I was going to give you a Friday Confession, but today ABC News printed a bit of my interview with them. Folks are yammering about how the Bebe Gluton doll is somehow dangerous for young girls. I’ve got a thunk on the head for them.
I’m not going to discuss the merits of breastfeeding. I’ll let the American Academy of Pediatrics do the talking. Not every baby is easily breastfed, I had two kids, one nursed, one didn’t. I’ll talk about why at a later date.
Here’s the issue, and it’s a big issue. Breastfeeding is not sexual. Some pseudo parenting expert out of New Jersey wrote a little column wherein he he made the leap from a breastfeeding doll to “Bebe Limp – The male doll who experiences erectile dysfunction“.
I’m a little concerned that anyone would take this seriously. Sadly Fox quoted this angry man.
My ongoing problem with the internet is the low barrier to entry. In 392 words Erik Ruhalter managed equate breastfeeding with erections, alcoholism, shotguns and rooftops.
Lest we take him too seriously, I’ve counted a few things.
392 words
seven exclamation points !!!!!!!
ten question marks ?????????? Including the title
four links to his super dee duper parenting book
I’m sure Erik is just the sort of parenting expert I’d call.
******
UPDATE: 2.25pm Erik has written an apology, he’s also written a book. Anyone big enough to stand up and admit a mistake in public deserves to sell a few books. Go say hi before the poor dear rocks in the corner sucking his thumb.
I don’t know … I might like a bebe cell mate doll … lmao
Apparently breastfeeding WILL bring out the perverts, but it will probably be limited to people like Erik Ruhalter.
I, for one, am glad FOX brought this doll to people’s attention …. so that I can buy one for my daughter. She “nurses” her babies all the time. She was nursed and so if you asked her she would say that’s just how babies are fed. The only people who would see it as a sexual act have already got bigger issues to deal with than a nursing baby doll.
This reminds me of a friend who was on a flight years ago with a baby and a pre-schooler. While she was nursing the baby her 3-year-old got up in the aisle, lifted her shirt and put her doll to her breast.
I am pretty sure no one on the plane tried to molest her. They all found it rather sweet.
Head out of the gutter, as my mom used to say.
I’m a little weirded out by this if only because I have always been freaked out by dolls. But I know most little girls like baby dolls and mimic their mothers.
However, people sexualizing breast feeding—thank you for identifying yourselves so we can keep our children far, far away from you.
I have no problem with little girls emulating breastfeeding in imaginative play. But good grief…..WHY does there need to be a doll that comes with pasties for them to do so? Any doll can be used for that! Part of me thinks that this doll was developed just for the potential shock value alone.
And furthermore, where do they get the douchebag dudes that make such ridiculous claims about this doll??? This doll isn’t going to speed up maternal urges any more than Baby Alive.
I agree, Jessica. In the meantime, my daughter’s about to enter a class that will most likely be mixed of two different grades, and 2/3 of our adults can’t name all 3 branches of federal government. Can we please focus!
I’m the online editor at the Star-Ledger who asked Eric if he wanted to dash off a post about Bebe Gluton aka Baby Glutton. The initial response to the doll, at Strollerderby and other sites-was a tone of incredulous snark. Eric wasn’t alone in this attitude – although as he admits himself, he stretched the joke too far.
As few of your readers need to be reminded, breastfeeding is sexualized in our culture, whether or not it should be.
Since the outcry over Eric’s post (and by the way, he is one of several unpaid non-staff bloggers at NJ.Com who write pretty much what they want, and get little, if any, editing) I’ve asked myself what is about Baby Glutton that provokes such feelings of discomfort–not only in Eric but in someone like me, who nursed my daughter for a year and my son for two years, and who got irate when Facebook banned breasfeeding photos.
I think it’s because, if a doll simulates nursing, and a girl simulates breasfeeding, then it creates an image of a little girl WITH BREASTS. And even though she’s only playing at being mommy, the attention the toy calls to her imaginary breasts is what makes the toy seem so ‘sexual.’
In Spain, that’s probably not an issue. But Americans have weird, conflicted feelings about sex, breasts and motherhood. And a European baby doll doesn’t stand a chance against that.
maybe breastfeeding doesn’t bring out the perverts. but let me tell you, just writing a post about it…
every breastfeeding fetish type pervert in the world is finding my blog by doing a google search.
i have my own opinion about this doll. and i’m very pro breastfeeding.
i’m anti the doll…particularly the pasty part of it.
anyway…
cute doll. dumb reasoning behind it.
I know we Tweeted about this and I still agree with you! The doll is fine but I’m not digging the bra top with pasties.
Hi! I am from Spain (Southern Europe, the Earth), and I just can’t believe some people over there are making such a FUSS over a breastfeeding doll!! How sad. The discussion about nipples-flowers-erectile disfunction is mesmerizing, seriously.
Have a nice weekend!!
Breastfeeding is not a sexual act. It’s a nurturing act. Feeding a child is not equal to dysfunctional penises (penii? Penae?) Tra la la the end.
I live in NJ, and am grossed out by what they call journalism here. What happened to unbiased media? And will it ever be returned?
‘Journalist overlook basic questions, stressing irrelevant details for the sake of drama.’
Kudos to Eric. I didn’t realize he had printed an apology.
My only issue with that doll is that it was probably made in China and runs on batteries. Otherwise – have at it, kid.
What makes Gotleib an expert? The accident of giving birth? Little girls are sexualized every day in our society, e.g. toddlers and tiaras. Granted most of those mothers are fat assed and living thru their daughters, but a great deal of harm is done, especially to self-esteem. Getting back to the doll – it’s a marketing ploy to sell a product and, again, mothers are living through their daughters in a bid for attention. Too much information is thrust on children today when they are not emotionally capable of dealing with it or processing it. Just buy the kid a simple baby doll and let her use her own imagination in playing with it – children today have no imagination and no ability to play on their own. They have to be amused 24/7 or they go ballistic.
Shes a jerk,breast are sexuel,thats why every magazine shows cleaveage. Thats why women have surgey to enlarge them.
Gottlieb must be a liberal