Dora the ... Streetwalker?

[Frank Booth]

I KNOW, I KNOW. I'm sure I'm just playing into their hands (any publicity is good publicity, right?) But seriously. Dora the Explorer, you need to put some clothes on.

A teasing (in every sense of the word) silhouette of the "new" Dora to be released this fall has recently made headlines. The previously brainy, non-frilly preschooler is set to turn into something resembling — let's face it — a streetwalker.

No doubt, the tween market is lucrative, even in this economy. No surprise that Mattel wants to get in on some of those bubble-gum-riddled dollars. And I am assuming — so I can sleep at night—that the original preschool Dora the Explorer, in her androgynous shorts and innocent assertiveness, will continue on.

Still, the notion that any given girl, even one whose passions are nature, animals, science and sports, will automatically grow up to show off her thighs in a skirt that would scandalize most high school principals, is simply maddening. Why so sexualized? Why so dumbed-down? (I've harped on the sexualization of young girls before. Quite simply, it does real damage.)

http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2009/03/baggage_check_dora_the_streetwalker.php

This is disgusting. I thought the hyper-sexualization of young girls in this fucked up society had hit rock bottom long ago, but this is a new low.

Dora was one of the few, if not the only, positive mass culture influences on young girls. She was smart, adventurous, self-assured, and looked like a normal kid. But apparently, now that she's been sold to Mattel, she's got to turn slutty to make more money.

How does someone explain this to a 4 year-old girl who idolizes Dora? That if you're a girl, it's not good enough to be smart and independent? That the only way you can grow up is by throwing away your innocence and that "beauty" matters more than anything else?

The executives who made this decision should be fired and never allowed to work in any industry related to children again. Fucking vultures.

[ogneopasno]

1. This pisses me off, too.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

2. Pendejos, the lot of them. nt

[villager]

8. The word "pendejo" is much too underutilized here on DU.

thanks for helping correct the oversight, given its numerous applications! ;-)

[Quantess]

3. I wish I could see a photo so I can decide for myself

how sleazy the Dora doll looks.

[woo me with science]

4. Pictures

Old Dora:



New Dora:




http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-talk-doramar08,0,7372522.story

"....While Mattel hasn't yet revealed the new Dora—which will supplement, not replace, the standard one—a recently released "teaser" silhouette which features a girl with long, flowing hair and a more angular figure has already sparked massive criticism and a petition drive launched by two child psychologists, Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown...."

[mikelgb]

5. Ooh old Dora is risque... showing all that midriff....

[jmm]

10. So longer hair and switching from

velcro to laced shoes makes her a street walker :shrug:

Sexualizing that is almost as bad as looking at teletubbies and questioning their sexuality.

I'll get outraged when they make her look like Bratz doll.

[LisaL]

19. Why does the new Dora seem to have only one sleeve?

[Mamacrat]

26. It's her hair.

I'm pretty sure what looks like a sleeve is a chunk of her hair.

[liberalpress]

31. Why does the new Dora seem to have only one sleeve?

Because the other arm is covered in tattoos

[Control-Z]

23. That silhouette

reminds me so much of my youngest in Kindergarten. She had beautiful flowing waist length hair, and wore the cutest little baby doll and A-line dresses, with tights, and ballet style flats. I couldn't pay her enough to wear what I think is cute at this point. She picks out her own clothes, and almost always wears jeans under her dresses.

The new Dora may be a streetwalker, but it will take more than that picture to convince me.

I think people are confused that the tween Dora is in addition to the young Dora. People grow up, so sometimes cartoons like to do the same. The Flintstones produced teen years with Pebbles and Bambam. No one complained. The Rugrats also produced an older kids version.

I think some people just have trouble accepting change.

[marshall]

28. I read that the old Dora was considered too butch

It's all about perspective, but I would look at it less that they are sexualizing Dora and more that they are feminizing her. Old Dora is very androgynous--short choppy hair, shapeless shirt and shorts. She's the modern version of Peppermint Patty.

[Kalyke]

32. Why would any girl wear a dress to go exploring?

Without seeing anything but the silhouette, it's hard to determine if she's been overly sexualized, but the very idea that girls wear dresses to explore hills and valleys and oceans and islands is just plain STUPID.

[Lithos]

6. Not good...

Am gonna hold final judgment as there are no pictures, but there seems to be enough commentary from those who appear to have seen it to already jaundice my view.

