Dolls were around back then. From simple baby dolls, to the extravagant hourglassy-figured dolls of today. Dolls are to help stimulate the imagination. Back then, it was to help children develop a sense of caring, now, the popular dolls stimulate the children to imagine being a teen, having a boyfriend (Ken), and being a snob.

It just evolved the wrong way. *sigh*

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whatever happened to cute little dolls and you just carry them. Where you see a little dangling her barbie or ragedy ann on her tiny fingers.... lol. I think those barbie dolls represent the innocence of a little girl. Now until they came up with Bratz some kind of trashy doll making girls jump to "puberty" faster. lol. They're trying to make little girls grow up to be "Mean girls" like from the movies and stuff. That's no way to be teacher our younger generation. Its those parents that don't care and buy their daughters these things. We need more responsible parents. Like the ones that block bad rating tv shows and the one that install kidpatrol on the computer to protect them from porn or whatnot. Of course they're annoying but the dolls need to go away especially the Bratz one.

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I played with dolls as a child. None of them really looked like me. Im so glad there are dolls there are more representive of little girls around the world. It upsets me that dolls are still way too skinny, it doesnt help with girls self image. Of course it takes more than a doll to destroy a childs self esteem but it doesn help when they look anorexic and dress like tramps so they can get the guy.

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Well, I think that anything in moderation can be a good thing if used correctly. Little baby dolls for kids is a good thing, because it helps to nurture the mothering instinct of little girls. However, I do not believe that children under the age of 7 or so should be allowed to play with ANY kind of makeup (kiddie or regular) without constant supervision. Otherwise, you end up with kiddie nail polish all over the family cat! lol Anything of a normally neutral nature (i.e. dolls) may be used to affect a mind for good or bad, all depending on outside influence (i.e. parents, tv ads, etc). Personally, I don't think that young children should be deprived of little baby dolls to play with. I do believe, however, that these little Bratz dolls, and their ilk, are nothing more that commercialism propaganda to buy more stuff to go with the dolls you've bought. Not cool. Now, some may say that Barbies fall in the same category, but I still play with my Mom's Barbie with my little cousins and stuff. Barbies, I think, are the quintessencial doll for anyone. I personally still collect some of the ethnic varieties and the like for display purposes. So, basically, what I'm trying to say is that dolls can be helpful or they can be hurtful, depending on how the little child is taught what they are for.

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Besides most dolls being used for sending a bad example for a future generation of kids, they are also annoying. Every time I see a doll commercial [ whether it be Barbie or Strawberry Shortcake or whatever ], I just change the channel or shake my head in some sort of disgust. The worst doll commercials must be the BRATZ dolls. Now those are just whack. These are probably the big contenders when it comes to "infiltrating the minds of young children with teenage angst".

The same goes for GI Joes and boy "dolls" as well [ if you know what I mean by boy "dolls" ]. They send a message that they should be carrying around weapons, that they should get beefed up, and other trivial little messages. I'll admit that I had a GI Joe, but once I was old enough to realize that it was not
only boring, but also useless, I threw it away.

Not all kids will get effected by the dolls and "GI Joe" figures, but I think many will
be exposed to some of the messages they send.

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