The Culture of Bratz by Natasha Quijano - Criticism of the Bratz dolls

Formation of Children

The Culture of Bratz Dolls

Natasha A. Quijano

My youngest sister recently told me that at Church another child asked her what was her favorite program and who was her favorite actress. The girl told my sister that she liked Hillary Duff and Britney Spears. You can see Duff all over now, in the magazines, posters, etc. In one poster she’s showing a lot of bare skin, which helps to explain why many little girls desire those immodest clothes. Britney Spears has become an icon for many young girls around the world, who also admire her lifestyle of partying.

A Bratz doll: a promiscuous spirit

My sister told the girl that she didn’t know these idols because “We don’t watch cable.” I wonder why.... Maybe because of all the garbage promoted on it. The saints are the ones children should be emulating and admiring, not Britney Spears, or Hillary Duff, or the Bratz dolls.

This brings me to the topic of my article, the Culture of Bratz dolls. What in the world does a devout Catholic have to do with this doll, which emphasizes all the things that oppose the customs of a Catholic culture? For the Catholic customs are, in fact, being attacked.

If you look at a Bratz doll, you’ll notice lips the size of Goldie Hawn’s in First Wives Club, when she had them enlarged to look more “attractive.” Some Bratz dolls are dressed in skin tight jeans, others wear mini skirts.

The faces of these “dolls” would have been regarded with some horror by children and their mothers in the past. With all their make-up and promiscuous spirit, they are like miniature women of the street. When you come to think of it, what Julia Roberts wore in Pretty Woman, in which she played a prostitute, is what these dolls wear, yet children and mothers love them. They say they’re cute.

On that note, one can assume that to such mothers, children looking “sexy” is something cool. If a Bratz doll came to life she would be anything but wholesome, or cute. So much for innocence and modesty. Didn’t you know those are out of style?

A traditional doll shows modesty and decorum

Notice also the rebellious expression of the face of the Bratz dolls, which say “I do things my way.” Is this the attitude we want to stimulate in young Catholic girls? No submission to good authority, no sweetness, simplicity and modesty, like dolls of the past.

Little House on the Prairie dolls, Mommy and Baby dolls (not the one where mommy’s cleavage is popping out), or puppy Molly would be wholesome. Unfortunately, many have either never known, or have abandoned the decorum and decency of bygone days.

Remember the prophecy of Our Lady of Good Success about these times: “Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to ensnare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. In this supreme moment of need of the Church those who should speak will fall silent.”

In the end, parents and children have to choose between the Culture of Bratz or the Culture of Truth and Holiness.

Natasha A. Quijano writes from Sugar Land, Texas.

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Posted February 5, 2006

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