It is hard enough to find good role models for young girls.

L-

[Deja Q]

7. Everybody knows that 'Dora the Whora' was inevitable.

[RoyGBiv]

9. Feh ...

As far as I know, the only thing anyone has seen is the silhouette, and if that's what's got people all worked up ... well, they have too much time on their hands.

I admit to prejudice. I loathe "Dora" as she has been and so does my daughter, so I guess I'm kinda ambivalent.

Where's the Electric Company when you need it ...

[Enrique]

11. I understand this concern, but...

but to say that silhouette resembles a streetwalker is ridiculous. It looks like a girl with a giant head and a short skirt.

[Frank Booth]

12. Well, that was the title of the article. I didn't write it.

But still, the point remains. What's wrong with the way Dora looks now? Are girls who look like that not as good as girls with long, flowing hair and shapely legs? And should we even have to ask these questions about kids in the first place? Couldn't Mattel have left Dora alone? It may seem over the top to get upset about a children's character like this, but the Dora character has a huge influence on millions of kids.


I know many people claim that the utter debasement of mass culture has no pernicious effect, but I don't agree.

[woo me with science]

13. Actually, I think they are keeping the current Dora - just adding

an older, "tween" version of her, too, in hopes of appealing to an older market.

The "tween" Dora has longer legs and wears a skirt instead of pants. The pose given here might be a little flirty, but I am withholding judgment about her looking "like a streetwalker" until they give us more than just a silhouette.

[Skittles]

22. she looks flirty

[Kalyke]

33. It's the short skirt that is stupid.

I don't let my little girl play in short skirts and nice shoes.

When my little girl wants to rough and tumble, or "explore," I put her something more durable - like shorts or pants.

Girls don't have to ride side saddle anymore - why are we moving backwards?

[Jennicut]

14. Hmm, my 4 year old wanted to be Dora for Halloween this year, she plans way ahead!

Not so sure if I want her to be "new Dora". Obviously they are making her older.
I like the program on tv because my girls interact with it, not just sit like bumps on a log. And now they say things to me in Spanish. Not so sure I like the "updrade". Sigh. All good children's tv eventually gets ruined. Still have the Backyardigans I guess.

[Control-Z]

20. Ooh! The Backyardigans!

My 15 yo daughter still gets excited on the occasion that it happens to come on while she's watching TV. One of her all time favorites.

[Jennicut]

29. My girls love that show and it gets them dancing.

Hopefully it won't eventually be ruined.

[tomreedtoon]

15. How terrible to make a girl look like a girl!

How terrible to suggest to young girls that they, too, will have breasts and hips some day.

This sort of politically-correct crap destroyed cartoons for decades. Girls could not wear skirts in cartoons, because it was considered too suggestive for boys to see girls in skirts. In one period, Daphne of Scooby-Doo had to change out of skirts into long slacks (in "The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo") because, even though she was obviously wearing purplish TIGHTS under her skirt, she was still wearing a skirt, which was too dirty and sexualized.

And clearly the PC crowd here want little girls to look as much like little boys as possible. Because if they don't look like boys, how can they have equal rights to boys?

For God's sake, even Disney cartoons like Kim Possible have a more progressive view of young women than this.

[Frank Booth]

16. 'cept not all girls look like that.

Some girls kinda look like boys, some girls are chubby, some are tall and gawky. They're are plenty of characters already who make them feel inadequate. Dora was nice because she was one of the few whose looks weren't emphasized -- instead her brains and her spirit were. But now, millions of little girls will realize that just wasn't good enough.

[verges]

18. Really?

Have you seen the new scripts? Or are you saying that pretty women can't be smart? Or that smart women can't be pretty?

[Kalyke]

34. It wasn't that is was too sexual - it was that it was unrealistic.

Do you know any girls or women who explore, uncover clues, work out in the dirt in short skirts or tights? I don't.

Girls can wear dresses to work, out to dinner, etc., but cartoon girls are generally doing something that requires physical work for which no modern woman or girl (save a few who are following a religion) would wear a dress.

[TreasonousBastard]

17. So, Dora's growing up, just like her fans are, and...

this is going to be the end of the world?

If the silhouette is a hooker, what new low have our esteemed streetwalkers fallen to now? Do all their johns insist on the schoolgirl look as the latest streetmeat fashion?

