It Puts the Lotion on its Skin

Recent research from a team of British academics found that Barbie dolls suffered brutal mutilation at the hands of young girls.

A group of 100 girls interviewed saw the torture as legitimate play activity and engaged in gleeful mutilation that included shearing off the hair, decapitation and the inevitable microwaving.

The data received was very interesting to psychologists who said that the violence toward the doll appeared to be a rite of passage that spanned age, schools, and even gender.

''The most readily expressed reason for rejecting Barbie was that she was babyish, and girls saw her as representing their younger childhood out of which they felt they had outgrown,'' said Agnes Nairn, one of the University of Bath researchers.

Or perhaps the data simply reveals that sadistic bitches start early.

These cats have claws!