Comments on: Bad Rants: Since When Did Bad Become The New ‘Eww This Makes Me Squeamish?’

By: CG

CG — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:03:13 +0000

Just realized that i wrote all that and didn’t even say what I thought of the doll, lol!
Mostly I don’t have a problem with it except that it’s not really necessary, any more than having a doll that “drinks” a bottle by making it look empty is necessary. Too much now we are giving kids props to play with instead of waiting for them to use their imaginations and pretend.
So while I have no problems with children pretending to nurse their babies, this is not something I would buy for my little girl if I had one.

By: CG

CG — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:56:25 +0000

Comparing nursing to using the bathroom or having sex is not valid- eliminating and sex, while normal and healthy, are private personal matters. We don’t get together in public places with loved ones to go to the bathroom or (hopefully) to have sex.
We DO however, get together in public to eat together. Eating is not only not private it’s a social activity. Why should nursing be any different? It’s just feeding your child. And while ideally it is nicer to have a nice quiet space to relax and bond sometimes you gotta just feed the child and get on with it. There is nothing dirty, private or sexual about feeding a child. No one says anything about bottle feeding a baby in public.
We seriously need to get over this hangup about breast feeding. It’s just a baby eating, people!
And children will bottle feed baby dolls, breast feed baby dolls, spoon feed baby dolls whether they have a specialized toy to do it with or not. This was no different than making a doll that “drinks” a bottle.

By: MommyNamedApril

MommyNamedApril — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:41:26 +0000

my sons pretend to nurse their baby dolls. yeh, you read that right. hah. suckit huffpo, indeed.

By: Crystal

Crystal — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:06:35 +0000

JM- This is where the issue starts. Breastfeeding isn’t a “bodily function” like urinating or sex. It is food, plain and simple. So, it is closely related to you eating at a restaurant instead of at home… not pissing on the wall of a store. Human babies were made by evolution, God, or whatever (take your pick) to eat at the breast of a mother. It is only recently in our closed minded civilizations that are constantly making natural things dirty that breastfeeding has become taboo.

By: JM

JM — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:26:04 +0000

@ Della- That was a really interesting comparison, and certainly puts things in a different light, thank you! :)
I come from a culture where breastfeeding is just considered an extension of life- it is neither something to be flaunted, nor something to be particularly ashamed of (just like some of the activities I mentioned earlier :)). As such, the idea that someone could look down upon it as a sexual act just seems odd, to say the least.
@ the statement- “Breastfeeding is natural. Making love with a plastic dildo is not.”
-Yes, breastfeeding by an adult woman nursing a child is natural. Pretend feeding by a child trying to understand and play-act their surroundings is natural.
Breastfeeding using a plastic halter on a three year old seems to me as unnatural as a three year old learning about sex by playing with dildos.

By: Lydia

Lydia — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:15:49 +0000

Yeah, my son was fascinated with his baby sister’s manner of eating and breastfed a few baby dolls at his daycare.
Luckily, a rather progressive daycare.
I tried to explain why boys have “mommy things” but can’t feed a baby. Tried, and failed. Anyone else have the answer to that?

By: Della

Della — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:30:50 +0000

If you think I’m a perv with an ear fetish, I think you need to go back and re-read that with boobs instead of ears, and decide whether it’s something you might have thought recently…

By: Della

Della — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:29:48 +0000

Most particularly to JM, but in general:
The primary function of breasts is to feed babies. The primary function of ears is to hear.
Both breasts and ears, among other parts, contain nerve endings that, when stimulated, can cause a person to become sexually aroused.
If you insist that breasts are sex organs that can be used to feed babies, then I insist that ears are sex organs that can be used to hear, lips are sex organs that can be used to eat food, the throat is a sex organ that happens to contain the voice box…
The problem is that our society has spent so much time sexualizing breasts that most people can’t un-see them that way. If we spent as much time putting up billboards of people licking earlobes, publishing movies of people nibbling on ears…as we did with breasts, maybe we could promote the sexuality of ears, and start arguments about whether hair should be allowed to be cut short or pulled back into a ponytail, because so many men were aroused by the sight of ears, it was unreasonable to force them to deal with those uncomfortable feelings by letting ears be out in public for hearing, when one could hear just as well from underneath one’s hair, or even better, a hat.
I mean, it’s not that it’s shameful to listen with one’s ears, but just looking at ears brings to mind how I can arouse my husband in under a minute simply by nibbling on his ears, and it really makes me uncomfortable! It’s not like it’s that hard to keep your hair down, why are you so intent on FLAUNTING your ears, forcing people to look at them. I mean, KIDS might see them! Middle school kids, who might have caught sight of a recent romantic comedy where a couple nuzzled each other on the ears and got all hot and bothered, so they are also aroused and embarassed by ears, and not old enough to advocate for themselves, or ask an adult to stop doing something… Littler kids who, if they see you showing YOUR ears, might decide that there’s nothing wrong with flashing their ears around willy-nilly, and do it themselves (attracting pedophiles) or grow up having loose morals about showing their ears in any situation – walking down the street in a ponytail, or even getting a pixie-short haircut, so that no matter where they are – even CHURCH, or SCHOOL, or the GROCERY STORE!!!!!!! – anybody that saw them would be unable to look away from their fleshy, curled ears that were just OUT THERE begging to be fondled.

By: MJ

MJ — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:12:05 +0000

Ok, well I for one think that doll is weird… would never buy it… however, I have breastfed all 4 of my kids and am still breastfeeding the 4th, Proudly, Publicly and without a blanket. (though sadly have a feeling it will be coming to an end soon)… My 3 year old has pretended to breastfeed her baby dolls ever since her baby sister was born, and I think its great! I’ve even caught pictures of her trying to use my breast pump!
It may just be how I was raised, I dunno but I would be weirded out if someone bought that doll for my daughter, not that theres anything wrong with teaching her that breastfeeding is a good thing, but I think there are other ways to encourage it without the necessity of having to wear a special “halter”.. The imagination is a wonderful thing.

By: magpie

magpie — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:52:57 +0000

What I don’t understand about that doll is its necessity. My kid used to nurse her plain dolls and stuffed animals all the time. And yeah, the HuffPo is being ridiculous.