You thought My First Stripper Pole was bad (which was thankfully taken off the shelves), but it looks like there’s a new toy in town selling the sexualization of young girls.
This one isn’t a pole dancer kit per se, but a pole dancer doll who goes up and down and all around! There might be divided opinions on the popularization of pole dancing as a form of fitness or even the consideration of it as an Olympic Sport, but teaching young girls and giving them toys highlighting a dance that seems to continue its historical purpose – for the male gaze – is just not okay.
h/t to T-Square.
24 Comments
Whoever came up with that product and designed it, needs to be punched in the face. This is just fucking sick, dude.
This is but one in a series of five Michelle Bachmann-related dolls. There’s also Astronaut, Travel Agent, Unhinged Reactionary Minnesota Congresswoman, and Homemaker.
Forget blaming the patriarchy for just a moment. Those eyes will haunt the dreams of children.
I heard way more about that terrible breastfeeding doll than I’ve hear about this actually terrible doll. It makes me ill to know that this doll exists and worse, that parents will purchase this doll for their daughters.
Does anyone else find the juxtaposition of the pole dancing with the little girl dress the doll has on, like, extra super fucked up?
I noticed that too. It would be a lot less creepy if it were a “barbie”-like doll becuase at least they look like post-pubescent adults. This is a doll that looks like a little girl sexualizing the image of actual little girls.
To clarify- It would still be really fucked up if the toy had an adult looking doll, but this is scarier because it doesn’t just put the idea of sex object as something to aspire to when grown into people’s minds but the presence of a child as a sex object.
I get what you mean. It’s like the pole dancing wasn’t offensive enough, they had to add that whiff of pedophilia.
im trying to read the words on the packaging.
i got:
style
interesting (that’s always a selling point. it’s “interesting”)
music
flash?
up and down
go round and round
it seems to have the ring of a poorly made kiosk toy. something that will only sell in the lowest of low markets – but kids in that group deserve healthy toys, too.
i have to wonder if the original may have been an adult novelty. someone made the connection of the music box dolls (i had iceskaters that went around on magnets) and they needed to unload the bases so they stuck a child doll on it.
That’s just…wow. And I agree that the doll they put on it makes it that much more fucked up.
DOES ANYONE KNOW WHO THE MANUFACTURER IS?
There are tons of blogs online about this product, but I cannot find who makes it. My friends and I would like to write/petition the company.
I wonder, does the doll come with other accessories like clear heels and miniature dollar bills?
WTF??? This is just repulsive. Who dreams up this sit?
This is a totally toy inappropriate for a child. That said, an internet search reveals that the earliest article about this was in Weekly World News – a satire paper known for (probobly delibarately) blurring the boundaries between real news and stuff they simply made up.
As well as the fact that there appears to be no mention of who actually makes this ‘toy’, I am beginning to suspect that this story is a hoax. I certainly hope so.
I hope you’re right.
There are no defenses of pole dancing that do not also suggest that the toys should ship with a male doll as well as a female doll.
Uh,
homemaker?
I agree. What next, porn star doll? Porn stars and strippers are the 21st century version equivalent of housewives in the 50′s. The problem is people would rather slut shame rather than see that the reason these things are wrong is because it demeanes women and sexually objectives them.
I am disgusted by this beyond words.I love pole fitness but this is disgusting, sexualizing, and fetishizing of young girls.
this has to be a joke, or, if it’s real, a gag product, like penis pasta or something.
i don’t even let my daughter have bratz, because i’m a *meen mommy*!
Fetishizing for whom? Do you think that the young girls at which the product is ostensibly aimed are intended to fetishize the pretend young girl?
I usually get outraged easily, but this one is leaving me cold. I just can’t quite trace a line from what a weird idea this is to what harm it might possibly do.
Somebody walk me through the steps?
Like, in the actual world, there is such a thing as pole dancing, and almost always when a woman dances around and/or on a pole, she starts off dressed provocotively, and proceeds to dance licentiously and remove her clothing. I can see why a doll that did any of those things would be questionable for consumption by children.
But this doll could not possibly appear to be more chaste or less suggestive. So if you pulled it from the toy collection of an adult man, you might have some cause for concern because you can make assumptions about his contextual backgrounds for both the stripper pole and the childish-seeming doll.
But if this toy really did fall into the hands of a little girl… what do you suppose it could possibly do to her? What message does the doll contain or reinforce that’s likely to do harm? The fact is, it’s completely DE-sexualized.
I think that a pertinent question is: what are we worried is going to happen? Who is the potential victim of this product, and what are they in danger of?
I’m not saying I hope this is the hot stocking stuffer this year… but if it were, then what?
Also, don’t get the Peekaboo Pole story twisted; it’s not for children and it’s not marketed for children at all. Don’t trust UK tabloids!
Its creepy because of the pedophilia factor.