Growing up I loved Barbies!! Every time I went to the store I wanted to leave with a Barbie. I had Barbie cars, furniture and the ultimate Barbie house. My mom even said when I was little I would walk around on my tippy toes so I could be like my Barbie dolls. I went as far as had to be a ballerina Barbie for Halloween.
When I think about it know what kind of message are we sending to children. Barbie fits into the stereotype that all females need to me skinny. The media sends the message of the idea perfect female. This female has to have a small waist and so out of proportion. Magazines always have the small female on the cover or inside feature. What is the media’s obsession with being thin? When I’m standing in line at the store I can’t help but look through magazines and sometimes I do happen to pick up a tabloid. It never fails the cover is usually about who is the skinny celebrity or who is overweight. When watching or looking at anything you will always come across the topic of weight.
But back to Barbies, these dolls have been around for years and the body type has undergone little change. The only thing Barbie has really done is add diversity. Barbie now has friends who are of different ethnicities. Barbie does have a career; she does show young girls that if Barbie can do it you can to. But another think that bothers be is why doesn’t Barbie have children? The only children around Barbie are her sisters. Barbie has become a phenomenon and will continue to be around for years to come and will America continue to over look the Barbie figure or will Barbie’s body type change with society?
2 comments:
A few years ago I remember they tried to market Barbies that were ‘plumper’ but none really sold. They tried to show, after so many years of complaints about Barbie’s measurements, that a larger woman doll could be manufactured and still serve as a role model like the original model did. It failed, however.
The larger dolls still were just as curvy and hourglass shaped but instead had larger breasts and wider hips. Many of the dolls they came out with were based on real-life plus-size celebrities, such as Rosie O’Donnell.
As far as the Barbie brand showing diversity, it is true that they have a black Barbie and an Asian Barbie, etc. etc…. but look at what they dress them in. Not only do they still create these ‘women’ with the “perfect” bodies but each woman of each ethnicity is wearing the most stereotypical attire. There is a Middle Eastern Barbie in a sari. The Asian Barbie is often manufactured in a kimono. The African American Barbie is often featured with a fro or ‘street clothes’ while the white Barbie is normally dressed in something clean-cut, fitting, and of a classic style,something like Jackie Onassis would have worn.
Barbie does have a career, yes. In fact, she has about forty. She has been a doctor, a vet, a waitress, a dog walker, a cop. Not only is each of these careers “glamified” but each outfit that goes with it is typically very sexy.
One other thing about Barbie that always irritated me was Ken. She had this gorgeous boyfriend that, in the cartoons and such, was always right there at her side. While little girls may like to see a romantic relationship and dream about one of their own one day, I hated that Barbie never seemed independent. Ken was always right there to do her bidding and what kind of example does that set if beautiful Barbie never fails to have an equally beautiful man at her side to carry her shopping bags and tell young admirers they too need a man to be happy?
It would be interesting to put this in the perspective of actually looking and comparing with the magazines. How does Vogue, Elle, Marie Clarie, fit into this issue? What about the teen magazines and the advertising that that is produced for tweens? That is taking this to a deeper level. Barbie sets unfair and unrealistic guidelines for many little girls in dealing with body issues, but Barbie did have several jobs, I always thought she was overworked and could not make up her mind, but hey that I was that kind of child.
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