The Virtual Stork Brings an Interesting Package

In reporting the article "Lolita in the Classroom"--about the sexualization of young girls by the media and advertisers--for the March issue of NEA Today, I spoke with Wes Kanape, a high school drama teacher in Wilmington, North Carolina. At one point, Kanape had six pregnant girls in his class. These days it's not uncommon for a pregnant student to talk excitedly with classmates about her baby shower, illustrating to Kanape that the pregnant teen stigma isn't what it used to be.

Little wonder then that Crave Entertainment, a video game company, felt compelled to create "Baby Pals," a video game in which players design and care for virtual babies. Here's how the ad in the magazine I was flipping through touts Baby Pals:

Congratulations! It's a toy! With Baby Pals, the game that lets you do all of the fun things real parents do, you can bring home an adorable baby to feed, bathe, play with, and love . You'll have hours of fun choosing your baby's name, gender, eye color, skin tone and much more. And if you're a really good parent, your little one will even love you back!

Even more interesting: the ad was in a magazine targeting tweens and teenagers. What message does it send to young girls that having a baby is arguably as simple as picking an eye color and skin tone, then remembering to tickle them and play peek-a-boo and patty cake (actual baby care responsibilities on Baby Pals' website)? A colleague pondered whether these virtual babies whine and wake up their "parents" at night.

It seems we've come a long way since the days when students toted eggs or sacks of flour around for a week to simulate parenting. But even with the egg and the flour, there was no convenient "off" button.

--Cynthia Kopkowski