Berjuan Toys, based in Spain is bringing a breast feeding doll to the U.S. Proponents say that the doll is designed to teach nurturing skills. Those in opposition believe that it is just one more unsuitable toy that could force young girls to grow up too fast.
Here’s how the breast feeding doll works. A little girl puts on a halter that comes with the doll. Flower petals on the halter fit over the girl’s breasts. When the child brings the doll’s mouth to the flowers the doll makes a sucking sound. And there you have it, a pretend mother breast feeding her baby.
Things have certainly progressed from the days when toy makers created soft and cuddly dolls that cried, drank from a tiny bottle, and peed. In the same decade talking baby dolls arrived on the market. In 1959, Barbie moved like a new kid on the block into the doll neighborhood, and her curvaceous body had some parents saying “Enough already!” But it wasn’t. Barbie soon got a boyfriend doll named Ken, and OMG did the controversy heat up. Now fast forward to the present where the debate revolving around the breast feeding doll is hotter than a ticket to a Lady Gaga concert.
The main concern of many adults is whether the formally named Breast Milk Baby is an appropriate toy or one designed to encourage little girls to emulate adult behavior when they should be enjoying the innocence of childhood. And, in light of the fact that the NCMEC reports that 800, 000 children under the age of 18 turn up missing each year, I can only wonder if a young girl sitting alone on a park bench “breastfeeding” her doll would be just one more attractive target for a pedophile lurking nearby.
Speaking of adult behavior, when I see young children made up, dressed up and then put on stage to perform like gyrating vamps in a child beauty pageant, I can’t help but think of Jon Benet Ramsey and the potential for more child abuse. Three weeks ago, one of the children from the cable TV show Toddlers and Tiaras shook her booty while performing “Cutie Patootie” on The View. And not to miss a beat, the French magazine Cadeaux recently drew much criticism for publishing steamy and sexualized images of a ten year old model wearing stiletto heels. According to one TV talk program some of the photos in the spread were too risqué to show the audience.
Zara Bokhari, in an article for the International Business Times, interpreted the issue this way, “This . . . is the antithesis of what childhood in our society should be; a child being exposed to a world she is not yet equipped to deal with solely to serve the needs of the adults around her.” Does that imply that the bottom line is money, mother’s egos and child exploitation?
Some people see nothing wrong with little girls strutting their infantile bodies or pretending to breastfeed dolls, after all, they say, the latter is a natural act for mothers. Mother, yes. Children, no. Who hasn’t already seen too many underaged children running the streets – some toting babies of their own – because they were forced to grow up too soon? Shouldn’t children be allowed to experience the innocence and joy of childhood without being compelled to “play grownup”?
So, what’s next? Anatomically correct dolls are already available. Is it just a matter of time before the toy store shelves are filled with dolls that simulate intercourse? How many years will it be before someone overhears a tantrum throwing child in a toy store yelling to her parent, “But I don’t want that one. I want the Sexmates dolls!” You can sit there shaking your head in disbelief, but while you are doing it ask yourself — in today’s society do you really believe that it can’t happen?