• Sat, Dec 8 - 1:00 pm ET

This Monster High Doll Is Making Me Feel All Sorts Of Feelings About Thinspiration For Little Girls

My daughter wants a Monster High doll for Christmas, just like thousands of other little girls who made their wish lists and have been extra careful not to dump any bottles of 18 dollar Chanel nail polish on the carpet. I let my daughter play with Barbie and other fashion dolls. I consider myself a feminist, and I’m trying to raise a feminist daughter (and feminist sons!) and we have all sorts of lengthy conversations about why Barbie and her pals are not the best role models when it comes to physical standards of beauty and how Barbie’s physical proportions are impossible for actual real people to duplicate in real life.

We play dolls together, and I am happy with my daughter’s playtime, how she makes her dolls go on all sorts of adventures and restyles their tiny street-lingerie doll clothes using scraps of fabric and sometimes scraps of non-fabric, things like tin foil and paper towels and markers and she has been known to give her dolls shorter hair styles and kick the ass of any dragons who visit the dolls in their beachfront condo. I like how my daughter plays. In my mind I think she gets the reasons why Barbie can do more than just be Ken’s arm-candy and work as a model. I understand why she would want these new dolls, these monster-themed plastic fashionistas to join the party. I would have loved The Monster High dolls when I was little! They look cool! They have cool accessories and sometimes little pets! They have cool hair colors and skin tones and beautifully applied makeup. And there is something refreshing about adding nontraditional beauties to the pile of blond-haired, fair-skinned dolls that reside in her toy box.

But this one doll is giving me pause, because she would be the perfect doll for my daughter, in many ways, but in others, I’m feeling all sorts of feelings and I don’t quite know if I’m overanalyzing my feelings and putting my feelings into this 8-inch piece of plastic that doesn’t have any feelings. Skelita Calaveras, according to the Monster High wiki, is a fifteen-year-old from “Hex-cio” and she is very difficult to find. But she would be so perfect for my daughter. Skelita has beautiful dios de los muertos face paint, which is what my daughter had for Halloween. I think she is a super cool looking doll and I know my daughter would love her but under Skelita’s little festive dress I’m getting all sorts of creeped out. Because Skelita is a skeleton.

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  • TheRealKelly

    My first reaction was that I audibly gasped when I scrolled down the page and viewed the full doll. My intellectual analysis and rationalization is that, on some level, it may be better that a super thin fashion doll is literally a skeleton. But I have to go with my initial reaction because it took my breath away. Maybe it’s because it’s not quite skeletal enough (as in, it almost just looks like you’re seeing her bones through an anorexic veneer of skin)? P.S. As a mom to 2 girls, I am ALWAYS thinking hard about the messages they receive. My own mom is obsessed with her own body image and I grew up hearing non-stop messages about the importance of being thin. I really don’t think you can err too far in the direction of protecting girls from this.

    • http://www.xojane.com/author/eve Eve Vawter

      I totally hear ya, it’s interesting. Part of me is all “She is cool as hell” but then part of me is all “oh noes”…. haha. You know I love your opinions and appreciate your viewpoint.

  • ChopChick

    I mean, yeah, she’s creepy. But her name is SKELita and her last name is “Calaveras” (otherwise known as very close to “cadaver”). No kid, in their right mind would look at that and go “oh yes, this is a body image to aspire to”…unless their parents started talking to them about body image while they stare at a skeleton. Why does it have to be so complicated and complex and why can’t the discussion be oh look, she’s a monster doll so she’s given a skeleton instead of a body to pretend she’s dead. Use it as an opportunity to teach her a new word (cadaver!) and expand her vocab. The doll is supposed to be a ghoul for goodness sake!

    How is this doll’s image any different than Tim Burton’s skeleton like characters in Nightmare before Christmas? I haven’t heard many instances of “body image” coming from that movie…

    Stop overthinking it, and putting your own body image issues as a child onto your child, mom.

    • http://www.xojane.com/author/eve Eve Vawter

      I agree with a lot of what you are saying, and made some of the same points myself, and thank you for commenting, I think it’s the kind of thing that is good to have a dialogue about!

    • Valentina

      Since “Calaveras” is spanish for “skulls” and the doll comes from “Hexico-Mexico”, I think her name should have been Calacas instead of Calaveras. But anyway we get the whole skeleton idea.

