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If you have a daughter, it's likely you're familiar with Bratz,
the must have doll for the under 10 set.
But could these toys be promoting
an unhealthy body image among young girls,
due to their unrealistically large heads?
Here is Gene Ann Horton to take us beyond the facts.
Beyond the Facts
Since they were launched in 2001, Bratz dolls
have been flying off the shelves.
They're fun, they're fashionable
and their heads are enormous.
According to gender quality advocate, Melissa Waters,
even though these dolls can't talk,
they are sending young girls a message about their bodies.
What girls are taking away from this, is that in order to be beautiful,
you need to have a head that is twice the size
of your torso.
Melissa isn't alone in her concerns. Evan Grey gave her daughter,
Shayla, her first Bratz for Christmas last year.
Now she wishes she hadn't.
I want to be a good parent, I want her to feel good
about herself, about her head. I mean, we all want to be
the woman with the head out to here,
but at some point you have to say
that you're ok with your little head,
and be ok with having a nose.
Shayla says nearly everyone her age owns a Bratz doll.
So Shayla, tell me, what do you and your friends
like about Bratz dolls? -Well, we think
that they have really cool clothes and that they are pretty.
And do you think you're as pretty as them?
No, I don't. Because I have a really small head.
The Bratz are depicted as having fun lives.
Shopping, dancing and playing sports. But what isn't shown
is how difficult it would be to do any of those things
with an enormous cranium.
If you make a Bratz doll human height,
the circumference of her skull will be five and a half feet.
She wouldn't be able to lift her head
and the sheer weight of it would crush her spine,
rendering this so-called "cool girl" bedridden for life.
Waters' organization is spreading their message
through school programs and in a national ad campaign.
Their goal is to reach pre-teen girls now,
and avoid dangerous consequences later.
We really have to teach girls that any size head is beautiful.
Otherwise they're going to be in a plastic surgeon's office
at 23, asking for cranial implants or collagen injections
in their scalps.
Regardless of Waters' warning, the demand for Bratz dolls
continues to grow, along with parents' concerns.
I've actually seen Shayla trying things. Just the other day
I saw her hitting herself in the face with a book
to try to get her head to swell. Am I going to walk
into her room and find her with a hammer
to her head? I just don't know any more.
A doll shouldn't make a girl feel bad about herself.
But for millions of girls like Shayla, that message
isn't getting through.
From Beyond the facts, I'm Gene Ann Horton.
Thank you, Gene Ann, for that. Sad, how our society is so focused
on the size of women's heads. In Business news,
Lexus is recalling their top of the line LS 460
saying the car's air bags could deploy mid ***.
Obama to keep Bush on as national scapegoat
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