Bratz And Books: Why I Have To Be Sexy

Serrette, Sierra

Bratz and Books; Why I Have to be Sexy

As a child into my pre-teen years, I was actively trying to emulate an older and more beautiful look. With blonde hair that was always frizzy, crooked teeth, and full lips, I consistently felt undesirable. I felt incredibly uncomfortable in my skin and desperately wanted everyone to consider me as pretty. I always felt like the friend that was pretty by association, but never deserving of true attention from the male gaze. I remember being influenced by two very specific things in my childhood that helped influence the understanding of my role as a woman; Bratz dolls and the book: “Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging.” Bratz dolls were the epitome of cool back in 2001 when they

My best friend Sarah and I would spend hours playing with them, the Bratz would go to the club, get their nails done, go on dates, and get yelled at by their Barbie mothers. Sometimes we would pretend to be the dolls, I was always Cloe (light skin and blonde hair) and she was always Jade (light skin and dark brown hair). Going through my dress up box, we would shorten skirts and tuck shirts in to make crop tops. Recreating those looks, we would play pretend, and imagine ourselves on dates. Sarah and I played this game for years until we finally stopped playing with dolls. While we stopped playing with dolls, the impact of playing with them

This reaffirmation came from a book “Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging” written by Louise Rennison. While the book came out in 1999, it circulated around my middle school about eight years later. It received movie rights a year after we all read the book, because it had gained so much popularity. The book explores the idea of getting a guy to like you, as told by Georgia Nicholson, a relatable teenage character who feels uncomfortable in her body. I related to Georgia, that while I was pretty, I wasn’t pretty enough to get a boy to like me. This book specifically enforced the idea that to be a woman, was to be beautiful, but it also introduced a secondary element. As a woman, my beauty needed to be valued by men, and this book’s focus drove that concept home for