Sexy diva dolls for six-year-olds harmful to self-image and healthy development and so Kathryn Gallagher Morton of Newmarket decided to combat the negative message for girls by developing The Maplelea Girls.

Full details in news release below.

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TORONTO - We've all seen girls as young as five years old with the bottom of their shorts emblazoned with "Bootylicious", or 10-year-olds giving attitude parading around in cut-off tank tops with sayings like "JAIL BAIT", micro-mini denim skirts, black fishnet stockings, and makeup. Our culture and society have now reached the point where kiddy thongs are but a low-rise glance away and girls as young as six are adapting the veneer of womanhood.

Mothers are the primary shoppers for young girls' clothes and these fashions confirm the sordid state of affairs in the girls' clothing department of some stores. Some mothers may think this is good for a young girl's self-esteem and self-expression, but others shake their heads in disbelief and know that something went wrong somewhere. Should we really be dressing our 7-year-olds in racy teen and adult garb?

Like much of today's fashion, many dolls marketed to girls between six and 12 years old have fallen big, head over high heels, from sweet and innocent into 'hot' and raunchy.

For example, Bratz(TM) dolls are dressed in sexualized clothing such as miniskirts, fishnet stockings, and feather boas. Although these dolls may convey no more sexualization of girls or women than we observe in MuchMusic and MTV videos, magazine covers, movies, the catwalk, billboards, and song lyrics, a recent Report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls states: "It is worrisome when dolls designed specifically for 4- to 8-year-olds are associated with an objectified adult sexuality.... The proliferation of these types of images is harming girls' self-image and healthy development."

Although powerful marketing propels annual global sales of Bratz products over the US$2 billion mark, the tide is turning. Synovate, one of the world's top global market research firms, conducted a 2007 survey of 1,010 mothers with 4- to 9-year-old daughters. Eighty-five per cent of the mothers said they were "tired of the sexpot dolls and characters" in stores.

When Hasbro announced plans to market a new line of Pussycat Dolls replicas, Brooklyn mother Lisa Flythe was appalled to discover that it would be aimed at 6- to 8-year-old girls. Formerly burlesque performers, the scantily clad Pussycat Dolls are a real-life pop music group famous for their sexualized lyrics and dance routines. Flythe sent strong letters of opposition to Hasbro's CEO and the director of marketing. She also contacted the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), a national coalition of health-care professionals, educators, advocacy groups and parents. Together with coalition member Dads and Daughters, the CCFC launched a letter-writing campaign that generated 2,000 letters within 48 hours. Days later, Hasbro canceled production plans for the dolls.

Parents can teach girls to value themselves for who they are and what they can accomplish, rather than how they look, by giving them dolls that convey the same values they want to instill in their daughters.

The Maplelea Girls(TM) collection of premium dolls promotes the simplicities of girlhood and offers gentle learning and life lessons. Their names are Taryn, Brianne, Alexi, and Jenna. Distinctively Canadian, these traditional dolls are contemporary role models and celebrate Canada's spirit and identity. A child will usually select her Maplelea(TM) doll based on similar personality and interests. For instance, Brianne lives on a farm in Manitoba, loves anything pink, has a Welsh pony, and might be a farmer or ballerina when she grows up. In contrast, Jenna who lives near the Atlantic Ocean in Nova Scotia, loves soccer, the fiddle, sailing, and reading stories to senior citizens at a local retirement home. Alexi, with her pet cat, is a downtown Toronto girl who loves to invent things and is computer savvy. Taryn lives near Banff and loves wildflowers, butterflies, hiking and painting. The dolls represent the potential for any girl to be bright, caring, energetic, and proud of Canada. The Maplelea Girls are Canadian dolls for Canadian girls(TM).

Eighteen inches (46 cm) tall with long thick hair, the Maplelea Girls stand on their own two feet and provide excellent play and life values, are easy and fun to befriend, and inspire girls to be the best they can be. Each doll comes with a 64-page story journal that reveals her biography, family history, and thoughts. Each Maplelea doll's unique fictional life story encourages the real girl to express her feelings, write about her own life in her doll's journal, and to celebrate who she is at this time of her life. Every new doll outfit comes with additional journal pages and fascinating Canadian facts. Maplelea dolls give girls wholesome, imaginative, and educational entertainment.

Owner Kathryn Gallagher Morton of Newmarket, Ontario says that childhood is short enough, and girls should be encouraged to savour every moment of it. "They would grow in healthy, normal ways if their road to adolescence was lined with the personal interests, hobbies, skills, and real-life concerns of a child."

Chris Maher lives in Kitchener, Ontario with her two daughters, ages seven and 10. "They each have a Maplelea doll. They pretend that the dolls are friends and play games like school with them. My girls can really relate to the dolls because they are similar in age to the dolls' characters. I also like the fact that the Maplelea girls have Canadian stories and journals to teach my girls about different parts of Canada."

She says her daughters love the dolls' clothes, real clothes that her children would wear - not high heels and wedding dresses. "They also love styling their dolls' hair in braids and ribbons or just dressing them," she says, adding that her girls never liked Barbies when they were young. "They couldn't relate to playing with a doll that looked like a grown-up with grown-up clothes, cars, and concerns. I don't think a pre-teen should be that concerned with makeup and the latest fashions."

Visit www.maplelea.com.

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