If you made a doll for your child, what would it look like?

And what would it say? Rational Revolution ponders the question:

Bratz Dolls are marketed towards the 4 to early teen age-group and portray sexy, fashion savvy, self-centered, consumerist characters with lots of "needs" and "plenty of attitude". Bratz imagery abounds with sexual cues and material accessories. The makers of Bratz Dolls claim that they are just giving children what they want, that dolls are just harmless pieces of plastic, and that it's ultimately the parent's responsibility to choose if they think the dolls are appropriate for their child or not.

As psychologists know, dolls are powerful learning devices for young people that can greatly influence worldviews, and of course the makers of Bratz Dolls know this too, they just deny it publicly. Capitalists know that young girls brought up playing with Bratz Dolls are more likely to internalize self-centered consumerist lifestyles, and therefore be "better consumers" as they grow up, or even while they are young for that matter.

Dolls have long been a way of passing cultural norms on to children. In traditional societies, however, where production was home based or community based, parents, or at least community members, were who made the dolls that children played with.