why not just call them 'whorses'?

About a week and a half ago, I wrote about Struts, the toy inspired by Mattel's recent direct-to-video movie, "Barbie in 'Equus.'" I finally got a response from Playmates, the manufacturer of the toy, and it was pretty much what you would expect. They offered at once to destroy the line, fire everyone involved in their manufacture and development, and burn down the factories where they produced them:

Thank you for contacting Playmates Toys Inc. regarding the Struts horse and fashion play products. We appreciate your feedback regarding the Struts Product.

When we originally envisioned the product line we wanted to create a fashion doll that combined the two things that girls love to play with the most – fashion and horse play. We tested the concepts and learned from moms that they felt that it was indeed an innocent way for girls to play with fashion by dressing up a horse and not a doll. We wanted to give girls a different option from aspiration fashion doll play to fantasy dress up horse play. In addition, we overlaid the modeling concept giving it a silly – outrageous twist to the brand.

Thank you for contacting us with your concerns on the brand, we value all opinions and will consider your comments for future projects.

Regards,
Paula Billingsley
Consumer Services
Playmates Toys Inc.

For a form letter that doesn't show she even read my initial e-mail, Billingsley's response was polite enough, so I won't share her e-mail address or corporate telephone number, even though both were included in her response. I have still have that much common decency left in my soul.

Still, I repeat my call for parents and other people related to children to contact Playmates Toys yourself and urge them not to bring these things to the shelves. (You also can e-mail them, if you prefer.) If more of us speak up, and not just at the cash register, we can get toy manufacturers to give us fewer bimbo toys and more toys that actually are worth having, toys like these.

how tasteless can a toy get?

If you cross Barbie with My Pretty Pony, will the offspring be a plastic Minotaur, or will it be the hot new toy?

The artist's rendering of the entire line is even more disquieting.

For parents worried that the toys being marketed toward their young daughters have been too focused on encouraging them to use their imagination, explore the world, and create new things, Playmates Toys has created the ideal toy. It's Struts, an equestrian streetwalker to bring out the JonBenet in every young girl.

Unveiled at the recent New York Toy Fair, Struts is a horse that comes with fashion accessories: frilly dresses, halter tops, makeup and platform shoes.

If you don't believe me, you can see for yourself.

When I heard about Struts, I did what I hope many other people do. I wrote to Playmates Toys and expressed my dismay with this toy, as a father of girls.

I am writing to express my deep concern over the new line of "Struts" horse toys that your company recently unveiled at the New York Toy Fair.

Simply put, I find it in extremely poor taste to eroticize toys marketed to elementary school grades, as is the case with these glammed-up "Struts." Girls regularly are bombarded with messages that place primary value on their appearance and glamour; far too few toys marketed at young girls encourage them to use their imaginations, to solve problems, or to create things. Sleek, eroticized toy horses with fashion accessories do nothing these more enduring and more valuable traits. They do, however, encourage young girls to focus on their physical appearance at an age when such a degree of glamour is wholly inapprorpriate.

I urge you to reconsider your decision to market these toys. I will not be getting Struts horses for either of my daughters, nor will I allow others to buy such toys for them.

Thank you for your attention.

Particularly if you have a daughter yourself, but even if you don't, I'd urge you to contact Playmates Toys yourself and urge them not to bring these things to the shelves. (You also can e-mail them, if you prefer.) Far too many toys for girls focus on appearances and hair, and not enough of them encourage the traits that we truly value. If more of us speak up, and not just at the cash register, we will be heard.

the party's over

As I write this we are in the process of recovering from the 5-2 celebration we had here today. We celebrated Evangeline's fifth birthday and Rachel's second, with Rachel's celebration coming only one day ahead of her actual birthday.

What a great time!

I have now formally surrended in the fight to keep Barbie out of our house for as long as possible, that time now apparently having passed. E got two Barbie dolls this summer, which pretty much signaled the beginning of the end. The girls have fought more frequently and more contentiously over who gets to play with the two Barbies and with Ariel than anything.

Today, E and R opened their presents from their Grandma H and found not only a new Barbie for each of them, but new outfits that fit their old dolls as well. (For the first time in months, Ariel and Barbie are no longer lounging around the house naked, trying to seduce Moon Knight.)*

Additionally, when we have our smaller family gift-giving tomorrow, R is going to discover the Barbie doll that Daddy bought her last month, in foolish oblivion to his mother-in-law's designs. Five Barbies, an Ariel and a Belle who walks around wearing nothing but her corset should be enough for a two-girl family, I reckon. Especially since the girls also have taken to playing with Moon Knight recently.

R blew everyone away while unwrapping her presents today, when she opened a package from her Auntie Audra and discovered her own princess doll. "It's Snow White!" she said, clear as a bell of purest crystal. I am happy to report that although Snow White and Barbie briefly switched outfits this evening, she is still wearing clothes. Moon Knight reportedly is disappointed, but is happy he will not need to be increase his cold shower regimen in the near future.

And naturally the fight we had to break up tonight was over who got to sleep with Snow White.

E's favorite gift today appears to be a queen outfit, complete with a gown, a crown and nice queen shoes. After the party had ended, the first thing she did was to change out of her dress and into her royal attire. Quite a sight too -- we took a picture which I may someday share here if I ever get around to it. Other gifts received today include early reader books, books that Daddy can read to her and loads of art supplies, since E is our little artiste.

The present that most amused me is the new Lite Brite. It's battery-operated, which is annoying since we'll need to replace batteries quite often, I should think, but it's also portable (being battery-operated, duh) and -- this is the amusing part -- is billed as "flat screen." Some friends of ours and I were joking that it's the new hi-tech Lite Brite. It's cable ready, and has a high-density plasma screen for you to use when you stick plastic pins through construction paper.

Something like 17 kids came, plus their parents and the Reading Fairy, which made our house one crowded, happening place. On top of that, the pizzeria where we usually order our pizza apparently is closed, so we had to scramble at the last minute to find a new place to order seven pies -- and they forgot to include the sausage on one pizza, even though they still billed us for it.

Ah well. At least no one gave us an Elmo toy.

* Moon Knight, as in the Marvel Comics split-personality superhero who functions as a Batman rip-off, blessed with superpowers by Konshu, an Egyptian moon god I never heard of outside "Moon Knight" and "West Coast Avengers." I have an action figure of him, who apparently has been ready to give his right arm to spend some quality time with Barbie, since that's precisely the appendage that came off him today as he was rescuing Barbie from some monster or another.