    • ChopChick

      oh! I don’t know that. I just made the assumption they were referencing the etymology of cadaver but thank you! That’s great information to file away so I don’t say something silly again.

  • Tea

    The fleshy sort of tone on that doll is just really throwing me off. Maybe if she were more of a nicely bleached white it wouldn’t look quite so unsettling. I prefer her without skin, though, I feel that having skin over that figure (sans muscle padding that is) would be even more “thinspo” than the usual dolls.

    Though a cool alternative would have been to give her the same shape as the rest of the dolls and have her bone effect be painted on.

    I’m rather torn between it being a neat idea and being just plain weird to look at.

  • Blooming_Babies

    I think she’s awesome and if you’re willing to pay twice the msrp she is readily avavlible on amazon. I think this extreme “body” is far less damaging then the Barbie body, and it sounds like you have a healthy little girl who would only get from this doll a sence that beauty is more than just your body. If you think about it she’s beautiful without any kind of body that’s sort of an amazing message.

    • http://www.xojane.com/author/eve Eve Vawter

      amazon! TY! hee hee

  • Rattata

    Hey, Barbie’s not just a model! She’s been a doctor, race car driver, veterinarian, astronaut, etc. It’s more like Ken is HER arm candy. And like ChopChick said, no one freaks out over Jack Skellington- my friend grew up in Mexico and doesn’t have negative body issues despite celebrating Dias de los Muertos because she never thought to compare her living body to that of a dead persons. If you make a big deal about the doll’s body over the rest of her features, then your daughter will too (just my opinion, though :p).

    • http://www.xojane.com/author/eve Eve Vawter

      haha, I understand, it’s just Dias de los Muertos is a celebration, this is a dolly. And sadly, the majority of girls in a certain age bracket, even when given a presidential Barbie, their play patterns aren’t “Barbie and her road to the White House”… they resort to “Barbie goes on a date” or “Barbie wears a pretty dress” what I said above is I’m happy my daughter plays differently, but the doll still sort of gives me pause. TY for commenting

    • ninapedia

      I don’t mean to revive a dead horse, but I think this is more the media’s fault than Barbie’s fault. Barbie- The “Life in the Dreamhouse” Youtube series and her movies- don’t really promote romantic relationships as the main plot. In the movies she’s usually saving the world, a kingdom, a prince etc. i.e. SHE’S the hero, and in the “Life in the Dreamhouse”- while this is more focused on fashion and “girl” things- her main goal isn’t to date (heck, i don’t think there’s been one date episode). I’m not saying Barbie is THE PERFECT ROLE MODEL but I do believe that Mattel goes to great lengths to show girls there’s more to life than dates.

  • Bee

    Um, she’s literally a SKELETON, not a skinny girl. If your daughter understands no one can have Barbie’s proportions, surely she understands no one can walk around with no skin or muscle or fat. Give your daughter a bit of credit, you are WAY over analysing it!

  • http://twitter.com/TweetyDee2 Travis McGee

    you are creeping me out…raising your daughter and sons to be feminists. Why not just let them be kids for awhile….~Mrs. McGee

    • Amanda Low

      Um, feminism isn’t some radical ideal…it’s the equivalent of her raising her children to be kind, compassionate humans.

    • http://www.xojane.com/author/eve Eve Vawter

      Yay Amanda thank you :)

    • http://www.xojane.com/author/eve Eve Vawter

      I let them be kids, just with a big understanding that everyone is equal regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, class, disability and GENDER. I don’t want to raise bullies. What Amanda said below :)

  • bumbler

    Just pop the head off and put it on another doll body.

    • http://www.xojane.com/author/eve Eve Vawter

      hahaha, that is such a mom thing to do <3

  • Cee

    Hmm.. projecting your issues much? I like Monster High. Its not the best, but it is a creative twist to teach kids about traditional scary monsters. Parents that love Halloween or scary movies really appreciate this show. Each monster on the show is the daughter of a traditional scary character…Clawdeen Wolf is the daughter of the Werewolf, Frankie Stein the daughter of Frankenstein ..so on. The show revolves around their lives twisted with the limitations or powers they have based on their parentage. Could all the characters/dolls not be stick thin? Yes…which would have been a better issue to write about!

