Barbie Doll Body

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

A website stated that “58% of girls that are currently attending college stated that they are not satisfied with the size of their body” (qtd. in DoSomething). Throughout the world, little girls are being negatively affected by the assumptions set forth by companies and society that being fat is bad for oneself. The creation of Barbies have set unrealistic and unobtainable goals for little girls, which won’t allow them to reach the good life because they will never reach this “Barbie” body. The central argument being addressed is analyzing how a girl’s image of herself affects her ability to reach the good life. Even though society and companies have engraved into us that the shape and size of our bodies is so important, Prager and Whittal show us that to achieve the good life one must focus on their self image rather than letting society influence them.

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.

American society has created the concept of obesity. They identified what the perfect human should look like, and has outcasted everyone who does no resemble that, most commonly obese people. The Barbie character that is a landmark fashion doll and cultural icon portrays this perfect human figure (Source E). This perception of the perfect human has a negative psychological

In 1959 the Barbie doll was first introduced by the company Mattel. Barbie was originally meant to be the perfect woman. Standing at what would be 5’9” and weighing in at 110 pounds. As stated before these types of measurements would have made barbie anorexic. As well as that, a book was given out in the ‘Slumber Party Barbie’ set that gave a very vague tip on how to stay skinny. “Don’t eat”. Any young woman that followed Barbie’s tip were sure to result to anorexia. In fact, 8 million people in the United States have this eating disorder, and only 10-15% of them are male. Which leaves the 85- 90% of them to be female. 80% of the female’s are under 20 years old. “Many of the women admitted to worrying about their weight around four to six years old” Said the author, Saren (Barbie Effect).

In today’s society everyone has imagined to have that perfect body. Many experts have suggested that Barbie is a root cause for many problems with women

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.

Many girls of all ages, starve themselves and become bulimic; a serious eating disorder to avoid weight gain, in order to have that skinny body that society thinks you should have. Girls are taught stereotypes from a very young age and are most affected by them; today’s society expects so much out of women. Many young girls grow up playing with Barbie dolls who are skinny, blonde girls with abnormally thin waists. People don’t actually look like that without severe plastic surgery. Valeria Lukyanova, a real, life sized Barbie Doll has endured extensive surgery to look like a Barbie Doll. She starves herself for weeks, achieving that skinny body. She hopes to live only on air and light in the future.

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

Halliwell, E. (2006). “Does Barbie make girls want to be thin? The effects of experimental

Since its inception at the American International Toy Fair in New York, the Barbie doll has drastically altered the doll market. With the abundant amount of Barbie dolls on Earth, it is clear that they have also affected society and individuals’ body images. The mental image of one’s body can greatly influence the actions and habits of a person, and with most young girls surrounding themselves with the flawless doll, they are subconsciously comparing their own body to Barbie. The change in body image that young girls experience while playing with Barbie has left many experts skeptical that a doll like Barbie should exist. I agree with the skeptics when they state that playing with Barbie’s negatively affects young girls, and fully support a ban of the famous figurine.

Barbie for years has been presented as beautiful and thin as has the princess dolls. As expressed by Coyne, “the typical princess is portrayed as young and attractive with large eyes, small nose and chin, moderately large breasts, prominent cheekbones, lustrous hair, and good muscle tone and skin complexion”. This encourages girls to one day want to be like these dolls, not putting into perspective that this image presented by society is false. At an early age, children are naïve to what is real and what is fake, therefore, to them these Barbie’s and princess dolls seem like goddesses and hope for one day to become like them. As presented by Coyne, young girls begin picking up the idea that “attractiveness is a necessary component of female identity”. A study conducted by Dohnt and Tiggemann, “suggests that early exposure of the thin ideal in media at around the age of 5 years old predicts appearance-related concerns in the future. These young girls begin to express fear of getting fat, begin with body esteem issues, and is associated with disordered eating in early elementary aged children. These insecurities haunt these young girls into grade school and adult

It wasn’t until the late 1960’s that critics began “comparing Barbie to a Playboy Bunny and calling her a corrupter of youth” (”Bad Girl” 3). One woman commented, “She’s an absurd representation of what a woman should be” (“Bad Girl” 3)-–and that’s exactly what many others thought she was, too. With such impossible real-life measurements of 5’9” tall, 36”-18”-33” bust, waist, and hip (Benstock and Ferriss 35), it’s easy to see why mothers across the country banned the doll from their homes and refused to let their impressionable young daughters be influenced by a piece of painted plastic (Bestock and Ferriss 35). Since dolls have often been responsible for teaching children what society deems important or beautiful, many concerned parents wondered why Mattel did not design a doll that taught more valuable lessons than dressing pretty and being dangerously skinny (Edut 19)? Who said a runway model was best suited for teaching a child what is beautiful anyway? “According to a Mattel spokesperson, a Kate Moss figure is better suited for today’s fashions” (Edut 19), and that is one reason why Barbie must be so disproportional. Actually, another reason for Barbie’s anorexic figure can be traced back long before Kate Moss and the fashion runway. Barbie was

Barbie only has room for half a liver and few inches of intestine.” Children grow up with the perception that Barbie’s body defines beauty; consequently, they now strive to change into a figure that can severely harm their health. This can cause emotional and behavioral problems because the weight these girls might be trying to achieve will never happen. Another article called The Scary Reality of a Real-Life Barbie Doll written by Galia Slayen illustrates how a real life Barbie evokes anorexia. The writer describes the doll’s abnormal appearance by stating, “At 5’9 tall and weighing 110 lbs, Barbie would have a BMI of 16.24 and fit the weight criteria for anorexia.

When Barbie was invented in 1959, Mattel, the company who created her, focused on the idealised small waist, long legs, fashionable clothing, and overall beauty to fit the current era’s style in order to sell the product. The dolls continued to change with time and fashion, but one thing has stayed the same: the unrealistic body shape. If the doll existed as a real person, Barbie would be about 5ft 9in tall, weigh 110 lbs, and would have a BMI of 16.24, which fits the weight criteria for anorexia (Mcqueeney). Young girls feel as though they need to look like the doll and do not realise how unrealistic it is. Some became angry at the dolls for being so unrealistically pretty, forcing them to believe that they themselves aren’t pretty enough until they look like the doll. Some girls took it to heart and have gone so far as to get plastic surgery to have the ideal body shape. A woman named Valeria Lukyanova has been renamed the human barbie because of her unrealistic looks. Jauregui quotes Valeria exclaiming "Everyone wants a slim figure. Everyone gets breasts done. Everyone fixes up their face if it's not ideal, you know? Everyone strives for the golden mean. It's global ...". The new dolls are a way for Barbie to redeem herself and to prevent children from feeling the need to change themselves in the