At 8, Macie Rosenthal is done with Barbies. “I have a whole collection,” she said, “that I would like to get rid of someday.”
Instead, pride of place on Macie’s toy shelf belongs to Jade, a 10-inch avatar of urban chic, from her exploded hair, inflated lips and tiny wifebeater shirt to her platform boots.
‘Wifebeater shirt?’ Since when has ‘wife beating’ become a fashion statement? [Update: a reader below corrects my lack of fashion sense and terminology by pointing out the “wifebeater” is a specfic type of T-shirt]
Editing, man. Where was the New York Times editor for this story? Asleep at the switch like the Assistant Captain of the Staten Island ferry which crashed into the dock? Remember Jayson Blair? There never seems to be an editor at the Times when you need one.
I hate stories like these because they purport to depict a negative social phenomenon (the sexualization of little girls by the toy industry), but in reality the story pruriently and vicariously allows the reader to experience the tittilation of the sexualized dolls.
I say, “For Shame” to the New York Times.
The thing is… the term “wife-beater” has become common parliance for specifically that type of white undershirt. The times article isn’t actually ADVOCATING wife beating, but using a well-known colloquialism to describe a particular look. Years of media stereotyping about a particular kind of man from Archie Bunker to more modern exploits have shown brutal men all wearing the same style of white undershirt sold by Hanes and Fruit of the Loom. Fact is… the t-shirts in question have become a fashion-statement, and long before this article was written. The writer, LaFeria is observing a trend, not creating one. If you did a little more exploration, you would find a large portion of lesbians and gays in liberal urban areas have years ago reclaimed this fashion statement for themselves. It is only recently that the fashion and music industries have grabbed ahold of this particular item and dressed up young skinny pop stars and models to highlight that urban heroin addict chic.
I think what you missed in the article was the fact tha a number of young girls and magazine editors claim that children relate to these dolls because as one girl said, “It’s fun to have something that looks like you.” That’s the hot-button issue you might consider ranting about… anorexic dolls dressed like hookers that little girls can relate to.
Rachel: I’m in complete agreement with you. I certainly am no fashion maven & had no idea that ‘wife beater shirt’ was a specific type of T-shirt. Thanks for pointing that out to me. But I do think that the writer should’ve assumed that not every reader would have her grasp of fashion terms. She should’ve clarified the term for the fashion-challenged among us.
And yes, the fact that a young girl can say that the doll pictured above “looks like her” is really chilling. I’ve written about some of the ideas you raise in Your Daughter: A Princess for a Price, about Disney’s shameful marketing efforts aimed at young girls.
ok first off you need to pull you head out of your fifth piont of contact look at our world ( that is the world that maters to us) we are riding in a hand basket going one way im sorry but the least of the words problems are wether or not a doll is waring a wifebeater shirt and mini skirt good grief cant you find something to grip about that might acctualy be important?
Aw, go soak your head. Clearly a he-man like you doesn’t give a crap about little girls getting precisely the wrong message about what their self-image should be. In fact, I bet you came to this post hoping to see little girls dressed in nice short skirts for yr viewing pleasure & came away frustrated by my disapproval.
You might also try spell-check or learning to spell.
Hey I’m 13 years old and these dolls have nothing to do with what your kids dress like if you tought your kids how to dress you shouldn’t worry about Bratz they give off a teenage look ,but they can be played with by all ages.Any comments please send to my email.