Monday, May 30, 2011

America was scandalized by a baby doll that promotes breastfeeding

There are tons of make-believe toys for kids out there.  Toys to pretend a kid is a doctor or a handy-manny or a nurse or a cook or a homemaker or a gardener or a soldier or whatchamacallit.  So a toy that makes a 5 or 6 yr old little girl pretend they're moms that breastfeed their babies? What could be wrong with that?

El Bebé Glotón translated as The Baby Glutton

A spanish toy company released a baby doll that comes with a halter top that has 2 decorative flowers that are supposedly the nipples where the baby doll would nurse.  When the baby doll is put near these supposed nipples in the form of flowers, the nursing commences.  The flowers have sensors that activates the suction of the baby doll and making sounds like it is nursing. 

Here's a video demonstration of the toy:


Ok, anyone flipping out with the idea?  I am! But In a good way.  But before I elaborate on my opinion about that, let's talk about how America flipped out with the idea... flipped out in a totally negative way.  Conservative parents and parties were outraged.   

Fox News was one of 'em conservative parties who loudly expressed their concern, outrage, ridicule and mockery about this remarkable toy.  Yes, remarkable it is for me.  Anyways, back to Fox news... Bill O'reilly, the presenter of the show The O'reilly Factor, has regarded this toy as a toy that does a lot of harm to the children. Say, what?? According to him, this toy sexualizes the young kids and "can promote early pregnancy to children and adolescents".  Fox News editor managing health editor Dr. Manny Alvarez is another one of them that are against this toy.  According to him, "It's like introducing sex education in first grade instead of seventh or eighth grade," said Dr. Alvarez. "Or, it could inadvertently lead little girls to become traumatized. You never know the effects this could have until she's older."  In addition, from a Fox News article states: "Dr. Manny Alvarez, managing health editor of FOXNews.com, said although he supports the idea of breast-feeding, he sees how his own daughter plays with dolls and wonders if Bebe Gloton might speed up maternal urges in the little girls who play it."

Some even more tremendously ridiculous comments from hosts and guests in Good Morning America were "That is just gross", " I would never buy my daughter that toy", "It can promote early sexuality and even pedophilia". 

Some more comments:

“That’s not cool,” Lori Reynolds, of El Paso, Texas, told KFOXTV.com. “No, I would never get that for my child.”

“What’s next?” wrote Eric Ruhalter, a parenting columnist for New Jersey’s Star Ledger. “Bebe Sot — the doll who has a problem with a different kind of bottle, and loses his family, job and feelings of self-worth? Bebe Limp — the male doll who experiences erectile dysfunction? Bebe Cell Mate — a weak, unimposing doll that experiences all the indignation and humiliation of life in prison?

Really now, people????

Ok, enough of these negative comments as I am starting to really get outraged by these narrow-dirty-minded friends of big formula milk companies.

What is the world coming in to? What kind of person would think that just because this baby doll immitates act of breastfeeding will make young girls become aware of sexuality and probably would go out and try to make their own baby because their maternal urges have started too early too soon?  Those comments from this columnist Eric Ruhalter comes from a person who is sick in the mind, I tell you.

Play dolls that come with feeding bottle has long been in the market for as long as formula milk was introduced in the minds of unsuspecting moms.  So baby girls taking care of dolls as if their own babies, feeding them with feeding bottles is not promoting early maternal instict? Ah, no? Just what? Caregiver or nanny instict? So that makes it safer and child friendly?  Toy guns, solider costumes for kids - arent these promoting early violence to kids? Toys like handy-manny or toys for cleaning the house, isn't these promoting early working-instinct to kids? Are we supporting child labor? Come on now, people.

So it's ok to promote to kids the "instict" of giving formula bottles to baby dolls rather than the more natural and better choice - breastfeeding? 

Since when does breastfeeding connotes sexual?  Only to dirty minds... only to dirty sick minds. 

Breastfeeding is one of the most tender act of parenting for me and motherly instinct doesn't just mean wanted to get laid and get pregnant and have a baby... motherly instinct is more than anything means the instict to care and protect someone.  According to Cambridge dictionary: to treat a person with great kindness and love and to try to protect them from anything dangerous or difficult.

Kids especially young girls have their mother instinct in them naturally.  Why is it that girls love to have baby dolls and feed them and change their clothes and take care of them just like how they see their moms take care of them? Because human, woman, girls no matter how young have motherly instinct in them... in different intensity and levels one might say.

How can we put malice to something so innocent and pure and tender and natural and humanly instinctive and nurturing and all that is good? 

Sometimes this overly conservative double-standard society gets into my nerves. 

I've mentioned that it's a remarkable toy for me.  Remarkable because for the first time there's a toy that supports the most natural way and healthiest way of feeding babies in history of humanity.  Although I have to mention that using flowers as "nipples" for breastfeeding is kind of off and can perhaps confuse the kids... but it's just a very small detail.  What's really positive about this toy is that it makes the babies be more aware of the more natural way of feeding babies - which is through breastfeeding and not feeding bottle.

Then as if it's not enough that women nowadays are having a hard time being successful in breastfeeding,  some cities in America passed a law that prohibits breastfeeding in public to well, control nudity in the city.  What in the world... so breastfeeding in public now is considered as public nudity.

Whey can't these kind of people just stick their noses into how they can prevent 16-yr olds to get ahold of guns and become rambos and kill people like they are bugs and stop referring to breastfeeding as something pornographic and not appropriate for children to become aware of, for crying out loud!

3 comments:

  1. Some of us Americans are nuts - but what can you do. I totally agree with your passionate rant. Can't have too many of those. Hi! I'm your newest follower. I found you on the VoiceBoks linky. Hope you'll come visit and follow my blog too (if for no other reason than to see your button posted up there since I'm grabbing it) Smiles and Thanks!

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  2. I don't have an e mail address, so i'm leaving a comment, You are the winner of the Ella Monde giveaway. Please contact me at hopegior@gmail.com. Congratulations!

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  3. Hello! I support breastfeeding! I'm a new follower, from the Magnificent Monday Hop. Come follow me too?

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