    Skelita has to do with Dia de Los Muertos, so she must be a skeleton. Have skeletons made girls anorexic? No! If a girl meant to be a skeleton had skin on her bones that would have been more problematic. Nobody in this world has the goal to look like a literal skeleton, but girls do have goals to be thin. So asking for this doll to have skin would have been worse.

    • http://www.xojane.com/author/eve Eve Vawter

      Yeah, I wrote in my article that I understand the monsters are monsters. TY for the comments and reading!

  • chickadee

    I think the maker is confused about the shape of the fibula — the bone is not, in fact, what gives the calf its rounded shape. THAT’s what bothers me most about this doll. She’s supposed to be a skeleton, so I am not troubled by her boniness.

    • http://www.xojane.com/author/eve Eve Vawter

      Oooo that’s interesting, I love how it bothers you in a scientific way.

    • copycait

      I agree, and the same comment about the rib cage suggesting breasts. I think if the doll was a straight-up regular skeleton, there would be no cause for feeling like this doll promotes an unhealthy body image. Which I agree it doesl

  • Jessie

    I find the Monster High dolls all kinds of effing adorable, I buy them for myself and I’m a grown woman, but… This one seriously kind of freaks me out. Not in an ‘OMG she’s going to send the wrong message’ kind of way, but just in a ‘this kind of squicks me out’ way. o_O
    I mean, I understand WHY she looks like that, but… Ehh. Coupled with the huge head, the GLARING anatomical errors, and the hair and makeup, that skeletal body is seriously freaking me out!

    I wouldn’t worry about her sending your daughter a ‘thinspiration’ message so much as possibly giving the poor girl some serious reservations about sleeping with the doll in her room at night! Haha!

    • Persistent Cat

      Agreed. I don’t think I could sleep knowing that was in the house.

    • http://www.facebook.com/KandyCube Amielia Cube

      My Partner is a Tattooist and we have been looking for this doll cause we LOVE the Sugar skull look.

      after 4 hours and Countless stores, no one has had it, I hope its not cause of this Tripe. “body issues” when did Parents stop teaching their kids and leave it to dolls and tv.

    • http://www.xojane.com/author/eve Eve Vawter

      Here! http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Travel-Scaris-Skelita-Calaveras/dp/B008B68IE0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368611197&sr=8-1&keywords=skelita

      and speaking of sugar skulls, for mother’s day I got some amazing sugar skull cookie cutters :)

  • CW

    You are okay with slutty-looking dolls wearing too much makeup and too little clothing but are worried about the skeleton one? I think you need to have a bit of perspective here.

  • Kelly myers

    are you freaking dumb seriously it’s people like you that ruined the original barbies . the purpose of these dolls is that they are freaking monsters they have absolutely shit all to do with eating disorders . i fear for your children i really do . The moment you start censoring what your daughter can and can’t have because your afraid she will have a eating disorder is the moment you have already lost her .

  • momma5

    If this creeps you out I guess Halloween is a definite no go in your house. I agree with the other posters here, she does NOT promote anorexia. She’s a skeleton. Did you sit in science class looking at pictures of skeletons and say, “Wow! I want to lose weight so I can look just like that!” I think not. Skeletons are a part of life. Mostly hidden, but they are always there. My kid plays with these dolls, and refuses Barbie because she is just too boring and typical. MH dolls promote exactly what she needs to see; that it is ok to be different. A year ago her cousin who bullies literally threw my daughter into a fireplace leaving a gash in her head which after the stitches, scarred. She didn’t like her stitches, and she didn’t like the scar. Every day she tried to use my makeup to cover it (and she’s only 5!) until we found Frankie Stein with all her stitches and scars. Now my kid doesn’t pay attention to it because if Frankie can be cool with them, then so can she. If you want to provide a positive outlook towards your daughter, then don’t ever say anything is wrong with the way anyone looks in front of her, including yourself. Its from the parents that kids get their body image ideas, not toys. Toys do not look in the mirror and say, “Ugh I’m so fat.” We do. So, if your kid wants a MH doll, go for it and instead of freaking out, use it the way it is intended to be used; a way to promote that flaws can be beautiful, and as a toy!

