In recent decades, toy manufacturers and other interests have successfully changed the nature of children's play. Instead of three- and four-year-old boys and girls playing with stuffed animals, balls, cars, trucks, model horses, and other traditional memorabilia of childhood, they learn to fantasize about life as an adolescent. The most influential force behind this trend has been the Barbie doll marketers. I am unalterably opposed to the entire concept! There is in the late 1990s some pressure to tone down the overt sexuality of these figures and make them a little less idealized. On the other hand, the African-American Barbie has been redesigned to be even more of an ideal for black youngsters, and there are now dolls on the ethnic and international market shelves with Native American, Arab, Asian, and Spanish racial characteristics. Rather than being a wholesome reaching out to minorities, this marketing ploy makes matters worse. Now every Spanish kid is even more strongly pulled toward the "adolescence-means-beauty-and-materialism" idol. This is not a positive role model for anyone. Kuwait drew laughter when the nation banned Barbie dolls from its toy market. I can appreciate the Kuwait leaders' motivation completely.
However the plastic dyes are tweaked, the general ideas remain in place. There could be no better method for teaching the worship of beauty and materialism than with this plastic role model and all her fashions and possessions. If we intentionally sought to drill our babies on the necessity of growing up rich and gorgeous, we could do no better. Even if future models go through bust reduction, we are not likely to see an unglamorous or imperfect Barbie doll. Her hair is thick and gleaming -- loaded with "body," whatever in the world that is. Her airbrushed skin is without blemish, except for a little statement on her bottom that she was "Made in Japan." She never gets pimples or blackheads. Not only is Barbie one of the beautiful people but so are all her buddies. Her swinging boyfriend, Ken, is an adolescent composite of Kurt Russell and Young Indiana Jones. These idealized models load an emotional time bomb set to explode the moment a real live thirteen-year-old takes her first long look in the mirror. No doubt about it -- Barbie she ain't.
Yet it is not the physical perfection of these Barbie dolls (and their many competitors) that concerns me most. Of greater harm are the teenage games they inspire. Ken and Barbie go on dates, learn to dance, drive sports cars, get suntans, take camping trips, exchange marriage vows, and have babies (hopefully in that order). The entire adolescent culture, with its emphasis on sexual awareness, is illustrated to tiny little girls who ought to be thinking about more childish things. This places our children on an unnatural timetable likely to reach the peak of sexual interest several years before it is due -- with all the obvious implications for their social and emotional health.
We not only teach our small children about adolescent values through their toys, but we hit 'em with an effective one-two punch! Television, particularly the Saturday morning variety, is loaded with teenage idealization. It is pointless to mention the names and plotlines of cartoons, after-school programming, and prime-time sitcoms feeding on the teen market and their younger siblings. These change every time network advertisers make a new study of what teens are spending their billions of discretionary dollars to buy. It isn't that program merchandisers have forgotten that smaller faces are in the line of fire. Fortunes are waiting to be made in shaping desires for the name-brand clothing and cosmetics as soon as possible. Since the U.S. Congress passed the Children's Television Act of 1990, government and social science have been desperately trying to tone down the product promotion as well as the sex and violence in children's TV.
Whatever ratings system and regulations are passed will do minimal good. The most "innocent" of programs design perfect teenage models for the preteen set, who respond with appropriate crushes and fan mail. All this accounts, in part, for the trend toward younger dating and sexual awareness.
Much the same can be said about video games. One recent Japanese import features a cartoon heroine about nineteen or twenty years of age who appears to have been poured into her black leather jumpsuit with the neckline that goes down to somewhere around the belly button. This young ideal is aimed at preadolescent boys, the number one user of such toys being eight- to twelve-year-olds. What values message is this game player soaking up as he helps this sexual dynamo blast away the baddies with her extensive arsenal of weapons? Reports one recent look at this industry: "The video-game industry is being propelled forward by a technological imperative that is reshaping most forms of entertainment. America's telemedia giants . . . are spending billions to turn today's passive television broadcast system into a two-way, interactive information highway capable of delivering not just movies, sitcoms and news on demand, but the world's greatest video games as well."2 The industry has sought to involve as many adults as possible, but the video-game market has not drastically changed over the years. Everyone admits that the number one target is the preadolescent boy.
We cannot isolate our small children from the world as it is, but we don't have to cooperate in turning our babies into teenyboppers.
Parents should also keep a wary eye on the values (not to mention blatant pornography) at the fingertips of the web surfer. Programs are available to lock out a lot of sexually explicit web sites, but with thousands of new sites added daily, these programs are not fail-safe. Nor do they deal with one of the most insidious values bases, the on-line marketplace where tantalizing goodies of every description are described by "SPAM" junk e-mail messages. The world is yours with one click of a mouse (and a credit card number). The pre-credit card set may not be able to buy, but little noses are pressed against the store window. Mom and Dad need to spend some time with children who are into cyberspace. If you can't work the Internet, don't worry; your seven-year-old will explain it. But then you two need to talk about the meaning of some of the things found there.3
I believe it is desirable to postpone the adolescent experience until it is summoned by the happy hormones. Therefore, I strongly recommend that parents screen the Internet, video games, television, and other media influences to which their children are exposed, keeping activities appropriate for each age. And anything that tells your child to be beautiful and rich should be viewed with suspicion. We cannot isolate our small children from the world as it is, but we don't have to cooperate in turning our babies into teenyboppers.
Book: The New Hide or Seek
By Dr. James Dobson