Ding Dong the Bratz are Gone!

Women around the world can breathe a sigh of relief, Bratz dolls will be removed from the shelves, or so the legal ruling states. I can't begin to express my joy for that judge who ruled in favor of young girls everywhere. Unfortunately for me I have already had to explain to Sara why she is not allowed to play with, dress like, or want to emulate those floozies.

But other Moms will be spared from having "the talk" with their daughters, and I don't mean the talk accompanied by a school film that leaves you bringing Kotex home in a paper bag hoping that the neighborhood boys don't yank it out of your hand to play catch with it.

I mean the one that helps young girls learn what a reputation is and how it can get tarnished very quickly and unknowingly. The one in which you explain how a girl dresses is what people think of her. You wear short skirts and revealing tops and the next thing you know boys are trying to get you on the back of the bus during the band trip. No I am not speaking from experience.

I know these dolls are supposed to represent, exaggerated as they may be, a certain ethnic group. In my opinion(thank God my blog is not widely read because I would probably get hate mail) it doesn't do a very good job advancing the culture. If anything it digresses what many Latina women have worked for: beauty, grace, intelligence, and being a positive role model.

Our girls are being forced to grow up way too fast in a society that thinks it is cute to dress your six year old like a Barbie Mini-Me and parade them up and down a stage singing some awful 70s song with sexual innuendos that the kid knows nothing about but the Mom is trying like hell to capture her youth by the tail.

I have to put a plug in for the movie Little Miss Sunshine. It is a testament to just what we will put our daughters through in order to make our dreams come true. And how far should a parent go to support their daughter when you know they are on the road to disater. The final pageant scene is priceless and will leave those of us with a little bit of sense in our head standing up and cheering for the underdog.

I know it is a different world than when I was a kid, walking to school in the snow uphill both ways, but are we doing our girls and their future partners any service by teaching them that sex sells and beauty (distorted as it may be) trumps brains every time?

Okay I have put away my soapbox. Just don't ask me about the Disney Princesses.