Now this is going waaay too far!

First off, a disclaimer: I work in the game industry. I keep tabs on what's going on in the game market to see who the competitors are, how the sales numbers look, etc.  Also means I see what will come out in a few weeks or months.  It's fun to be in this business, especially since I enjoy playing games.  All good, right?
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This morning, I read an article on Times Online (UK) about a game website.  My jaw dropped and I am still shaking my head at the absolute absurdity of some in my industry who will go anywhere/do anything to make a buck.  The internet is buzzing today (NP, New York Magazine, Guardian) over this.
This website has an estimated user-base of 200,000 since it launched last month in UK aimed at girls aged 9 - 16.  They already have 1.2 Million users in France.   That's great for any website but what really disturbs me is that it attracted so many young girls so fast when it "encourages girls as young as 9 to embrace plastic surgery and extreme dieting in the search for the perfect figure."  Argh!  We have enough body image problems without having a website where, according to one of the founders, David Evans, "the story in the script had been created by “lads” and no professional advice was sought about how girls may interpret issues surrounding weight loss and gain."  Idiots!

In this age of world WIDE web, husband and I are trying to do everything we can to allow our kids to have their childhood for as long as possible.  While giving as much freedom and leeway as possible for them to explore/discover their world, we have put some severe limits on what they can watch on Tivo (we really don't watch "TV" anymore and we love the Tivo KidZone!), limit how much computer time they have, and monitor what websites they go to.  When something like Miss Bimbo (although it looks like their website has crashed due to massive number of hits) comes online, I feel like I want to stick my head in the sand and wave the white flag of surrender.
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For about a nano second, I toy with the idea of calling for a shut down of this website.  Then, the rational part of my brain regains control and I email myself a reminder that when I get home, I have another website to add to the ever-growing list of "you are sooo not going there, kids" website list on our iMac.

Original post to Silicon Valley Moms Blog....