Barbie Doll Body Image

As I was on the hunt for the perfect gift for an 8 year old’s birthday, I discovered the doll market is quite different than my coming of age. Undoubtedly, Barbie is still problematic, but now she has competitors, including Bratz, and Monster High dolls, who are noticeably thinner than barbie and dressed up to look like grown women getting ready for a night of clubbing than a game of tennis. As I pick up the first doll box, I find a doll chained up in a slither of clothing with a blank expression on her face, a prominent thigh gap, with the tagline “GREAT for girls ages 5 and up!” By all means, I never imagined in my life that I would miss Barbie. For that reason, I begin to sit myself down in the toy aisle to start googling everything I could about these dolls on my

Unfortunately, it also is highly unattainable and instills unrealistic goals in girls’ minds. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, there are up to 24 million people suffering from eating disorders and 86% of those are under the age of 20 (anad.org). That being said, negative adverse effects are often the results of our world placing the upmost importance on body image. At Radboud University, Doeschka Anschutz and Rutger Engels conducted an experiment designed to test the effects of playing with thin dolls on body image and food intake in 6-10 year old girls. After splitting the girls into three different groups where they either played with a thin doll, an average sized doll or a slightly oversized doll, as seen in figure one, the results yielded that indeed there were significant differences between the girls’ body image and food intake which was completely dependent on which doll they played with (Anschutz, Engels 625). For example, a girl that played with the thinnest doll, the Barbie Doll, consumed the least amount of food following playtime when girls that played with either the average sized doll or even slightly larger doll consumed significantly more food. This experiment explicitly highlights the unknown dangers associated with playing with Barbie Dolls at a young age. Immediately the doll caused young girls to see themselves as ‘too big’ or

What was that one doll every little girl just had to have growing up? What doll made little girls obsess with perfection? What doll set the unrealistic standards for girls starting at ages three or four? Barbie is a children’s toy that was first introduced to the market in 1959. Barbie was the perfect role model for all girls. She was perfectly skinny, had a perfect boyfriend and family, perfect hair, perfect house, perfect everything, but her existence is completely ironic. Although Mattel, creator of Barbie, attempts to make Barbie absolute perfection, all her imperfect buyers are wondering why they cannot look like the beautiful doll. She is responsible for the diminishing young girls’ self-confidence. Lisa Belkin believes girls in today’s society cannot comprehend what true beauty is because they were so entranced with the idea of Barbie in her online article “Banning Barbie.” Barbie should be pulled off the shelves immediately. Barbie’s looks, actions, and lust for materialistic objects are the blame for the degeneration of assurance in young girls and women.

“Picture yourself as the ‘perfect’ woman. Embodying every woman’s dream. You are undeniably gorgeous, weighing in at 100 pounds, standing 6 feet tall and holding nearly 150 careers” (Barbie History). This is the inspirational, ever so beloved childhood toy, the perfect Barbie Doll. Barbie is America’s most loved toy, considering many young girls at least owned one or more Barbies throughout their childhood.These young girls looked up to Barbie as their role model throughout life, which lead to them comparing themselves to Barbie. The ‘Barbie Syndrome’ is an definite culprit of girls’ persistent desire to strive for perfection. Barbie’s unrealistic beauty and extraordinary lack of diversity has lead to many negative effects within women in today’s society, including a ceaseless desire to be perfect, and overall lower rates of self-esteem. Throughout the years the Barbie Company decided to fix this mistake by creating a plethora of different Barbies, to try to raise women’s self-esteem.

Since the late 1950s, Barbie has come to represent the idealized American woman. She is tall, slender, and blonde. For most, this body type is unattainable and unrealistic. Woman come in all shapes, sizes, and hair colors. Who decided that Barbie was going to be the perfect woman? Obviously, not the vast majority of women that do not fit the Barbie-standard. This 1950s standard should not be what little girls think they should look like in 2016. Little girls need a broader example of achievable beauty.

On March 1959 during the American International Toy Fair, Barbie with a demure sidelong glance entered the world stage for the first time. Unlike the earlier traditional toys, Barbie in her high heels and black and white striped swimsuit seemed ready for an upscale pool party, and in the end, she revolutionized both the toy industry and society’s culture by representing the changing society as more women joined the workforce after World War II. As a result, today when any typical American woman reflects back at her childhood besides perhaps crayons, the Barbie Dolls have to be in the top list since it became an integral childhood partner. For most innocent American female children, the Barbie doll is more

Barbie was first introduced to U.S. toy markets in 1959 by Ruth Handler, a mother who noticed that her daughter would tend to reimagine her infant dolls as having adult characteristics (Abramson 2009). Handler, realizing there was a gap in the market for dolls that represented an older demographic, created the initial design of the American toy sensation. Barbie was originally based off a German adult doll called Bild Lilli, which was a doll that was based off a comic strip character that would utilize her sexuality to get what she wanted. Handler’s initial design was intended to be mutable, in the sense that

Young Girls look up to many people as role models, one role model that plays an immense part in their lives is Barbie. Barbie is defined as being pretty, beautiful, and even perfect. But is she really that wonderful as she seems? Her body shape is completely inaccurate representation of the female body and people get easily influenced by these unrealistic standards. If no one steps up to help young girls realize that Barbie is not perfect then they will have dissatisfaction with themselves forever. Body dissatisfaction is becoming more and more popular and one reason is that Barbie presents an unrealistic body image that affects young girls and their idea of a perfect life.

