Thursday, October 13, 2011

Not so sure about Monster High.

When Ali and I get together and visit convenience store, we often find ourselves drawn to the toy aisle.  Cute dolls, cuddly stuffed animals, and Nerf swords are worth the effort.  Recently, Ali and I went to Walgreene's.  Like always, we walked over to the toy aisle and began to look at the different toys. 


Ali and I found several dolls that were a part of "Monster High."  All of the dolls were dressed in fishnets and chains and featured gruesome scars, skulls, and vampire teeth.  They came with best friends and boyfriends and accessories, just like Barbie dolls would, but they were just so dark.  I can't ever imagine allowing my child to play with dolls that advertise being dark and scary in an almost sexual manner.

The doll below was apparently named "Draculaura."  She featured heavy makeup, long fangs, and an extremely immodest outfit.  While Draculaura wasn't dressed as dark as the other dolls were, she was dressed the most immodestly.  While most of the skirts came up inappropriately high, Draculaura wasn't even wearing tights like the others to cover up some of the leg she was showing.


I thought these dolls must be part of a generic line for Wal-Greene's, just like the odd Snow White doll, but Rebecca and I found more of the dolls at Walmart a couple of weeks later.  Again, the dolls were dressed immodestly and wore dark themes like skulls and crossbones.  Young, innocent children play with dolls.  I stopped playing with dolls when I was around nine or ten years old.  As a little girl, I cannot imagine my mother allowing me to play with dolls that dress like the ones from Monster High.

I visited the Monster High website and saw something on the front page that said: "Be yourself. Be unique. Be a monster."

Be... a monster?

The little children who play with Monster High dolls are going to want to be like them.  Heavy makeup, dyed hair, revealing clothing... can you imagine a seven-year-old girl dressing in skulls and crossbones and thick eyeliner?  Honestly, I'm not sure how those qualities make someone unique.  Also, do you see the weight of Draculaura in the picture above?  She may actually be thinner than a Barbie doll.

When I encourage a child to be herself, I mean that she should embrace who she looks like without all the makeup and accessories.  She doesn't need to disguise her looks with a lot of makeup.  She doesn't need to wear revealing clothes to attract popular friends and cute guys.  She can be beautiful and unique with her natural color of hair and flattering clothes that don't flaunt her body.  God made each little girl to be beautiful.

Perhaps I'm looking too far into the whole "Monster High" line of dolls.  It just bothers me that five and six-year-old girls are going to be playing with and idolizing dolls that dress as darkly and immodestly as these do.

What do you think?

12 comments:

  1. Preach it! And it's not just for little girls either. I volunteer at a preschool and around last Christmas all the boys were talking about "Stinky the garbage truck" and how that was all they wanted for Christmas.

    So their teacher checked it out...and was appalled. Stinky the Garbage truck said all kinds of rude things and emulated exactly what we don't want in our little boys let alone the next generation.

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  2. Oh, I completely agree with you! It's disgusting... I've seen them, too. =/

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  3. Amen! Even more appalling, Google "Monster High Costumes"! Young girls are actually dressed in outfits similar to the dolls. It's horrifying.

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  4. I'm in the UK, so I've never heard of the dolls, but I think it's really sad.. it's such a bad example to set to the girls- and I think that the message of being yourself in that context is awful- it's suggesting, to a degree, that in being yourself, you have to be a monster? Practically applying that to some little girl's life- what sort of connotations do we hold with being a monster, and how are they going to act if they want to be one? And that in being yourself, you have to conform to being a monster from a pre-specified set of dolls? That's sad. Being yourself is, as you said, being who God created you to be, surely, and I don't necessarily think that God created each and every little girl thinking, of them in monster high outfits..
    I don't think you're reading too far into it, at all- it bothers me too, although I think that's pretty obvious from the length of this ;)

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  5. I think your right on! I would not want my 6 year old sister playing with these. What's even more disgusting is when you go on amazon and see all the reviews from parents who bought these for their kids.

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  6. I'm 19 years old & I collect these myself + think they are so cute but.. I don't think they should be in the childrens toy section as they really don't set a good example of being yourself I completly agree with you!

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  7. Not to knock you of your high horse, but ehrm... that Draculaura you're holding is the beach edition. It's her swinsuit. Of course it's "skimpy". Darculaura's everyday outfits actually have the most fabric of the entire main cast's clothing.

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  8. Ummm... same as the post above.
    The Draculaura you are holding up was a beach edition.

    I also highly doubt kids are reading as deeply into these toys as you guys are. My kids play with them and they are fine. Besides you are all being very judemental. Since when is a female a slut just because she isn't fully covered up?

    BTW Draculaura is a vegan vampire, there is nothing dark and scary about that.

    Take your minds out of the gutter!!!

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  9. they are not bad. and what do you mean lots of makeup they dont have that much on. by the way are you thirsty cus i could give you some
    hater-ade your hating on them so much.

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  10. I can see both sides of the story i am 12 and i have them not the beach editions though they aren't bad and they are only meant for girls 10 and up and what they meant by say be yourself be uniqe be a monster was we all have flaws and we should embrase them and not follow the latest trend just like all of the monster high dolls do

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  11. I too have had my questions about these dolls. I don't like the dark image. God says to come out of the dark into the light. But I do also believe that little girls do not see these dolls as we do. They look and see a toy that is different in color and hair. My little girl doesn't have one. But she has played with her friends. She has no idea they are sexual. No child should have realization of any doll being sexual. Its in how you teach them. If you teach them how to dress and what's appropriate they will know that its not OK. as far as the TV show goes I'm not too sure about that and probably won't let her watch it but as far as playing with just the doll as long as it is not related to be something it doesn't need to be then I really don't know I guess it's a personal choice.

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