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Parenting

09th Jan 2017

This Amazing Mum Is Fighting The Sexualisation Of Little Girls One Doll At A Time

Alison Bough

Australian artist Sonia Singh is fighting the sexualisation of little girls one face at a time by giving Bratz dolls a make-under.

This Tasmanian mum is changing the face of how little girls see beauty by one simple gesture: removing make-up. Sonia removes the heavily-made-up faces of the popular dolls to remind young girls that ‘au natural’ is beautiful too.

Sonia gives her Tree Change Dolls a lifestyle change by “swapping their high-maintenance high-fashion habits for down-to-earth style.” The talented artist repaints the dolls faces by hand, moulds new feet and shoes, and her mum Silvia even sews and knits new clothes! The Bratz say bye-bye to mini-dresses, and hello to comfy jumpers.

The dolls, which Sonia sells via her Etsy store, are currently sold-out with the next set due to become available on the 1st of February. The Australian mum, who is due her second baby this month, explains how the extraordinary project came about:

“I decided to restyle the faces of the dolls by removing the factory paint from the dolls and repainting them, giving them make-unders and a more down to earth style.

I made clothes for the first group of dolls I upcycled but soon my mum, an expert knitter and sewer, offered to clothe the dolls. Now we work together on the Tree Change Dolls. I also started repairing the dolls by making new feet when they were missing. I also fixed the hair by brushing, trimming and styling the hair.”

Sonia regularly posts ‘before and after’ images of her stunning transformations to her 25.7k followers on Instagram:

She says that her work has attracted a lot of positive attention:

“Within days I was getting journalists from all over the world wanting to talk and thousands of messages from people wanting to buy dolls. I seem to have triggered a global conversation about the suitability and style of some children’s toys.”

What do YOU think? Are dolls like Brats and Monster High overtly sexualising young girls?

Let us know your opinion in the Facebook comments. You can also join the conversation on Twitter @HerFamilydotie