For years children in America have been exposed to dolls and other toys made of crappy materials from China, dolls and toys that look like everything from the monster in your worst nightmare to prostitutes giving it all away.
Now comes a doll from Spain that -- gasp -- promotes BREASTFEEDING.
Contain your horror, please.
I know, I know, there's nothing more subversive, more reckless, more abhorrent than a woman using her breasts for the one thing they were intended. The thought of encouraging little girls to think about someday nursing their babies instead of giving them the more civilized (not) bottle of artificial flavors, chemicals, and soy protein is just beyond the pale.
What were the Spanish dollmakers thinking?
Even sadder were the comments of parents interviewed for the story (I originally saw it on Foxnews.com), the ones who said they wouldn't buy such a toy for their daughters because it might traumatize them psychologically or, worse, promote an early interest in sex.
ARE THEY SERIOUS??????????????????????????????????????????????????????
That's like saying my daughters who are 9 and 7 are going to hook up with guys before they're of legal age JUST BECAUSE they've seen me breastfeed their younger siblings.
Prove it.
Children accustomed to being around nursing mothers don't think that's any weirder than, say, bathing, going to the bathroom, eating a sandwich, driving, breathing or sleeping.
If critics of the doll are going to trot out the psychological damage argument, they'll need to include children from the wilds of South America, China, Japan, Russia, Sweden, Africa, and India who routinely breastfeed and witness their mothers and neighbors breastfeeding, too.
African kids are traumatized alright, but by war and poverty and AIDS. I challenge anyone to prove their sleepless nights are the result of witnessing babies feeding at the breast.
In an age when dolls like Barbie and the horrid Bratz collection feature impossibly proportioned bodies or slutty clothes and makeup, I can't get too worked up about a baby doll that makes sucking noises when a child clutches it to her bosom.
What a shame, though, that some folks can.