Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Breast Milk Baby - What Do You Think?

I heard about this on Good Morning America a while back but had forgotten about it until they mentioned it again today  because the Breast Milk Baby is coming to the U.S. market, starting with the ASD trade show in Las Vegas July 31.  It's a doll that comes with a special halter top with two flowers positioned where nipples would be and makes suckling sounds when its mouth is brought close to sensors embedded in the flowers.

Apparently, this doll is quite controversial.  There are people who think it over-sexualizes young girls, forces them to grow up too quickly, and even might encourage young girls to want to have babies at a very young age.  Really?  Little girls have been playing with dolls for ages - feeding, changing, rocking, burping, etc.  And, little girls with moms who breastfed their younger siblings have been pretending to breastfeed, too.  I know my little girl did.  She loved her baby dolls, and when I nursed her baby brother, she 'nursed' her baby.  Did it force her to grow up too quickly, make her want a baby at a very young age?  Not any more than all the other things she did with her baby dolls.  The people who don't want little girls playing with these dolls ought to seriously think about taking all dolls away from those little girls.  Little girls pretending to breastfeed, which is completely natural, is really no different than little girls pretending to be mommies and taking care of baby dolls in any other way.

The only problem I have with this doll is that, I can't find the exact selling price anywhere, but I remember from the earlier GMA story that it wasn't cheap.  Why pay so much for a baby doll that simulates breastfeeding, when young girls can pretend just as well with any other doll?

What do you think about the Breast Milk Baby doll?
Enhanced by Zemanta

3 comments:

  1. Oh brother, people up in arms about a doll!! LOL If they were really serious about getting rid of crap that oversexualizes our girls, they should make a stink about the nasty magazines, movies and media that are plastered with stuff that hurts girls!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You know what? I had never in my entire life even TOUCHED a baby until the day Ryan was born. I had never seen someone breastfeed either, and had absolutely no freaking idea what to do. I wish I could have had a doll to teach me! Geez people, calm down. It's okay for boys to play with GI Joe and pretend to use his guns to shoot people, but it's not okay for a girl to play with a doll that teaches her about a function her body was designed for?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Here's a whole discussion I just saw on Facebook about it, and the majority of people who commented are totally against it. I just don't see what the big deal is.

    ReplyDelete

I love your comments! Keep them coming.