Dora shops now, not so much exploring. So sad.

Dora the Explorer has been turned into a material girl.

"As tweenage Dora, our heroine has moved to the big city, attends middle school and has a whole new fashionable look...The cornerstone of the entire line is the Dora Links fashion doll. By plugging the doll into the computer, girls can access Dora’s brand-new interactive online world. This exciting innovation in computer-connected play offers girls a unique interactive experience: as girls are playing online they can customize their doll and watch as she magically transforms right before their eyes. For example, by changing Dora’s hair length, jewelry, and eye color on screen, the Dora doll magically changes as well.
The online world will include descriptions and biographies of Dora’s Explorer Girls™ and an immersive online world that will be tied into the complete collection of toys. Online, girls can explore Dora’s world, talk to the characters, earn currency, and help Dora solve mysteries which will be uploaded on a regular basis.

The Dora Links fashion doll, for children five years and up, will retail for approximately $59.99. "

LINK

Revolting article.

Some rotten journalist wrote this sick making article about how good and clean the 'new' tween stars are. Gah.

"No longer is teen pop based on the Lolita principle. Instead, it's a tool for learning, transforming the individualism and irreverence of the rock era into good-girl-and-boy self-empowerment.
...No matter what the Jonas Brothers do next, they're still easier to explain to your kid (or for your kid to explain to you) than Kurt Cobain." LINK

More of the same kiddie sexualization, only now it's in the UK.

"Child beauty has become big business. Research by market analysts Mintel of 6,000 youngsters from the age of seven to 19 found that more than six out of 10 girls aged seven to 10 wore lipstick and more than two in five wore eye-shadow or eye-liner. Almost one in four wore mascara and three in five wore perfume. According to a 2005 British Journal of Developmental Psychology study, almost 50 per cent of girls between five and eight want to be slimmer.
...The growing popularity of child beautification in Britain has caused concern among some parents. Sally Wray, 43, a book publicist, said: 'I recently took my three-year-old daughter to a birthday party and was horrified to see three girls from her nursery class had make-up on - it wasn't face painting, it was properly applied and blended eye shadow, blusher and lip gloss that had presumably been applied by the girls' mothers.
'It deeply disturbs me that girls are being sexualised in this way. I certainly would never take my daughter with me to a beauty salon, and I find the whole idea of little girls having beauty treatments both inappropriate and bizarre.'
LINK

Argh it is all too horrible. Thank God I don't have a daughter.

I really don't know what I would do if I were a mom now.

New kiddie site, Miss Bimbo.

"In the month since it opened the site, which is aimed at girls aged from 9 to 16, has attracted 200,000 members. Players keep a constant watch on the weight, wardrobe, wealth and happiness of their character to create “the coolest, richest and most famous bimbo in the world”. Competing against other children they earn “bimbo dollars” to buy plastic surgery, diet pills, facelifts, lingerie and fashionable nightclub outfits."
LINK to Times Online article about the horror.

ugh now I need brain bleach

"She chooses gold nail polish to match the gold embellishment on her Bratz T-shirt — she's always looking for ways to accessorize. A stylist paints her nails amid the noise of a birthday party.Blue eye shadow, a little bright pink blush and some shimmery lip gloss and its time for the big moment."
from this article



This is hideous beyond all reason. I came across the company in an article on CNN about how with the economic downturn, mall stores are repositioning themselves to provide services and experiences rather than just selling stuff, and when I saw this, I thought, well, here we go again with forcing girls to think pink. And whorishly. Blech.

Some of their party options include:

All Dressed Up and Runway to Go
Rockin' Pop Star
Perfect Princess
A Night on the Red Carpet
Sleepover at the Spa
SPA-tacular!
Popular Party Add-Ons

"First impressions: Think of a beauty salon crossed with a Claire's Accessories mixed with a Chuck E. Cheese for girls dropped into the middle of a Teen Beat magazine. Long pink limousines stretched in front of this strip-mall shop -- part of a 26-store national chain of beauty salons for kids. My daughter asked if she could ride in one. I said that it might only be for birthday parties. Indeed, it was for one of two birthday parties that had just finished at this unrelentingly perky and girly salon...

We walked in and told them about our manicure appointment. "You must be Miranda," the nice lady said. "Heather will be taking care of you today."

We walked over to the manicure and pedicure area with its soft, curvy green and orange booths and booster pillows that give a lift to shrimpy kids like my 4-year-old daughter...

To pass the drying time, Heather suggested Miranda have a walk on the runway (yes, there is a mini runway for future models) in the middle of the room. We also browsed the store for purses, custom-made lip glosses, mini makeup sets and many hair accessories. Miranda chose a little pink bow attached to a clip that cost almost $8..."

Sweet Jesus.
LINK to revolting article about hideous place.
LINK to terrifying homepage of this freaking company

Happy Holidays, from WalMart.

The Junior's Department at Walmart is selling these interesting panties, suggesting, to put in clearly, that young girls don't need credit cards, because they have a more valuable asset within their knickers. Christ.










From Feministing, through Jezebel. Good lord- I've just churned through about 5 books about marketers defining teens, and pushing sexuality to young girls as part of KGOY (Kids Growing Older Younger) strategies, but this is ridiculous to the extreme and unspeakably offensive.

