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  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 10, age appropriate for kids over 13; suggested age 10.
  • Is it any good?

    2.0
  • Common Sense says

    Glitzy dress-up dolls ooze bad female stereotypes.

Why We Rated This iffy for Ages 10–13

The good stuff

  • Educational value:

    Fashion lessons the site imparts are more appropriate for adults -- in the adult movie industry.
 

What to watch out for

  • Messages:

    Stereotypical sexualized images of girls and women. Poor dating role models.
  • Violence:

    Dress-up dolls include "Female Fight Club" and "Vampire Bride" characters.
  • Sex:

    Many female dolls depicted with sexual undertones. Sexy doll clothes are the norm.
  • Language:

    Not an issue.
  • Consumerism:

    Ads for music, DVDs, beauty schools, and more. Kids pay $6.99/month for CDE club.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Not an issue.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About CartoonDollEmporium

Parents need to know that this dress-up doll site touts itself as the number one online destination for girls ages 6-16, yet much of its content isn't appropriate for elementary school kids -- or even some older tweens. While the staff claims the site was created to foster creativity, many of the dolls that kids can dress up include tired, uncreative female beauty stereotypes: shirts with spilling cleavage and emaciated long legs in stiletto heels, for example. Banner ads flank the pages, and the games, content, and moderated bulletin boards are mediocre quality at best. One cool feature is the music section, where kids can listen to clips and learn more about some of today's hot tween artists.

Did this review help you decide?

Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about why most of the dolls for girls on this site have similar physical features. Is this how most women really look, or just how the media tells them they're "supposed" to look? What differences are present in the male dolls and the outfits you can choose for them, like Tiger Woods (whose wife's doll is listed under "accessories" along with Woods' golf bag)?

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Our Members Say

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See all 13 member reviews

Most Recent Reviews

  1. I rate this title iffy for age 8 and give it 3.0
    My concerns are:
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • Inappropriate language
    • Excessive consumerism
    • Negative message

    • My highlights are:
    • Educational
    • User content is age appropriate

    Iffy but fun..when you have good friends are rich and popular.

    Its great. but i feel it is a Myspace/bebo/twitter/facebook e.g for under 18's. it is possible for the kids who use it to be found out where they live and stuff. people do swear sometimes when they are bullying you. and there are alot of ads,a plus you have to buy a ppm for quite a few perks.And on the female dolls before you have dressed them, you can see inapropriate parts of the female body.and as quite a few boys go on it that is rude.

  2. Kid Reviewer Age 11
    Lives in Texas
    I rate this title on for age 8 and give it 5.0
    • My highlights are:
    • Safety isn't an issue

    AWASOME!! with a capital A

    this site very cool and awsome!it is very creative and easy to use.i have an account on the site and it really dosent have sexually activity.

  3. Kid Reviewer Age 11
    Lives in Mississippi
    I rate this title on for age 8 and give it 5.0

    love it

    really i do love this site i got my account this may and i get on it every day and if you want a kids input it IS DEFINITLY a websitye a 8 year old could get on its safe,fun,creative,and completely cool ive been on the site for a mouth and ive played with all the dolls and none of them are raunchy or "revealing" in any way i mean its a bra and belive it or not all girls wear them:o so i find nothing bad about this website and my mom even told me "it would be a good thing to have your own account on cde."and i told my friend to try it out and her parents thoght the same thing my mom did so yeah and any one who wants to see if it is safe that is if you don"t belive me my username is hisagi_shuhei69 ok.

  4. Kid Reviewer Age 10
    Lives in Indiana
    I rate this title on for age 9 and give it 5.0

    Awesome!

    First of all, I'm 10. I love this website it is awesome. So, if you want a child's advice it IS age appropriate for 9 and up. My user name is bmeyer. And it is a good way to make freinds and it protects a child from sending out information, like oh, say little Bobby tries to send out his e-mail adress. It just says thewebsites name it won't let him send it out. It also protects kids from inapropriate language like the f-word or something like that. So, over all I play it all day and you can also talk with internet freinds, blog, post pics, and buy clothes with cartoon dollars!

  5. Kid Reviewer Age 12
    Lives in Georgia
    I rate this title on for age 10 and give it 5.0

    I LOVE THIS WEBSITE!!

    there is so much to do and if you arebullied you can report it to a staff member and you can be yourself!!

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