Bratz Dolls: Too Sexy and Sweatshop Labor
Thankfully, my daughter has not entered the world of Bratz (with the exception of a toothbrush). Recently, Mothering.com asked readers to take action on this over sexy product. According to Mothering.com, “The Bratz—whose wardrobes include miniskirts, fishnet stockings, and bikinis—were recently singled out the by American Psychological Association for contributing to the sexualization of young girls.” Bratz is marketed in schools through Scholastic via their book fairs and book clubs. If you feel this is inappropriate, please click here to tell Richard Robinson, President and CEO of Scholastic Inc., that commercially- driven, sexualized stereotypes do not belong in our schools.
Furthermore, Bratz dolls are produced in a sweatshop in China. Women are forced to work seven days a week, 94.5 hours a week for $4.13 a day. Furthermore, according to the National Labor Committee, “The factory wants to fire all the workers and then bring them back as temporary workers with contracts of just one to eight months, which would strip them of any legal rights they might have. As it is, the workers are denied sick days as well as work injury and health insurance.” These workers are paid about 17 cents per doll they assemble, bringing the total cost of production to $3.01 per doll. In this country, the dolls are marked up 428 percent for retail sale. More bad news about Bratz from the National Labor Committee:
* Workers denied work injury and health insurance, in direct violation of China’s law.
* Taking a sick day results in loss of three days’ wages.
* Workers failing to meet their production goals must remain working—unpaid—until the target is met.
* Ten workers share a small dorm room, sleeping on metal bunk beds. There is no shower or TV.
* If a worker breaks a doll, she is docked five hours’ wages.
Toys like this make me happy I have two boys!
Personally, I don’t understand the huge appeal of these dolls. Their oversized heads just make them look ugly. I have two daughter’s and thankfully they haven’t asked for one yet but I’m dreading the day when it comes. One of my friends has a five year old daughter that passed with flying colors when her turn came. She went to the mall with her grandfather by herself and when he asked if she would like one, replied that they were “ugly and demeaning to women”. Which in a huge sense, they are. My husband and I are still debating Barbie but even he said no Bratz were allowed in the house.
my younger daughter loves these toys.
thanks for sharing
BRAVO for this post, and bravo to Mothering.com!
I just wrote my letter to the company president. I honestly doubt that it will make a lot of difference to them, though, as Scholastic seems more than willing to throw goodwill out the window for cash.
We will be approaching our local school board about this matter.
In my opinion and that of all of the mothers I know is that these are awful images for our children to see and none of the parents I know allow these dolls in their homes.
I guess the part that bothers me more than any other is that Scholastic is pushing (resisting the urge to use another word here) these on little girls in a mandatory setting.
Not going to school isn’t an option for children, so the idea that innocent children will be exposed to non-educational, harmful, sexualized false images that destroy self-esteem in a captive atmosphere is sickening.
Barbie was one thing, but the Bratz dolls take it up a notch. I signed the petition as well. Every voice counts! Unfortunately, these dolls send out a conflicting message and it’s asinine to defend them on the grounds that the characters are models of friendship, loyalty and community service. They are playing on the fact that sex sells!
The sweat shop argument just sealed the deal. There will be no Bratz in my house.
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[...] criticized Scholastic in the past for contributing to the sexualization of young girls by marketing Bratz in schools through their book fairs and book clubs, and I have been sorely [...]