It's a Barbie World

The Barbie doll has been a popular play toy for young girls since the late 1950s. Although the Barbie doll seem like an innocent toy, it has had an effect on little girls’ body images. Many studies have shown an association between young girls playing with Barbies and eating disorders. Even grown women want to resemble Barbie so badly that they start to do surgery on their bodies which can be very dangerous. This has led to the term, Barbie Syndrome, which refers to “the drive, often of adolescent girls, to attain impossible standards of beauty, projected by toys—e.g., Mattel’s Barbie Doll—and the media, resulting in failure and frustration, issues related to body

Despite the controversy faced through the years Barbie is an ever relevant and popular toy for young children in America. The controversial topic of the matter being mostly dedicated to the appeal of whether Barbie sends a good message to kids, or not. What most people tend to overlook about Barbie is the reason and inspiration of her creation, the feminine cultivation she displays, and the diversity and positivity of her life and personality.

Millions of women have gone along with this fantasy and have been entranced by the unrealistic standards of appearance and false qualities of life. Sadly, more and more women have accepted these standards as their own and have even resorted to changing who they are to become what they believe to be real. This may be a major contributing factor to the rise of women seeking breast implants and or plastic surgery. Yet there could be a further explanation and meaning behind Barbie.

At first as she brings the readers in she explains how the Barbie doll seems harmless. It’s just something she plays with, some would say. What people don't realize that at a very young age children notice the world around them. They not only see it in their toys but television ads, the radio in the car, and even from friends at school. It’s installed in their minds that the world expects you to look a certain way and if you don't fit the profile your not pretty.

Since the emergence of the Barbie doll in 1959, Barbie has been a populous choice among young children, and more specifically young girls because of its monopolization of the toy market. Barbie is a doll that has been outwardly controversial and debated upon for years and most likely will be for many years to come. The idea of the Barbie doll is a toy for which young girls model themselves after and aspire to be like when they mature and grow up. DuCille states, “more than simple instruments of pleasure and amusement, toys and games play crucial roles in helping children determine what is valuable in and around

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

In conclusion, Barbie’s changing fashions, interests and views have altered in response to suit pop culture throughout the years. Barbie is a physical personification of popular culture throughout the years, and she has grown to fit the world around her, to change with the ‘fads’ and ‘fashions’ of the time. However in some cases it seems as though she has transgressed us on some levels. Barbie is a palpable representation of the amount of change that has taken place over the decades, a change in social thinking, social constructs, fashion and beauty. The Barbie doll is the perfect representation of popular

Today’s society raises young women to conform to archaic practices with total disregard towards a child self-progression. In Barbie Doll poem by Marge Piercy it is portrayed a young girl who was attacked by society because of having unruly features on her appearance and body. To make clear, Piercy uses the title “Barbie Doll” in her poem to symbolize the cultural American traditions of making young girls live in a fairy tale world; where everything they see or do is perfect. The girl in this poem played with Barbie toys since she was little, but when she reached her puberty people started to criticize her of having imperfections on her face and body; which made her commit a really wrong decision for herself. In today’s society there are a large number of women having plastic surgery, because they do not feel comfortable or confident with their own appearances. Women are not just beauty queens and home makers; they should retreat from female stereotypes at a young age so they do not confront society pressure.

Barbie has become a pillar of the children’s toy market since her inception. Forbes reports, “Ninety percent of American girls ages three to ten own at least one Barbie, according to the doll’s maker, Mattel톖.” The doll has an impactful reach on kids today through both the dolls and other products that have been inspired by or created to accompany Barbie. This exposure, which has been proven to damage the self-esteem of women (American Psychological Association 1), impacts the development of kid’s views of themselves and other people. Comparing real women to these images causes these girls to have negative views of themselves as they grow older and judge other women harshly. It also causes boys to hold girls to an unreasonable standard of their appearances, which further damages the girl’s self worth when they don’t meet these standards (ScienceDaily 1). Consequently, the

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.

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.

This belief was supported in an article in Art Education, a journal aimed towards the professional interests of art educators. The article in question, “Cosmetic Surgery and the Cultural Construction of Beauty,” illustrates the increase of people, mostly women that are undergoing plastic surgery (Blair). One of the reasons for the increase cited in the article were the dolls that children are playing with. They claimed that the media, in this case Barbie, shapes the way that young girls understand the way that a person’s supposed to look. This is especially true when the damaging form of media is marketed exclusively towards children and when the children are exposed to it on a daily

When a young girl looks into the mirror and does not see the beauty of herself, but instead sees her flaws and imperfections, her confidence drops, and so does her self worth. The leading cause for this issue is the unrealistic body image that Barbie models to girls. Why is this happening in our society and how can we help?

However, that isn’t true, Barbie is playing a huge role in eating disorders in women. It’s estimated that 8 million people have eating disorders and that only 10 to 15% are men and the rest are women. Out of that percentage, 80% of the women are below twenty. Author of “The Barbie Effect” says, “Many admitting that they started worrying about their weight when they were between the age of four and six years old. That is around the age that a girl usually gets her first Barbie doll, and many of the girls who have or had an eating disorder admitted that Barbie played a huge role on their influences in behavior and looks.” (“The Barbie Effect”) Another example would be a victim of an eating disorder, Galia Slayen, and how she created a ‘Real Life’ Barbie doll to raise awareness. Slayen had created it out of chicken wire and some other things from the store to make her according to the statistics of what Barbie’s size would actually be like if she was real. Slayen was feeling pressured by her peers and with the obsession for perfection that she had had since a young age. After it all, Slayen said, “Despite her appearance, Barbie provides something that many advocacy efforts lack. She reminds of something we once loved, while showing us the absurdity of our obsession with perfection.”

The object under consideration is the barbie doll. A barbie doll is a toy for children who have moved on from developmental toys to more sophisticated toys. Barbie doll fit an unrealistic size and shape figured doll that kids can play with in various ways. They can play dress up and do different things due to barbie having multiple careers paths she is able to take. It does promote a positive image to young girls because it promotes the idea that you can be anything you want to be, however, it still plants the idea of an unrealistic body image. Barbie is slender and tall and barbie dolls do not deviate from thing and this is problematic because it creates a certain kind of standard young girls begin to believe in.