  • shannon

    shutup bitch. Ignorant dumbass, That’s all I have to say.

  • ruchu

    I guess the werewolf and cat creature dolls promotes being hairy and not shaving then….

  • Jam

    Just so you know it’s “Dia de Los Muertos” (Day of the Dead), “Dios de Los Muertos” would translate to “God of the Dead”. In anycase, this doll pulls in some of the culture of Dia de Los Muertos by mixing the bright colors used on sugar skulls (which are placed on alters to honor passed loved ones) with the traditional Day of the Dead figures which ARE skeletons, often dressed as everyday people. In that respect, Skelita’s skeletal form fits perfectly.

  • Leila Baker

    As far as teaching tools go, I think you could use Skelita as a positive one. If you read the little journal that comes with her, there’s nothing in there about her body type (as far as I remember). She likes designing clothes and being with her family.

    You could discuss with your daughter that Skelita’s “body type” (in quotes because she’s a skeleton and in a class of her own) that her body isn’t the thing that makes her happy. Her family makes her happy, her clothing designs make her happy. Her body is a part of her and it doesn’t make her any more or less beautiful than someone that’s got a little or a lot of flesh on their bones.

    I’m not a mother, but I’d like to be one day. I played with Bratz when I was growing up and going through puberty and the thing that never made me feel pressured to be a certain body type (like overly skinny) was my mom reinforcing that you should be yourself and that any weight is fine as long as you’re healthy and happy.

    I will say though, that I hope Monster High puts out some thicker girls. They’d be just as cute and definitely reinforce their message of acceptance.

  • axecaliva

    “Skelita has beautiful dios de los muertos face paint, which is what my daughter had for Halloween.” Are you Latina? Regardless, “Dios” de los muertos facepaint isn’t a Halloween costume. If you’re worried about raising your daughter correctly, you should stop teaching her to appropriate culture.

  • kittsmcmitts

    Seriously, are you retarded? She’s a “day of the dead” “sugarskull” inspired doll. She’s SUPPOSED to look like a skeleton… She doesn’t say: I’m anorexic, or: I don’t eat at all! Shut your fat mouths and focus on more important things.

  • Mr. Dad

    I just saw an ad for these dolls on T.V. while watching cartoons with my son (I am his Dad).

    My initial reaction was that this doll looks anorexic. And yes I realize that the doll is actually bones and does not have flesh.

    I cannot believe how dismissive mothers have been and how they have taken such a BS high-ground, intellectualizing the package instructions “it doesn’t say anything about body image in the packaging” or even worse putting faith into Mattel. Suggesting that ChopChick must have problems with Halloween?!? I found the doll disturbing, but these comments really, really scare me.
    This is a flesh-covered skeleton, with a attractive head. A dead body, but a lively health looking head!! She can get dressed up in modern stylish clothes!!!

    This IS NOT the skeleton in your high school science class, what an absurd comparison!
    But no but your TRUST in Mattel– I am sure they have your child’s best interest at heart and are not concerned with what sells best– what can have a facade of the undead but truly represent an anorexic image.
    Absolutely floor but how brainwashed several of the commentors are!

    This doll may not cause anyone to become anorexic but simply…..WHY BUY IT?!?

  • This guy

    Toy’s do not promote disorders, just like video games don’t make kids shoot up school.

  • http://www.facebook.com/mia.feller Meg Merriet

    I have to agree that the doll presents a problem. It should be marketed to adults like the living dead dolls… not impressionable children. Jack from Nightmare before Christmas was not a pretty fashion doll, and male models do not have to look like holocaust victims to be successful. Lots of little girls like dolls and clothes and idolize models and the world of high fashion. The doll is harmless for most kids, but one little girl who goes into modeling and is told to get down to a size 0 might remember her doll, and think, “I can get as skinny as Skelita!” As one who has seen women waste away and die from the painful and slow disease anorexia, I find the beautification of a skeleton extremely disturbing. The majority of designers working in the fashion industry today will tell you that clothes look better on a skeleton, and this doll reinforces that notion.

  • The Voice of Reason

    you do know she is meant to Represent the celebration of dead Hence Mexico, not trying to tell your child “STARVE YOUR SELF” thats your job, teach your child what you want, don’t blame a awesome Doll like this. :I