A Spanish company released announced a doll recently called the Bebé Glotón, or Baby Glutton. The interesting thing about this doll is what it does. It cries when it's hungry, and wants to be breastfeed. That's right, a doll aimed at little girls wants to suckle. If you want to know more, just Google it. But seeing this made me think, after my initial shock and horror, when should kids start to think about being parents? Some pundits said that the baby teaches young girls that their sole purpose in life is to become mothers, while the makers of the doll claim the support of a national organization promoting breastfeeding. So the debate continues, creepy or educational? Personally, I think it's creepy. I've always found dolls creepy, and this particular one seems more like the thing they hand out in parenting classes in high schools. What self respecting parent would buy something like this for their daughter? Why not buy something plastic and inflatable from an adults only store and give that to the kids while you're at it? Yes, kids have always pretended to be grown up, but there are limits. But then, maybe this is just the next logical step in the hypersexualization of children. We can already dress up little girls in fishnets and miniskirts, why shouldn't we make parenthood as real as possible.

I think this also highlights the major differences between the upbringing of boys and the upbringing of girls. Boys never seem to get told they are going to reproduce, while a disturbingly large number of parents tell their daughters that their most important goal in life should be to settle down and raise a family. Look at organizations like Quiverfull, which hates all forms of birth control and promotes reproduction on as large a scale as possible. And then I have to ask, is our urge to reproduce a natural instinct, or is it taught? As increasing numbers of couples decide to forgo children entirely, and more and more people seem uninterested in having kids, I have to wonder if we actually want kids. Yes, human beings are sexual, but being sexual and wanting to reproduce seem to be increasingly different things. Take a look at Helen Memel, the protagonist of Charlotte Roche's debut novel Wetlands, who is incredibly sexual but has herself serialized once she turns 18. Plus, we have an incredibly over populated planet, we are running out of food, out of space, out of air. Nature kicks in and takes away our natural urge to nurture. So maybe it's taught. Or maybe I'm insane. Either way, it's interesting.

So do we naturally want to have kids? I have no idea. But is a doll that teaches little girls to breastfeed creepy? If it isn't, I don't know what is. Here's hoping it's some elabourate prank.