Barbie, If Looks Could Kill

Hannah Mekeel Pg1 Barbie If Looks Could Kill Almost alone(prenominal) American girl desires a Barbie at some point, for the chance to vicariously live her fabulous life. The average girl from ages 3-11 owns upwards of 10 Barbie dolls end-to-end her childhood, with hours on end spent exploring a Pepto-Bismol colored adult male, where Barbie has any woolgather job. For 53 years, Barbie has been an American standard of beautiful. With her leggy, zoftig figure and unattainable eubstance measurements, neatly wrapped in pink packaging and a felicitous disposition, Barbie has had over 80 careers, ranging from the President to a McDonalds cashier.When shes non principle or fighting fires, she still manages to maintain her Barbie dreamhouse, her body, and her dreamboat of a boyfriend, Ken. In the world of Barbie, a girl can have it every last(predicate) But non all is sunny in paradise since the emergence of a Barbie backlash, as sustains and child development experts begin to se e the possible connections between two-year-old girls who play with Barbies and adult cleaning lady with body issues or alimentation disorders. The question becomes What are these toys teaching little girls about their bodies, their sexual practice, and their occasion in society? Is the character that has become Barbie a role imitate for all women can achieve?Or, have Barbie been teaching young girls that the complete, attractive, and socially blue-chip woman is thin, al centerings glamorous, always happy, and always silent? Since Barbie was first institution in 1959, she seemed to be a picture arrant(a) role model for middle gradation, American girls. She was perfectly thin, had a perfect family, perfect hair, perfect car and house. Yet how was this image of a perfect woman bear upon the millions of young girls who were playing with her? Some would argue that Barbies thin, but busty and hippy figure, instill in young woman an idea of the perfect body, desired by men and envied by other women, Mekeel Pg 2 ll the while, completely unattainable. If Barbie were an actual woman, she would be 59 tall, have a 39 bust, an 18 waist, 33 hips and a size 3 shoe, Slayen wrote in the Huffington . She likely would not feed shed have to walk on all fours due to her proportions. (Katz). Many women allow they started worrying about their weight when they were between the age of 4 and sestet years old, and many of the girls who have or had an eating disorder admitted that Barbie contend a huge role in influencing their attitudes toward their bodies.Barbie led young girls to recall, if you necessitate Barbies fabulous life, you have to in any case look fabulous. During the shaping ages of 4-6, right about the time young girls receive their first Barbie, they actually begin to absorb the social standards around them, and the 1961 gem, eternal rest Party Barbie, could not have been a positive influence on young girls. Slumber Party Barbie came equipped with a book titled How to Lose weight down , which offered advice like dont eat, and a bathroom scale permanently set at 110 lbs. Slumber Party Barbie is something no swell parent would expose their young, impressionable daughter to, and something Mattel wouldnt even movement 40 years later. Mattel has had its missteps in the last 20 years, putting womens liberationist across the country up in arms with the 1992 flop jejune Talk Barbie, who famously proclaims that math class is tough. Sure, math class is tough, but shouldnt Barbie be reiterating to girls that math is essential, especially if you take to be just like Barbie and grow up to be a doctor, scientist, astronaut, or whatever you want. Mattel wasted no time silencing their quintessential bimbo following the backlash. Borger). another(prenominal) major flaw in Barbie portrayed values is her desire for real(a) wealth. Barbie has everything, but it wasnt always that way. Barbie came from humble beginnings, dressed like Mekeel Pg 3 a typical white, middle-class female of the 1960s. She continued to evolve into mod Barbie, disco Barbie, and by the 1980s she had the taste of a lottery winner, says M. G. Lord, designer of Forever Barbie. At the core of this change is class. (Borger). Barbie suddenly had a dreamhouse mansion, a convertible sports car, and in more recent years, began wearing designer duds from the likes of Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior, and Bob Mackie.Barbie advocates stress that the problem doesnt lay in Barbies appearance, or even her values, but with our perceptions of a doll. After all, Barbie is an nonliving object, something that living women shouldnt compare themselves to. If Barbie were real she would likely be dissociate from Ken and in debt up to her eyes after remortgaging her dreamhouse, but shes not real. She is a fantasy, which little boys and girls can use when flexing their imaginations to develop a whole world and life for Barbie, as they would see it. Its the index to i ncur Barbie into anything they want that makes her so appealing to children. We are in danger of looking at a childs toy through an adults microscope and, of course, seeing all the wrong things. To a child she.. never says she cant play with you, always smiles, leave accompany her owner everywhere, and never shouts. Onto her can be projected wishes and dreams. (Russel) Barbie has also taken the form of many positively influential female role models like Jackie Onassis Kennedy or Olympic athletes. Having experienced first-hand, amongst girls my age, the damages of low self-consciousness and a poor body image, I find it hard to believe that Barbie has played no role in damaging females.Though a half a dozen year old might not process the impact at the time, subconsciously she carries the effects of Barbies image with her for the rest of her life, affecting the way she sees Mekeel Pg 4 herself and women around her. Sure, Barbie encourages young girl to be whatever they want to be, but only if youre beautiful. With doll collecting being the plunk for most popular hobby, to stamp collecting, and Barbie being a $1. 5 jillion dollar industry, shes not going anywhere soon. It is a parents responsibility to choose their childrens toys wisely, considering how it might impact them.If slide fastener else, parents should be present in their daughters lives contextualizing all these images they encounter in the overt and in pop culture, and reinforcing a positive body imagine and self-esteem. Mattel continues to make efforts to bring Barbie to a place of more positive realism, but until woman are accurately represented and positive portrayed by gender specific toys, Barbie could be a serious danger to a young girls psyche, giving a new meaning to the phrase if looks could kill.