Seems to be a lot of Facebook/breastfeeding controversies going on lately. I don't see anything wrong with women breastfeeding in public or putting up pictures of themselves breastfeeding on social media sites. I think this North American perspective of breastfeeding = bad is pretty fucking horrible. I think it says a lot about the extent to which North American society sees women's bodies as strictly sexual objects. There is nothing shameful about breasts or women showing them in public, and nothing shameful or "obscene" about women breastfeeding in public.
That said, those women are adults who have children and have made the decision to breastfeed their children. I see it differently when it comes to young girls. Showing images of young girls pretending to breastfeed on public sites seems a lot like something that could go terribly wrong, whether in attracting sexual predators/endangering them, or by propagating ideas on raising children in "proper"/traditional gender roles.
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Originally Posted by Words
Perhaps if more little girls were to appreciate from a very young age the real reason why they are different to boys when it comes to their chests, then more little boys would appreciate it too and not grow up thinking that breasts are nothing but things to play with when they're older.
I think the dolls are great. Would I put up a picture of my daughter, were she younger, playing with one on Facebook? No, but then I wouldn't put up a picture of her anyway, the reason being that I truly believe that in the wrong hands, even the most innocent of images - a young child reading a book, for example - can and will be sexualized.
Words
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While agree that society teaches young girls to view their own bodies as sexual objects (and boys viewing women's bodies as sexual objects), I also agree with what MissTick said about women being brought up to see their bodies as baby-making machines/boys to see women's bodies as baby-making machines. Too many young girls are brought up by their families under the assumption that she will one day have her own child, and if she expresses that she has no interest her family will often tell her that it's a "stage" and she'll "grow out of it." If she doesn't her family "worries," they might even talk to a mental health professional about it. Women/girls who do not want to bear children/be mothers are seen as "unnatural" or "strange" far too often in our society.
To me a doll like that seems an awful lot like a toy company trying to reinforce gender roles, and the stereotypical female role of "mother" and "nurturer." But people who are assigned female at birth are far more diverse than that. Not all women want to be mothers or see "the real reason they are different to boys when it comes to their chests." There are women and girls who see their breasts as nothing to do with breastfeeding and motherhood, and would prefer not to have their breasts thought of that way. Who see their breasts as for their own pleasure, for their own pride, empowerment and self-perception, and nothing to do with reproduction and motherhood. And what about women who can't breastfeed or don't have breasts? Are they being told they need to breastfeed in order to be a mother? That they can't be a mother?
That aside, what makes a parent decide to buy their kid a doll like that? Considering how many trans children or non-normative children (and here I mean any child who simply doesn't view their own bodies in a way that revolves around reproductive roles) who are assigned female at birth are brought up being forced into gender roles, this seems like yet another toy to reinforce stereotypes in children who want nothing to do with those stereotypes. Is this toy for children who truly want it, or more a toy for parents to "make their little girls more like mommy"?
I think there are better ways to teach children that women's bodies are not sexual objects than by giving them breastfeeding dolls.
That's just my two cents.