On a slightly related note, my oldest child cringes when I talk to her about sex but listens to sexually explicit pop music and looks at internet pornography without irony. I’ve explained to her that if she is curious, I’d prefer having a conversation with her as opposed to trying to figure out what the hell happened to all my internet cookies, and I explain in detail what these songs and images are really saying. I’m not dumb enough to think it will stop her, but I want to give her a facet of awareness about this insidious stuff that she may not have had before.

Unfortunately, I also thought that once I reached a certain age, my “outer shell” would fall off to reveal a thin, beautiful (blonde?) woman underneath….man, oh manichevitz, was I wrong! LOL

But, as I don’t have any kids — and highly doubt I will….I can only hope that BFD only houses a smattering of the fab women who will encourage their girls (and boys) to resist cultural brainwashing….

It might be worth noting that I played with Barbies to my heart’s content as a child. I also played with Micro Machines, demanded the toy car Happy Meal whenever McDonald’s did that “boys get cars, girls get dolls” crap, and was a raging tomboy when I wasn’t having tea parties. My mom didn’t restrict my access to toys (except based on price and safety, of course), and I think that was a good call on her part. I knew Barbie was just a doll, just like I knew real cars were bigger than a couple inches long and didn’t change colors in water. I’m not questioning the parenting of anyone who’s chosen to keep their home a Barbie-free zone; just saying she didn’t do me any harm.

One thing I just have to say: if we’re all feminists here, why are we resorting to the ultimate female insult and dismissing other women as sluts and whores? I understand no one wants their 8-year-old becoming a sex object, but grown women who enjoy sex and seek out partners with whom to have it aren’t immoral monsters. Why can’t we just address the problem at hand (little girls being encouraged to dress like sexually mature women) without degrading other women by saying we don’t want our daughters to dress like “sluts”? How about just saying we want them to dress age-appropriately?

As a pre-teen, they also provided me with some great reading material, the most memorable being a book about preparing for adolescence that emphasized healthy self-esteem and not falling into the “insecurity trap.”

As a result of these and other things, I never really struggled with my image in my teens like many of my friends did, and I didn’t have a particularly beautiful body, either! I had a big nose (still do!), plenty of pudge, zits, and greasy hair, but I learned to do the best I could with what I had. In fact, it wasn’t until my early twenties that I realized I’d been medically considered to be in the “overweight” category the whole time!

I’d like to think that my laid-back, optimistic personality was the cause of my accepting attitudes, but it probably had a lot more to do with how my parents raised me.

She’s two…and the Daycare people call her the tomboy of the room and I’m proud of that.

I don’t know how it will be later…
All I have is the way my mom raised me and what I hope to do better.

I’m not going to force things on her…but I will let her know what I think is important and why.

I will dress tastefully myself and teach her that attractiveness is deeper than just how much skin you show or the number on your jeans.

All I hope for my daughter is that she becomes an interesting personality of her own.

I mean, it’s pratically advertising to the types of adults who would pick up children like that, if you know what I mean. That’s what really disgusted me.

So basically perhaps it should be asked, is DQ now promoting ads for pedophiles?