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I don't know exactly how much of the public has had the misfortune of being exposed to these dolls, but it really makes me question the judgment of the masses.  In all the encounters with notions of feminine liberation and women's empowerment I have yet to find somebody who sees the sad state of conditions in the popularity of the Bratz dolls. 

For those of you who aren't aware, Bratz dolls are basically big headed (literally) tiny bodied tramps who have attitude (hence the name).  The dolls are pre-teen at best and are glossed and gussied up little virgin harlots who are accompanied by a series of accessories such as makeup and cell phones.  On one positive note, however, the creators  have opted to equip them with a wildly imaginative and a varied vocabulary consisting of "OMG!"s and "Like, totally!"s.  However, I should probably retract that last statement because that's a woman's choice and should not be criticized.  Parents need to let their daughters learn to manipulate people with their sexuality and only care about superficialities without them being questioned, Dammit!  Because by questioning one's direction you are surely questioning whether or not they deserve rights.  Therefore, if you say "Maybe parents need to teach their girls that throwing on two pounds of makeup before heading off in their mini-skirt to make completely 'rational and mature' decisions in their Junior-High school world is not the best way to go about raising a girl." you are obviously trying to strip all women of even their ability to vote!  Now they are going to have to be escorted when they go out, and that's only to get to the grocery store to cook for the men!  Yes, because by telling a 14 year old girl that she needs to not follow role models like Paris Hilton is refusing her as an intelligent and independent woman. 

Now some may pose the question "But Chase, there's no reason to get upset about these things, they're just dolls!  What about the bigger issues such as abortion rights?"  True.  These dolls and the culture that surrounds this type of socialization do not seem to have any direct influence on something as important as government legislation.  It does however have an impact on the way girls think about themselves and what is important in life - which eventually leads to influencing public policy.  Now, when arguments about women being disproportionately represented in any given field, I begin to see this at least in some part as a causality.  If women aren't even respecting themselves, why would men as a collective be expected to.  I'm not in any way trying to justify mistreatment of women or issues like the glass ceiling, but I am trying to shed some light on some possible causes for the persisting gender issues we are facing today.  Furthermore, it is not correct that it is assumed that just because someone is of the female chromosomal type that anything that affects them is a direct assault on the female collective and is an attempt to subvert them.

It seems like an arbitrary piece of the bigger picture, but with the next generation of women, and voters for that matter, we are going to see the reflections of these influences in our societies.  Teenage girls are already getting breast implants at 16.  The parents who do opt for the surgeries for their daughters chalk it up to "If it makes them happy and it's what they truly want."  It strikes me, when I hear those kinds of statements, as so far out of touch with the needs of the youth today.  Why is it that that statement is one of the first things to justify a decision like that rather than statements trying to shed light on the fact that you don't need to judge a woman by her chest size?  "But this is not a decision entered into lightly by neither the child nor the parents, don't you think they understand it is a big step?"  Of course they understand that it is a dramatic step.  But my problem lies in the fact that they still go through with it.  I know how I thought when I was 16, and going from 16 to 17 even brought on dramatic change.  I'm 20 years old now and 18 seems almost foreign to me.  These kinds of decisions are not found upon healthy and rational thinking. 

We've been so damaged as a society that we are afraid to question or refuse anything that we secretly feel is going to damage us as a society or as individuals.  We are also so hooked on the therapy and addiction of instant gratification that... well... we are at a point where girls at 16 are coaxing their parents into getting them breast implants. 

There is clearly an image crisis in America which we are professing to be fighting yet we integrate our children with these types of images which teach them that that is what is important in life and that bettering yourself as a person is like, totally lame!

My generation, and ever more so the generations after me are being reared with a sense of friendship rather than parenting.  And when parenting actually does come into play, it is so misinformed that it is virtually ineffective. We have children teaching children.  There is no longer such thing as a parent.  So when you have no real parenting going on - no guide or wise mentor - you must look to somewhere else to forge your ideas of what is appropriate and what is not.  To find the role modeling for the majority of children you have to look at the most popular of both the material and social culture of the time.  You have children positioning themselves to appear as the only things they know: Bratz dolls and Paris Hilton for girls, misogynistic gangster rappers and pro-wrestlers for boys.

And even when one finds one of these elusive "parent" creatures, they are so disconnected or scarred by their own pasts that when their child says "no" to their punishments or advice then we hear "I tried my best, I don't know what to do!  They just never listen!"

It's not because you didn't try, it's because you are a pushover. 

Children may be inexperienced but they are smart.  And if you have no true life experience and you couple that with the street-wise human nature to always take the path of least resistance, then you end up where we are today.  True, I cannot speak for the nation as a whole, but I can speak for Bakersfield.  But then maybe this is my narrow view of things which I myself have only picked up by chance meetings with the same situation time after time.