A Small Messaging Problem with the Wonderful Tree Change Dolls

By Robert Bejil from Bakersfield, Ca, USA (Darnah 01) [CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Unless you live under a rock, one of the things that may have grabbed your attention on social media this week is the “Tree Change Dolls.” I know they grabbed mine.

“Tree Changes Dolls” are the brainchild of a family in Tasmania. The concept, as written on their Tumblr and Etsy sites, is simple.

The family combs local thrift shops and finds discarded fashion dolls. They give the dolls a more natural-looking make-over and sell each as a unique work of art, and as an improved toy for young girls.

The before-and-after pics of the dolls that are circulating the internet really highlight the vision and creativity behind the Tree Change Dolls.

I love upcycling, I love creativity and I love entrepreneurs. I love overnight social media success stories, like this one. One would think I would be completely in love with the Tree Change Dolls. The parenting world, and the feminist world, are lauding the Tree Change Dolls as a positive alternative for young girls.

I understand all that, and I appreciate it. However, for me, there is something a wee bit disturbing about the subtle marketing message of these dolls. Even more disturbing is the fact that few people seem to be seeing this message as questionable.

The vast majority of the dolls who get to become Tree Change Dolls are Bratz dolls. Bratz dolls have glitzy urban clothes and lots of makeup.

The “Tree Change” process takes the makeup off the dolls, and puts them in dowdy clothes. Now, apparently, according to the marketing, these dolls are able to play and explore and live in ways that their makeup and clothing prevented them previously.

Most folks agree that the Tree Change Dolls are a lot cuter than the original Bratz. Many parents dislike Bratz, feeling they promote a certain attitude that is undesirable in young girls. I find all fashion dolls a bit questionable, and wonder why Bratz earns the ire of parents who are happy to feed their daughters a constant diet of Barbie and Disney.  I’d take a sassy Bratz over a dishwater Disney Princess any day, and wonder if all the Bratz-hate is rooted anti-urban racism and classism.

As a child, I would have loved a cute Tree Change Doll much more than any fashion doll. As an adult, I, like many, have been concerned by the lack of ethnic diversity available in dolls, and the unrealistic expectations that fashion dolls like Barbie might create among young girls.

At the same time, taking the makeup and snazzy clothes off Bratz dolls and promoting the changes as wholesome improvements also sends an undesirable message.

In a way, this message is just as limiting to young girls as fashion dolls are.

Why can’t a person wear makeup and fashionable clothes and still be smart, athletic and fun?  Why can’t a fashionable urban girl love nature? Why does taking the makeup off a doll somehow make that doll more wholesome, more spiritual, more intelligent or more appropriate?

I really appreciate the creativity and talent behind the Tree Change Dolls. What I don’t appreciate is this subtle slut-shaming message.

To me, this message smacks of blaming the high heels, short skirt and lipstick for the rape. “If only the woman had been dressed more appropriately she would never have been attacked. She was asking for it!”

I recognize these dolls come from a different country than I do, and that I might not fully understand the cultural implications from an Australian perspective.

I also know that concern about how women dress themselves is an international issue of extreme political importance, unfortunately.

Like many people who love the Tree Change Dolls, I am concerned about the message that fashion dolls send to young girls. Unlike many people, I am also a bit concerned about this aspect of the message sent by Tree Change Dolls.

Women must be free to dress the way they want, without the judgment of others. Neither fashion dolls nor anti-fashion dolls really promote the idea that women get to choose how they present themselves.

The problem comes from the culturally-acceptable-but-truly-heinous idea that it is fine to judge a woman’s character, talent, intelligence and moral standing based on her outfit and makeup.

I’m not expecting a small family with a brilliant suddenly-booming cottage industry to change the world any more than they already are.  I think the Tree Change Dolls are inspired and lovely, and I wish them much success.

At the same time, I also wish they would stop suggesting that women who enjoy makeup and fashion are somehow less appropriate than women who don’t. To me, that seems a slippery slope toward legally-enforced fashion choices.

Women in many parts of the world are legally required to dress in certain ways. Don’t we make room for the attitude that demands that kind of subjugation when we judge women’s characters based on their clothes and makeup?

