Bebe Gloton and breast-feeding
Is a Spanish “Baby Glutton” doll that mimics breast-feeding a useful learning tool, or just creepy?
When I first heard about “Bebe Gloton,” or “Baby Glutton,” “I wasn’t sure what to think,” said Lylah M. Alphonse in The Boston Globe. One the one hand, the Spanish doll—which simulates breast-feeding (watch Bebe Gloton/Baby Glutton in action)—emphasizes that breasts are for “nourishment, not sexuality,” a nice contrast with the “highly sexualized Barbie and Bratz dolls.” On the other hand, “a little girl strapping on fake breasts” to nurture her doll “makes me squirm” a bit.
I know what to think—it’s a “sucky” idea, said Eric Ruhalter in the New Jersey Star-Leger. I’m all for mothers breast-feeding their babies, but this seems a little "creepy.” And do we really want to be “plugging” a nursing “halter/bra” to girls right before puberty, when we “start beating it into their heads that it’d better be a loooooong time before they get pregnant”?
Don’t thousands of dolls “come with little milk bottles” already? said Carrie McLaren in The Consumerist. How does play breast-feeding “speed up maternal urges” and promote teen pregnancy, as critics contend, while play bottle-feeding doesn’t? Perhaps they’d feel better if there were follow-up “Bebe Engorgement Es Muy Painful, and Bebe Leaky Boobs”?
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Bebe Gloton is “pretty tame,” said blogger Ann Althouse, and “little girls (and boys!)” who see their moms breast-feeding tend to pretend-nurse anyways, without the need for “additional technology.” No, “my main objection to the doll is that it is annoying.” Why is it necessary to give the doll an “irritating” sucking sound?
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Kerala: one Indian state, four exhilarating ways
The Week Recommends The southwestern region pretty much has it all, from beachfront, to port metropolis, to verdant mountainside
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
Is a high-yield savings account worth having?
The Explainer They can pay up to 10 times more than a standard savings account
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Crossword: April 15, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published