deadfast:

[Content Warning: discussion of slut-shaming, rape culture, forced sex work, body-shaming, sizism, eating disorders.]

For context, see strawberrycupcakekittens’s post on a particular parent with some very strong opinions on Monster High, but not too much in the way of logic to back them up. I refuse to directly link to that woman’s blog and provide her with additional traffic, plus this is sort of a general tirade, hence the new post, but that was the kicker for it, so.

Let’s talk about Monster High critiques. Now, I got no vested interest in protecting Mattel’s profit margins. I have an interest in Monster High, obviously, and Mattel makes the line, but they’re a big company, they don’t need me protecting them. So I’m not personally offended on their or the doll’s behalf when people say busted shit about them. I’m more concerned with the actual people that are hurt by the following bullshit “critiques” that I have seen over and over and over again:

The dolls dress too slutty:

• Look, I get it, you’re coming from a place of not wanting impressionable kids to believe that the hypersexualization of their bodies is an inevitable fact to which they must submit. You want their sexual growth to be healthy and happy and do you know the best way to accomplish that? It’s not by teaching them that there’s something intrinsically sexual or wrong about wearing a short skirt, that’s for fucking sure. It’s teaching them that no one, fucking no one has a right to dictate their bodies, what they put on them or the “meaning” of what they put on them. You teach them that they are too young for very short skirts, but Frankie Stein, who is old enough, wears them because she likes them, because she likes the way her legs look in them, because she likes her body, because she has confidence and self-love and you teach that self-love to your fucking kid. You don’t teach them that short skirts = slut and you DEFINITELY do not teach them that slut = bad, my fucking God, this is such basic shit.

The rest is going under a cut for the sake of length, and because the points on dolls looking “like sex-workers” or “like they have an eating disorder” may be particularly triggering for some folks. Proceed with care.

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