I first started playing with Bratz dolls since they first came out in 2001 when I was 4 years old and they continued to be my favorite doll until I was 11 or 12. I had hundreds of these dolls, every outfit you could think of…rock angels, wild west, camping, sleepover, bikini, paris etc. etc. and do you know sexually what they made me think or do or dress like?

Nothing.

When you are a kid you dont think about these things. I didn’t even realise they were considered “slutty” and “bad for kids” until I was much much older. All that was going through my mind was “Oh cute doll” “Oh her outfit is purple I like purple” “Oh soft pretty hair” Not ONCE did I ever want to wear the clothes, or want the clothes on me. I dressed and still dress very very modestly. These dolls did not alter my mind or decisions in any way, shape, or form. I liked them because they came with a lot more accesories than barbie, and were a lot more unique and colorful…I got tired of seeing barbies platinum blonde hair over and over again, which, if you think about barbie, she isn’t a very realistic interpretation of a little girl either is she?

If you have noticed, it is only adults who are turning Bratz into sexual, mind bending objects. If you were to ask a child what they thought of Bratz, I can almost guarantee they will just say “Cause its a toy and I like to play with them” every time. Because as children we dont think about things like this, they dont even cross our minds…we dont start analising things until we get older.

Sometimes I think as adults we forget how our minds worked when we were kids, we forget what that amazing obliviousness to everything was like, and we try to make something out of something that isn’t even there.

I never have dressed like a Bratz doll, and I never will. People assume people who played with these dolls as a kid “become the doll” or whatever it is they are thinking and that is not the case at all.

In any case, the simple, undeniable truth is we are not wanting to “be the doll”, we are just “playing with it” and nothing more. Same goes for My Scene, Barbie, Monster high etc. etc. It is just a toy.

Thank you for reading all this if you did.

From, apparently the only girl in the world who played with Bratz dolls her entire childhood and didn’t turn out to be a satanic, slutty, whore.

You haven’t seen all of bratz. Bratz teach girls to never give up and stay determined, and work together. Take the “Bratz Really Rock” movie for instance, the girls worked hard and were determined to forfil their dreams, and in the end, they worked together together to perform a song about friends

And they also teach girls about being individual human beings, take the bratz world passion 4 indivualality playset for an example.

If a person is struck down by a drink-driver whilst crossing a road that is not to say that they consented to being run over, but the fact remains that they would have been less likely to be hit by the car had they been on the pavement – they still could have been, but it would have been less likely.

I am not speaking specifically regarding this case, so please do not try to suggest that I have done and point specifics at me as I have no idea about this case or the people involved and am commenting on the wider subject in general. It would be, for anyone with even a basic level of knowledge of human kinesics, pretty simple to spot the difference between a woman looking blithe, cheeky or even wantonly and one looking hunted, chagrined or downcast. If one walks into a room to meet two friends and find them having sex with a woman, these expressions should be enough for one to observe consent, or otherwise, before removing one’s clothing and joining in.

The question still remains as to how this type of consent could ever be proven. Simply consenting to an act at the time does not (for either party, I may add) prevent someone from later being ashamed of the act. When alcohol or other drugs are involved, that shame could even lead someone to legitimately and truthfully believing that they would not have consented. This is precisely why having intercourse with someone ‘too drunk’ to *knowingly* consent is legally considered rape.

So, is the answer to restrict intercourse only to those entering into a legally binding written contract? Even then this doesn’t allow for one party to change their mind part way through a sexual act. Lest not we forget that if one party changes their mind during intercourse and requests that the act cease, should the other party continue this, too, is legally considered rape.

If we insisted that all acts of a sexual nature be recorded on video for evidence this would surely result in far less intercourse for the vast majority and an increase in false rape claims against the rich and famous by unscrupulous types.

The answer, simply, is that there are grey areas and that there is not a whole lot we can do about it. It’s not okay to have sex with someone who doesn’t consent. Consenting with one does not mean consenting with all and consenting to a drink does not mean consenting to sex. But, it’s also not okay to consent to sex and then cry rape afterwards when you didn’t enjoy it, feel ashamed or want your name in the papers. Unfortunately if we prosecute those who cry wolf too harshly it intimidates legitimate victims into suffering in silence, yet punish them too little and more cry wolf.

The simple answer is that there is no simple answer.

I was somewhat stunned that the course didn’t actually include much in the way of how to teach. I also have some serious reservations about the behaviour management that was taught. Mostly I was infuriated by the massive amount of busy work in the course and huge overlap between subjects. They could have made the course 30% shorter and missed no content whatsoever. Instead, they are making it 100% longer. That should weed out anyone who has anything else to do with their lives other than teach. /teacher ed rant

However, in the context of what needs to be done to improve the education system, all of that is by the by (except possibly the long term effects of discouraging mature age students from retraining as teachers). Even if we want to talk about improving teacher quality (and I agree that there is way too much emphasis, which translates to blame, placed on teachers), focussing on training is missing the point. Teachers need to be treated as professionals, to have the exhausting and emotionally draining nature of their work recognised. They need to be paid as someone who is 5 or 6 years degree qualified is paid. And personally, I think they need sabbaticals – a chance to recharge the emotional batteries and an opportunity to step back from the classroom and look at their profession academically for a while. To watch other professionals do things in other ways and be inspired by it.

But really, if we want a magic bullet, the closest thing we’ll get is to get rid of segregated schooling. No private schools, no single sex schools, no selective schools. It wouldn’t be enough, but it would help. This process we have of taking just about every kid with advantage and putting them with other kids with advantage and leaving the less privileged kids behind is an abomination.

Oh yeah, and chucking out most of the syllabi would help too. 🙂

I am writing this, because this has happened to me in the city of the Johns’ brothers. Even though the article was written in 2009, the “rape culture” is still well and truly alive in 2011. Please, can sympathetic people on this blog sign my petition to stop all this.

This is the link.
https://www.change.org/#search/stop%20the%20rape%20culture%20of%20lake