As American societies’ problems continue to pullulate burdens on her children consequently, American girls at the age of six starts to emphasize a relation to self-awareness towards their body weight. Specifically, forty to sixty percent of girls who have aged between six and twelve express a deep concern towards their current body image or their possible future weight gain. Consumers have criticized companies like Mattel over the years for their Barbie line of products above all; perpetuate female phantasm of perfection, which is physically unattainable. As a result of this, Mattel has given their Barbie dolls a makeover which includes four different body shapes, seven different skin colors, twenty-two eye colors, and twenty-four hairstyles in addition to this, Barbie also have optional accessories such as laptops and I pads and careers such as president/vice president and video game developer which have historically been male-dominated professions. As was previously stated, Mattel's evolution of the Barbie does show progress for the company in the coming years but on the condition that Mattel actually is fixing the issue of gender objectification that

Barbies have changed a lot over the years. Not just Barbies, but kids toys and dolls have made drastic improvements and advancements. The first toy can be traced back to ancient Greece in 10th century B.C. Dolls can be traced back even further. Since then, these plastic toys, specifically Barbies, have affected the body images of little girls. If Barbie was life size, she would be 5’9” and weigh only 110 pounds. Her body’s fat percentage would be so low that she wouldn’t be able to walk or even live a healthy life. Barbies are a positive and negative influence on young girls. She shows them that they can do whatever job they want, but on the other hand, she represents what our society thinks is the “perfect” body.

Ever since the creation of Barbie in 1959, the doll has been a frontrunner in children’s entertainment. The doll’s humble beginning has progressed until Mattel can now claim, with very good reasoning, that one Barbie Doll is sold every two and a half seconds. Considering the doll’s popularity, one has to wonder how a toy that popular is effecting the children who play with the doll. Some people claim that Barbie encourages young girls to be the best they can be. Others believe that Barbie is merely a toy, and that the doll has no impacts on the child’s life at all. The truth of the matter is that Barbie can have very serious negative effects on how young girls will grow up to view their physical appearance as well as their value as human beings.

We have an eleven year old girl, and we do let her to play with Barbie dolls. However, we do not let her play with Bratz dolls. My fiancée thinks that the Bratz line of dolls are too sexualized, and I must admit, when I first saw them I joked that the Bratz line should be called “Street Walker Barbie.” I do think that negative body image is real problem, but the impact of dolls on body image is comparatively insignificant. Barbie dolls, which have been around for nearly sixty years, are not the cause of the current body image crises that is infecting the girls and woman of our country. We are contently bombarded by advertising, fashion magazines, video games, TV shows, and music videos, that dictate what beauty is supposed to be, setting unrealistic

The results suggest that Barbie dolls are pervasive with girls’ experiences, and that young adolescents believe the dolls influence girls’ developing self-concept.” In fact, according to my experience over Spring break, visiting the toy section in “toys “R” Us” I observed toys such as Barbie’s. I took a closer look at their bodies and how they were dressed. The message I perceived through this observation was: as young girls get older, this is what they’re supposed to look like. They should maintain tight fitted clothing, a slim body with long shiny legs, and always wear makeup to create the illusion of having a flawless face, with “perfect” features. Dressing up the Barbie’s and brushing their hair can be very encouraging to playing with them. They also influence the player to become addicted and take on these stereotypical roles into their daily lives. Therefore, several toy companies not only stereotype body images, but also a woman’s lifestyle. Sharing my experience and visions of what children play with is: although Barbie is known for being the developmental toy, it is very vague and has nothing to do with

Starting young, adolescent girls around the world are becoming self-conscious due to society’s influence upon what they should and shouldn’t look like. Many argue that The Barbie Doll plays a key influence in what young girls assume their bodies should look like. However, some will argue that the Barbie Doll toy is a good role model for young children, especially girls, because of her career choices, how she’s depicted in her movies, and her overall personality.

This doll differed from other dolls that were already on the market because this doll exemplified the post-World War II values and ideals for women. Barbie is a young, white, woman with inhumanly long legs, a thin and shapely waist, and long blonde hair, as well as perfectly applied, flirty makeup. According to, "What Barbie Dolls Have to Say about Postwar American Culture" by Miriam Forman-Brunell, Barbie at first was criticized for being "over sexualized." It did not prevent her from becoming a best selling toy in the past and present.