Link to Feministing's original rant on this, complete with contact info at Walmart, should you feel sufficiently outraged/disgusted to spend a few seconds letting them know. These are the people who censor cd's, for the love of Pete.

Scary, sexy marketing to children.

This is sick stuff, people. On the advice of kids (the eldest who recommended this site was 11, his older brother at 13 said that it was "for kids" and that he likes MySpace better) I visited Gaia Online. Wow. It was eerie for me, and really pushed a lot of buttons.

The main thing that freaked me out was how the site is all about shopping to define your identity. I know that sounds like, Oh, there goes Lexicat freaking out about material culture replacing theoretical culture again, or, as one girl sighed to me years ago when we were having a long talk about religion, "This isn't going to be as complicated as your feelings about shopping, is it?" But well, anyway.

When you join Gaia, a NPC called Moira comes to greet you and show you around. Moira was pretty nice, very cute, very sexy, and totally OBSESSED with making you go shopping.

So there I go, following the beginner's quests (which were pretty much about choosing my avatar- I enjoyed that, and was happy when I was done- my avatar has spiky hair, a

blue t shirt, a black skirt and black boots), and then up pops Moira with a message. She wants me to play the Daily Chance, to see if I win something good. I'm up for it, why not? So I click on it, and win 25 gold. Sweet, right?

Then I continue trying to explore Gaia. I am trying to get a feel of the map, when Moira pops back up. She's bossy.

Moira says "Ooh, let's go spend it! Shopping spreeeee! Don't worry about throwing a little gold around, you can always get more [by playing on Gaia]"

I tried not to go shopping. I kept clicking off Moira, and trying to navigate the site. She kept coming back. Over and over and over.

Now Moira says "Have you bought anything cool yet? That money must be burning a hole in your pocket by now!" She's so perky, and cute, and my only friend in this new world. So Ok, Moira, let's go shopping.

We go to Barton Boutique, and I scope out the clothes. Wow, lots of choices. All of the free clothes you get when you start were pretty gender neutral, but I hadn't thought much of it- although I did admire Moira's cleavage, belly ring, and unfastened(?) jeans. but wow- shopping was surprising.

For a mere 2 gold, I could buy another blue T-shirt from Rufus, the cute cat who runs that shop.

Hey, it's "A warm fitted top with a super cute design." Sounds good to me, so I buy it. Then I realise, oh, hey, it said Gender: Any. Huh. Ok, I am kind of amused because IRL I do wear lots of guys' T-shirts and hoodies, but I think about being a preteen/tween whatever, and how much I would want to make it clear that I was a girl. I keep browsing.

And lo and behold, the first top that I found that wasn't Gender: Any, makes it very clear that this is a top for a womanly woman. Look at those! Also, it is 160 gold. (Remember, the gender neutral top is 2 gold.) I keep browsing.

There are some skirts- how about the Dark Mistress Skirt? The advertising copy reads "When this skirt came down, so did he." Now, I am not even sure what happened to him, or why the skirt came down, as opposed to going up, but it sounds, well, racy. Only 600 gold to be a sexy dark mistress! The Red Goth Skirt is "A crimson skirt for the emotionally disturbed." Emotional disturbance, too is 600 gold. The Leather Tube Top is 1300 gold. The advertising copy is simple and to the point. "Tease Men". (Yeah, men, not boys. Tease men.)

I am getting kind of freaked out clothes shopping (as y'all can tell, because I took a ton of screencaps) so I go furniture shopping, something I enjoy more in real life too. I don't have much money, so I click to search for the cheapest stuff there is. After lamps and wall clocks, I come to chairs. One of the cheaper choices (and I do want to say that there are many other choices) was a "Redwood Bar Chair", ad copy reading "This chair was made for drinkin', and that's just what it'll do". Really? The chair will go out drinkin'? Now, that's a fancy chair. Gives new meaning to the 'hollow leg' thing.

Anyway, the shopping saga was giving me agita. Moira was proud of me that I had bought something. "Hey, you went shopping! Isn't it fun? Watch out, you might get addicted! I'd better give you a little bit more gold so you don't go broke!" Moira gives me 25 more gold.

I went looking for the kids, the real kids who had finished their shopping, and were hanging out, connecting, bonding in their social network. (I must say that the main reason that I was at Gaia was because I am co-hosting a meeting about social networking, youth, and libraries)

Imagine, if you will, my delight when I found the forums. Here, I hoped, I might find the justification I was looking for, for why we shouldn't keep this crap out of the libraries, for why it might be valuable.

Recent topics

* All about the butt-secks

* Enter Topic Here

* Igamer64 waz here

* Come and chill :D

*Django bought this area

* if ur name is garaa come here

* CAKED IS YUM (:

* Queer Land by Leland

* Enter Topic Here

Yeah. Soooo not feeling up to the "All about the butt-secks" conversation (love that "the", by the way, stylewise- the headline just wouldn't be as powerful and attention getting if it was just "All about butt-secks". Also, am horrified/amused that this phrase ( I know it from Fark forums) has become a seemingly universal way to discuss anal sex while bypassing filters that would block 'anal' or 'sex'.)

So I went fishing. I didn't catch much though, a few guppies and an old boot.

The guy at the fishing shack suggested that my chances might be better if I bought an expensive new, fancy fishing rod and some Grade A bait - my 'free' Basic rod and 'free' Grade F bait weren't doing it.

So I logged off. Damn. So doomed.