(no subject)

[missroserose]

Bratz products discontinued from Scholastic book catalogs at behest of advocacy groups
I'm not sure how I feel about the censorship aspects, to be honest, but I'll say this much - score one for good taste.

Comments

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

There is no censorship aspect. It was private advocacy, not government intervention.

And thank God, those "bratz" things are horrid.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Not government censorship, no, but societal censorship can be just as destructive, and I see a distressing current moving toward the "children should never be exposed to anything sexual EVER UNTIL THEY'RE 18 OMG" mode of thought that's just as harmful as having them constantly bombarded with sexual images.

That said, yes, the Bratz are...*shudder* Ugh. Sexualization of children aside, those things fall right into the Uncanny Valley for me. So I can't feel too bad about the whole thing. But I still can't help but think that our time would be better spent combating the societal issues that make such items attractive to young girls, rather than banning the items themselves. For all the "We're only making them because people buy them" argument is a cop-out, there's some truth to it. It frustrates me, the same way it frustrates me watching people fight to the death over pro-life vs. pro-choice when they could be using all that energy to focus on the common ground between the two positions - namely, that we need to work towards building a world where abortions aren't necessary, because every child is wanted.

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

I can see where you're coming from. For my part, the Bratz are obnoxious aside from any sexualizing. Plus, I think Scholastic should not include them because...well, they're not EDUCATIONAL. And Scholastic, specifically, is meant to be for educational products such as books, school supplies, and such.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Another good point. I always thought that was the case, too, but they seem to have gotten farther and farther away from "educational" and into "merchandising to kids and their parents". Not that surprising, given that that's where the money really is, but sad nonetheless.

[gracewanderer.livejournal.com]

My primary complaint?

The cover of Dancin' Divas doesn't have a redhead on it. This is a clear case of discrimination and underrepresentation of minorities.

;)

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

An outrage! We should start a letter-writing campaign to demand equal representation of unrealistic feminine imagery everywhere! I'll stuff envelopes. :D