For 50 years, Barbie has been fucking up little girls' heads according to the doomsayers (while not ever once acknowledging how the doomsayers themselves have been fucking up little girls' heads) and now the fear is that Dora is becoming a Bratz.

A doll that looks like a girl-- what will they think of next?

[Control-Z]

21. I loved Bratz dolls

I'm not sure what the beef is with them. They seem so much more appropriate for a young girl to relate to than Barbie, not to mention better/fun fashions, easier to dress, and shoes/feet that actually stay on. They certainly don't represent great sexual beings with their over sized heads and flat chests. I don't get it???

[Deja Q]

25. "what will they think of next?"

Breasts on legs. Impracticably large ones.

Or at least the other part on legs, but didn't Maddox once call Bill O'reilly a "walking vagina"? Oh, only a big blubbering one...

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. It seems more like commercialisation to me - Dora will be "accessorizable"

The press release:

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mattel, Inc. (NYSE:MAT) and Nickelodeon/Viacom Consumer Products (NVCP), announced today that Dora the Explorer™ is growing up! The companies have introduced a whole new way to look at Dora for girls five years and up. This groundbreaking initiative, featuring fashion dolls and accessories, is a completely new brand extension that empowers girls to influence and change the lives of Dora and her new friends. It’s innovative, diverse, wholesome, bi-lingual and entertaining.
...
As tweenage Dora, our heroine has moved to the big city, attends middle school and has a whole new fashionable look. What’s more, she now has a rich online world in which girls can explore, play games, customize, and most importantly solve mysteries with Dora and her new friends. Adding to the play value, Dora’s online world is interactive with the new doll line.
...
The cornerstone of the entire line is the Dora Links fashion doll. By plugging the doll into the computer, girls can access Dora’s brand-new interactive online world. This exciting innovation in computer-connected play offers girls a unique interactive experience: as girls are playing online they can customize their doll and watch as she magically transforms right before their eyes. For example, by changing Dora’s hair length, jewelry, and eye color on screen, the Dora doll magically changes as well.

The online world will include descriptions and biographies of Dora’s Explorer Girls™ and an immersive online world that will be tied into the complete collection of toys. Online, girls can explore Dora’s world, talk to the characters, earn currency, and help Dora solve mysteries which will be uploaded on a regular basis. As girls explore and solve mysteries online, the doll’s speech will change to correspond with their play. In addition, Dora Links features a magical alert system that lets the doll know when new mysteries are being uploaded to the Dora site. Even when the child is away from the computer playing with the doll, she will let girls know what new things are happening in the online world.

Adding to the play value of the line will be a wide range of accessories (sold separately) as well as the Dora’s Seaside School playset that will work with Dora Links to expand traditional offline fashion doll play as well as to expand the online experience. Girls can download new speech, music, and mysteries into the locker, and also will enter a huge new portion of the online world, which is Dora’s school.

“Typically, children ‘grow out’ of favorite characters,” says Chris Byrne, content director for TimetoPlayMag.com aka The Toy Guy®. “Now Dora has been designed to grow up with her fans, opening the door to extended play that is age appropriate, allowing kids to stay involved with a favorite character and maintaining the core values of Dora the Explorer that children love.”
...
“The doll really taps into a tween’s love of fashion and empowers girls to influence and change the ‘lives’ of Dora and her friends,” explains Ms. Sirard. “The instant gratification that girls receive as they change Dora online and watch as the doll magically transforms right before their eyes is groundbreaking in today’s toy market. What’s more, parents can feel comfortable knowing that Dora’s online world provides a safe and wholesome play experience for their children.”

The Dora Links fashion doll, for children five years and up, will retail for approximately $59.99.

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090213005672&newsLang=en

"Empowers", my arse. "Exposes to heavy marketing and advertising of expensive accessories", more like.

I'll give them marks for a bi-lingual doll, though.

[Kalyke]

35. Gag.

That's about all I have to say to that.

[JCMach1]

27. Good grief, DU is sounding like the Taliban...

or the Talibornagain... you pick 'em

I will reserve judgment until she actually comes out...

[Squatch]

30. Ayuda me! Ayuda me!

LOL. My son watches this show so much, that word has crept into my brain via osmosis. It's basically the only Spanish I know.