Now French “Experts” Say Our Teddy Bears Need More Diversity and Realism

Posted by Leslie Eastman

Diversity pseudoscience published in “Bioscience” forgets the real purpose of children’s toys.

Recently, a shocking piece of pseudoscience was published in Oxford Academic’s “Bioscience” under the guise of a serious study.

“Too Cute to be Wild: What Teddy Bears Reveal about Our Disconnection from Nature” argues that the staple of children’s toys, teddy bears, may also distort their understanding of real wildlife because the toys often bear little resemblance to actual animals. Dr. Nicolas Mouquet and colleagues analyzed over 400 teddy bears and found their forms and colors diverge sharply from real bears, and from their “biodiversity”-oriented perspective determined that stuffed animals lead children to hold unrealistic mental models of animals.

For over 100 years, teddy bears have been a hallmark of childhood nurseries, ubiquitously embedded in our early memories and rarely the object of deep scrutiny.

However, according to a paper in BioScience by Dr. Nicolas Mouquet (CRNS) and colleagues, the humble teddy bear is much more than a mere plaything. Instead, the authors suggest that the beloved plushes play a pivotal role in our early conception of nature, potentially shaping the ways we interact with the natural world throughout our lives.

“For many Westerners, the very first intimate, emotional bond with nature may not come from a walk in the woods, but from early exposure to representations of nature, through illustrated books, toys, or plush animals,” explain the authors, who argue that emotional bonds such as these can persist for a lifetime.

At issue, then, is whether childhood toys are up to the task of fostering a realistic conception of nature. Unfortunately, say the authors, there may be serious downsides when they fall short: “If the bear that comforts a child looks nothing like a real bear, the emotional bridge it builds may lead away from, rather than toward, true biodiversity.”

The actual study is a real hoot. The authors want toy manufacturers to make more realistic bears.