Friday, December 25, 2009

Why Anatomically Correct Dolls?

In my search for the best anatomically correct dolls, I found a surprising amount of opposition.  Even some of our family members didn't understand why we wanted Isla to have a couple of anatomically correct dolls.  What started out as a simple quest for a good Christmas toy turned into an interesting debate with friends and family.

Why would we want Isla's dolls to have genitals.  Simple:  Gasp!  She has genitals.  So do all of her baby friends, and every other human being I know of.  Why would her dolls have faces, arms, hands, feet, and bottoms like her, but in the place of a vagina, only a flat spot?  Rag dolls barely resemble real-life babies, so their missing genitalia isn't an issue for me.  The baby dolls she likes, though, are of the plastic, extremely lifelike variety, and I don't want my daughter thinking there is something wrong with her because she has a vagina rather than smooth plastic in her diaper.

An argument against anatomically correct baby dolls is that it would make kids prematurely interested in genitals, and cause exploration.  I think we can all agree that this happens with or without dolls, and maybe exploration with one another would be less important if children could answer those questions by looking at their dolls.  

Another thought - what about siblings?  When we have another baby, I bet he or she will have genitals.  Would the "progressive and understanding" women who are so against anatomically correct dolls consider a new baby to "...numb [our children] to the sacred nature  of our bodies," or see the new baby as "...adding to the pile of [nudity]?"  Then why on earth would a doll?

I'll have to finish this when I have more time, but please post if you have any ideas that can enlighten me in either direction.

4 comments:

  1. It is amazing how no one protest all of the magazines and books at the grocery store checkout with women wearing next to nothing while straddling a motorcycle yet you mention an anatomically correct doll...and wow....who let the debate team out! People are funny! I want my boys to grow up to be caring involved fathers who support their wives and view family life as a blessing!

    Amanda @ www.moderngranolamom.com

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  2. If you come across one for boys, let me know. When we get undressed for bed Wolfe likes to undress his doll, including the underwear. As you know, we are going through potty training and talk a lot about our genitalia. When the boxers came off his doll he looked at me and asked 'penis?'. Now when we undress the doll I feel uncomfortable saying 'doll doesn't have a penis, he's not a real boy'. I've half a mind to stitch one on!

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  3. You should! They have good ones at Summer for Kids, both girls and boys, as well as infants and toddlers, and you can order from many different ethnicities. We ordered a really great Asian girl, who actually "belongs" to Lyra, but is Isla's new favorite.

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