not seen the extreme reactions it provoked. For example, one poster asked how you would feel if you walked in on your child with their top off miming feeding a doll. As if there was something shameful in it.
ReplyDeleteAs you said Fiona, your emotional reaction to the doll is coloured by your own body issues but you are aware of them. Others aren't quite so self-aware.....