The Profound Ickiness of Bebé Glotón

There’s something profoundly icky about the breast-feeding baby doll, Bebe Glotón (the name translates to “Glutton Baby”), a Spanish creation that will be marketed internationally next year. But that ickiness has nothing to do with the idea of children holding up fake babies to their nonexistent breasts and pretending to feed them—a practice that no doubt has been going on since there have been mothers, babies, older children, and breasts. No, what’s gross about the Glutton (something tells me the marketing department is working on a different name for the U.S. market) has to do with the transformation of that age-old practice into an expensive and utterly pointless commodity.

Many of the responses to the recently circulated videos of the Glutton in action focus on the “inappropriateness” of such a toy and the fear that it will “sexualize” little girls prematurely, or encourage them to have babies earlier than they otherwise would. The disapproving responses, like Kathie Lee’s on the Today show, include speculation about the slippery slope toward anatomically correct boy and girl dolls that mimic the act that leads to babies in the first place. The counterargument in the doll’s favor holds that breast-feeding is not sexual but a natural act, something to be encouraged, etc. But both sides gloss over the creepiest thing about Bebe Glotón: the anatomically incorrect and thoroughly unnatural accessory she’s sold with. Before suckling her plastic progeny, the child-mom must don a “nursing halter top” with flower appliqués where the nipples should be, against which the doll makes slurping sounds, then cries until you burp her (watch the whole process, from halter-donning to impressively loud belch, in this demonstration video).

This bra-like garment, with its coy metaphorical areolae, strikes me as by far the most perverse feature of this product. Little children, both girls and boys, already come with built-in symbols at the spot where their nipples should be. THEY’RE CALLED NIPPLES. If your child wants to mimic the act of breast-feeding, a lifted shirt and a regular doll (or a stuffed lion, a wooden spoon, or whatever happens to be handy) will do the trick nicely. One of the great advantages of breast-feeding, often trumpeted by its champions, is that unlike bottle-feeding, it’s free (if you don’t count the opportunity cost of missed work time, etc.). Why pay 44 euros (around $55) so that your kid can pretend to save money—and pretend, against all evidence, that human milk is expressed through appliquéd daisies?

Though the Glutton is a European-made doll, her conceptual roots seem deeply American. There’s the bizarre confluence of prurience and Puritanism suggested by that halter top and the depressing assumption that, by buying devices that cost more money and make more noise, we’re somehow augmenting our children's imaginations. The lesson Bebé Glotón really teaches young girls is one that the baby-gear industry would be all too happy to have them internalize as they grow up: In order to bring up your kid right, you need to buy lots and lots of crap.

Image is a still taken from a promotional video of Bebé Glotón.

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cheap breastfeeding

By: atala9ta | Wed, 08/12/2009 - 13:34

Anyone who thinks this is cheap hasn't tried it. Nursing bras are not only hard to find, they are wicked expensive, especially if you are bigger than a c-cup. Try finding a pump, nursing pads and some extra valves, and you are looking at some big cash. Seems entirely appropriate that this creepy doll is also expensive.

Born Breeder?

By: geml | Tue, 08/11/2009 - 17:48

Wow. I loved playing with dolls as a child. I had several of them, and with two sisters, we filled our home with them. We built an elaborate playhouse to "keep house." Friends still talk about it nearly thirty years later.

Funny, we all grew into professional women with only one child (mine) among us. Guess we didn't know we were supposed to only be one type of person based on enjoying one type of toy.

@jenvanleigh

By: P Starling | Tue, 08/11/2009 - 08:40

Um, maybe it's just that you don't have much exposure to small children, but an interest in dolls--even nursing dolls--is not a predictor of a "born breeder." (And could you have chosen a more dismissive phrase for a woman who wants kids?) Children imitate adults. Children who have younger siblings often want a "baby" in order to imitate Mom. There's nothing creepy or unusual about it. They also play with fake makeup and high heels and cooking, none of which implies that they're going to grow up to be Stepford wives. Those are just the most visible markers of female adulthood to a child whose point of view is formed by what they see their female caretaker doing. You can take what you like from the idea that girls tend to focus on gendered activities, but I think it's a pretty straightforward offshoot from the fascination they develop with the idea that there are differences between boys and girls--something that seems to hit hard around six or so. It fades, just like the cooties thing fades.

Most in the lactation field agree with your analysis...

By: MargaretLH | Tue, 08/11/2009 - 00:15

As a lactation educator and someone involved in breastfeeding research and promotion, I completely agree with your analysis. In fact most breastfeeding promoters have said something similar, I have heard very little 100% support for this baby doll.

When it comes down to it, the doll doesn't support creativity and doesn't truly support breastfeeding as a natural act. The flower nipples are just strange.

The media's reaction to the baby doll has been beyond me though, as someone who sees many children nurse their babies without prompting, modeling adult behavior as all children do. How is it different from playing with baby dolls in other ways?

The author should have mentioned, however, that "Bebe Gluton" does not translate very simply into English, so it is best not to simply translate it as Baby Glutton. A "bebe gluton" is just a phrase for a very hungry baby.

eh, it's pretty creepy.

By: jenvanleigh | Mon, 08/10/2009 - 19:59

i wouldn't think that these dolls would glamorize or encourage younger motherhood, but i'd bet that the kind of kid who would be attracted to such a thing is also a born breeder.

when i was a kid, someone bought me a doll that cried nonstop without a thumb or pacifier in it's sensor-lined mouth. of course, the pacifier was immediately tossed under the fridge by the cat, and the arm would not stay upright. within a minute and a half, my mother had ripped out the batteries, and all was well.

regardless of what this says about my mother according to my theory, and while this instance may have scarred me from the idea of procreation, i'd never wanted the toy myself, and cannot recall ever being attracted to the idea of peeing babydolls or anything else that mimicked infancy or required care, even to this day.

i don't think this doll will make the idea of being a parent more accessible at younger ages, but i do think any kid who wants one of these needs to have an eye kept on them.