Barbie Essay : Negatives And Negatives Of Barbie

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.

In my opinion, I believe that kids should be playing with dolls that have normal features, or with action figures where the superheroes muscles/features should resemble to what an average person’s features should look like. Even though barbies help entertain girls and inspire them, I still believe that girls should be playing with dolls that have normal features. People aren’t really aware about the things kids actually thought about themselves when they play with barbie dolls or action figures. There are girls as young as five that are concerned about their body image. They believe that the way the barbie looks like is the same way they should look like when they get older. It isn’t just girls that think about this boys do to. Boys

Barbie has possibly been the most famous doll in the world after her debut in 1959. She has represented fifty nationalities and has held over one hundred careers. Girls from age’s three to ten own at least one Barbie doll if not more. When people think of Barbie they think of a tall skinny supermodel

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.

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 (barbiemedia.com). Yes, this is the beloved, ever so ‘inspirational’ childhood toy, the perfectly perfect Barbie Doll. Barbie is America’s most beloved toy, considering young girls between the ages of three and eleven own at least 10 Barbie’s throughout their childhood (‘Life in Plastic’). As creator of the Barbie Doll once said, “My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented that a woman has choices,” (Handler). However, Barbie has proved to serve the opposite effect and

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 New York on March 9, 1959, Mattel introduced the Barbie doll to America. The thin, teenage fashion model that has a perfect slender nose, big eyes, a valumptuious bust, a narrow midsection, and curvy hips. It is estimated that over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries. Barbie is one of the first toys to have a marketing strategy based extensively on television advertising, which has been widely copied by other toys. Barbie has also appeared in a series of animated films such as Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3. Barbie’s petite figure, perfectly arched eyebrows, and plastic smile has become the desired American image that many teenage

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.

The barbie doll is a symbol of the perfect feminine body around the world. She has blonde, luscious hair, skinny legs and a slim waist. Through the Barbie, society has created an unrealistic body image for women. The title comes into play here. In childhood, the girl is normal.

After reading this article, I am happy to know that Mattel has made many changes to their Barbie dolls. The original Barbies were usually WAY out of proportion such as small waists, large breasts, and incredibly long legs. Not to mention that most Barbies were blonde haired and blue eyed. To top it all off, the Barbies were always seen wearing overly fancy clothes. This set the impossible goal for little children to look like this. Setting such an impossible is terrible for children because not being able to reach their goal can cause a child to berate themselves. Children should be able to be proud of their skin and eye color. They also should feel like they are not beautiful if they are not wearing a dress. No one who is a normal kid person

Seeing the perfect Barbie figure brings a deeper realization to how far someone may be from this ideal look, causing many health issues on the interior as well. In the article “Epidemic of Body Hatred” written by the site Dying to Be Barbie, writes about the stress and anxiety that even children face to avoid being “overweight” and how this leads to many eating disorders and unhealthy children. Their research showed that after having their own Barbie and being apart of an image-based society that “hundreds of more children, aged 5 to 9, have undergone treatment for their eating disorders” (Dying to Be Barbie). The image that Barbie portrays influences children to the extreme and affects them most when they are at an age where they are in need of guidance to be happy with who they are. Instead of being happy with themselves, they look at what society and Barbie pushes them to be.

I vividly remember at my 6th birthday party blowing out the candles on my Barbie doll cake. Neither my parents nor I knew that would be the start to my obsession with Barbie, a fashion doll manufactured by Mattel, an American multinational toy company. For every holiday and birthday, I received anything associated with Barbie. Over the years, I accumulated an absurd amount of Barbie and Ken dolls, along with clothes and accessories. I even had a Barbie bike and a helmet. My fascination with Barbie dolls is that it allowed me to experiment and imaginatively play out my future as a teenager or adult with my platinum blond Barbie doll. I viewed Barbie as the perfect dream-girl image, she had the perfect hair, skin, toned legs, big breasts and an hourglass torso. Unfortunately, for many years this was how I perceived what an ideal woman was supposed to look like.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes because that is the doorway to her heart. The best part of beauty is that no picture can express it. Having a perfect face or body will never happen and the Barbie doll is creating unrealistic expectations for girls, and they start this at a very young age. It gives such a high expectation on what you should look like and it’s not very encouraging, they are sexist and it teaches kids inappropriate things, overall it represents just what society thinks a perfect girl is.

From the time we are old enough to hold a doll in our hands to when we’re waving our parents goodbye on the bus to middle school, Barbie dolls are a girl’s best friend. We skip around the house singing “I’m a Barbie girl in a Barbie world!” and spend hours upon hours dressing the dolls up in extravagant ensembles we dream of having in our wardrobe. Since the first Barbie dolls hit the market in 1959, they have been an icon for young girls around the world. However, if you take a chance to really analyze this popular child’s doll, there is more than meets the eye. Due to the close contact young girls have with this doll as their growing up, the design and nature of this doll should be studied a little closer. Barbie dolls have an extremely

Barbie, at the age of 41, is one of the longest living toys in America. Analyzing her early history can give a person a look into the societal trends and culture of the late 1950's and early 1960's. There is evidence of fashion innovations in Barbie's wardrobe. Also, one can see the perception of females by society, such as what they should look like, how they should act and dress, as well as what their future goals could be. The following essay follows Barbie's history from 1959 to 1963, covering her development, her appeal to children, and her existence as a cultural artifact of the time period.