The Crystal Controversy

It would be hard to be involved in metaphysics or New Age philosophy and not learn the power of crystals. Crystals and gemstones are a cornerstone of New Age and metaphysical thought, practice and business. We use crystals and gemstones for empowerment, healing, chakra balancing, storing energy, meditation, divination, magick and manifestation. We use them for personal adornment as well, but most of us believe our jewelry serves a double purpose. Our crystal pendants are lovely to wear and also provide healing and support. Every New Age merchant stocks crystal and gem jewelry, as well as some pieces for healing, divination, magick and collections.

I first learned about the power of crystals and gemstones in the 1980s when the New Age movement was in full swing. I would use adhesive tape to affix gemstones to specific parts of my body and would swear they brought me healing. I would make medicine pouches for my friends complete with stones to offer the specific type of healing I thought they needed. I learned to make jewelry and, for a while, supported myself by stringing beads and wrapping crystals.

I went to Arkansas to mine crystals a few times. When I first arrived at the mines I was shocked at the damage we were doing to the Earth. It is, after all, a mining enterprise like any other. I learned from the locals that we had another choice. The local sheriff was also the preacher. On a Sunday morning we could break the law and go into the woods to mine crystals as the Native Americans had. Since the sheriff would be preaching there would be no one to arrest us. While the idea of mining in a more natural way appealed to me I understood the reason to protect the forests. I declined and went back to the commercial mines.

Unlike the “rockhounds” who were simply fans of geology my friends and I prayed and meditated before, during and after the mining process. We believed the crystals we mined were healing to those who would buy them, even as we hurt the Earth to get them.

Years after my time as a crystal miner and jewelry maker I successful pursued the calling that would become my life-long career – tarot. When, in the 1990s, I ran Christiana’s Psychic and New Age Fair I was happy to have a few wonderful vendors of crystals and gemstones, including the well-known Ed Mondazzi of Discount New Age Books.

When Ed heard I was planning surgery to be a living kidney donor he gave me a beautiful and very large quartz crystal. I still have that crystal today and I treasure it. After the surgery the crystal was by my bedside. Its energy was so strong it disturbed the machines that were attached to me. One nurse wanted to take the crystal away. The doctor (an internationally known transplant surgeon) wouldn’t let her. “Shield the machine.” The doctor ordered. “That’s her healing crystal. She needs it.” Whether the doctor truly believed in the healing power of crystals or was simply pandering to my belief system I do not know. The nurse shielded the machine and I recovered.

I believe in the power of crystals and gemstones. I believe in their ability to help us be healed and balanced. I believe that crystals store power. I believe that crystals and gemstones attract positive energy to us.

Indigenous people all over the planet used the medicine of stones in one way or another. But indigenous people did not rape the Earth wholesale to procure the stones. I’ve come to wonder if we are really in our integrity as spiritual people when we contribute to the destruction of the planet so that we can have this particular medicine.

There are other problems, too. Over the years we learned that the politics in certain countries were such that some gemstones came to us figuratively soaked in blood. Of course we knew that about South African diamonds, but some of our healing stones might be similarly tainted.

I love my small but potent collection of crystals and gemstones. I use them regularly. Many of my friends are jewelry makers. I treasure the gifts they have given me and wear them with pride. But I don’t go to the gem shows the way I used to. And I don’t think I’ll ever mine again.

I’ve come to wonder, too, if we could use the power of the crystals and gemstones without removing them from the Earth. If we simply ground ourselves to the Earth and focus on the crystals we know are there could we avail ourselves of that healing energy without doing such damage?

The metaphysical community claims to love the Earth. Some of us are Pagans, vegans and environmentalists. We are healers. We are organic farmers. We walk lightly on the Earth. We pray, chant, drum and dance for the healing of Mother Earth.

Am I the only person who sees a conflict here?

I’m not sure how to reconcile my love for crystals and gemstones with my love for the Earth. I don’t have any particular solutions, except these two.

Let’s work on developing meditative techniques that harness the power of gems and minerals without having to mine them from the Earth.

And let’s start a conversation about how we can heal ourselves without causing so much harm to Mother Earth.