Barbie Should Be Banned Analysis

3. Barbie dolls came into existence in 1959. During that time all dolls were infant dolls and Ruth Handler creator of the barbie dolls saw that “children will enjoy giving the Barbie adult roles” because it is different than playing with infant dolls. It has evolved over time, due to the improving technology, the dolls these days look very realistic. The social impact it has made is that it gives children a chance to play with more advanced toys and gives them the ability to admire Barbie’s achievements through her various career

During the time of development and release of Barbie, the feminist movement was in full swing. The concept that Barbie may have been manufactured as a weapon against these feminist groups is plausible as the image of Barbie exploits the female body and challenges the values held by active feminists. Though, from a slightly different perspective, one could argue that Barbie with her freedoms and luxuries supports the ideals of women's equality and rights. Barbie may have been the transition piece of the decade, setting a new path for women and young girls.

Is being plastic and fantastic always the way to be? Models straight from the runway of Paris, London and Milan are shrunk into plastic version and presented as the ideal image of a woman. Children learn through the art of toys. Through play children learn about the world they live in. American business woman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration. Ruth thought of this idea when she watched her daughter’s childhood playing with paper dolls. Several years and many designs later now Barbie dolls are sold worldwide by the American toy company Mattel, Inc and launched in March 1959. A huge number of 946,000,000 of Barbie dolls are sold every year. The blonde, skinny and tall figure is plastered over shop windows racking in sales. We are in a culture where we have never relied on looks as much as we do. For adults buying Barbie’s it will soon feel like going to shops for a

Children’s child play has become a form of an unrealistic world. Although, it is considered for children to begin creating a creative imagination, the mind fascinates children into toys. Some child’s play toys are not ideal for young children, like the one and only “Barbie”. Barbie has become a worldwide toy product for children all over the world, from the North Pole to the South Pole. These dolls have emerged from one ethnicity to another. In Ann DuCille, “Dyes and Dolls: Multicultural Barbie and the Merchandising of Differences” the author talks about the race and gender differences; found in Barbie. She argues; “Is Barbie bad?” her response, was “Barbie is just a piece of plastic” (459). In contrast, this piece of plastic is not just a piece of plastic to young girls; it is much more than that. A piece of plastic that little girls all over the world wish they could be. Even though, it is only a piece of plastic to adults that Barbie significantly means nothing to them. Growing up, I owned a couple of Barbie dolls. The tall, long blond hair, blue-eyed doll was my best friend and my “role model”. I wanted to become exactly like Barbie. As a child, I thought only beautiful people who looked liked Barbie signified beauty. To my little to no knowledge, I soon came to find out no one really looks like Barbie, except people who want to become like Barbie. In my adolescent years, no one taught me Barbie was “unreal”; no one taught me it was just a figure in my imagination.

The evolution of Barbie has been an interesting one. The doll has sparked countless debates, yet has continued to be a defining icon for children for countless years, and will probably be so for many more. Her changing fashion, careers and views could be easily attributed to the changing views in our society and current fashions that have transfixed the world over time. Barbie is a tangible embodiment of pop culture throughout the years, she has managed to become popular and stay popular, because she has done what many toys could not, she has grown to fit the world around her, and by doing so has captivated generations.

As Gilman states in her article, "..somewhere along the line, we stop believing in our own beauty and its dominion. Subsequently, we also stop believing in the power of our minds and our bodies." (72) Due to this mentality that was created, Gilman expresses her hatred towards Barbie dolls. “If you didn’t look like Barbie, you didn’t fit in. You were less beautiful… less worthy.” This idea that Gilman brought up really opened my eyes today since I never really thought of any of it at the time of when Barbie was a part of my life.

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

“I’m a Barbie girl in a Barbie world” was a hit song in the early 90’s. Many girls singing the lyrical tune were demonstrating their love for the doll and the qualities that stood behind the logo: Free spirited fun, a perfect plastic body, and an array of different activities you could do with a Barbie. In the article “Plastic, Fantastic Barbie” author Amy Goldman sheds some light on the controversy society has placed around the doll. Goldman explains the changing view on how parents see a link between Barbies and children’s negative self-esteem due to their “perfectly proportioned” bodies and unreasonable expectations regarding the doll’s “wide-eyed” princess look. Guardians are fearing their children will aspire to become a superficial person only caring about their

As a young girl, I was not very interested in playing with baby dolls. I preferred playing with my many stuffed animals or the only doll I did like—Barbie. With my animals, usually I was rescuing them from some horrible disaster such as a flood or a forest fire. I was their heroic savior and benevolent protector. But with Barbie this was decidedly not the case. Sometimes my Barbie did normal Barbie things, such as get dressed up for an exciting date with Ken or go shopping with her little sister, Skipper. More often, however, I subjected Barbie to strange, sadistic acts of my imagination. Frequently Barbie, in her pink dune buggy, would have tragic head-on collisions with my brother’s dump truck, or the brakes would suddenly go out on her

The inventor of Barbie was Ruth Handler, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants who was also the president of Mattel. Ruth observed that when her daughter plays with infant dolls, she pretended to be the doll’s mother, and when playing with paper dolls, she liked to assign them adult roles as if they were real humans. When she suggested creating adult dolls to her husband Elliot, the co-founder of Mattel, he and other coworkers thought it was a poor idea that would never sell, and declined. However whilst visiting Germany in 1956 she came across an adult doll ‘Lilli’ which was marketed for adults, and brought back three of them: one for herself, one for her daughter, and one for the company. Mattel loved it, bought off the rights from the Lilli doll, and released the first Barbie doll at an international toy show in NYC March 9th 1959, now considered her birthday. Barbie, and later Barbie’s boyfriend the ‘Ken doll’ are named after Ruth’s children Kenneth and Barbara.

The poem “Barbie Doll” written by Marge Piercy is about the pressure of fitting in society. We look at a healthy girl that had a normal childhood. She grew up playing with toys according to her gender and was considered smart at school. This girl had an endless number of qualities for having a wonderful future. Everything for her lost value when in her adolescence a classmate made her feel not beautiful because she did not look like a Barbie doll. There was a time in my life when I experienced similar situations that connect me with the poem.

a. Girls, this is a question for you. How many of you have had Barbie dolls growing up? (Have time to answer)

Since the beginning of time, toys have often been an indicator of the way a society behaves, and how they interact with their children. For example, in ancient Greece, artifacts recovered there testify that children were simply not given toys to play with as in the modern world. The cruel ritual of leaving a sick child on a hillside for dead, seems to indicate a lack of attention to the young (Lord 16). The same is true of today’s society. As you can see with the number of toy stores in our society, we find toys of great value to our lives and enjoy giving them to children as gifts. Ask just about any young girl what she wants for Christmas and you’ll undoubtedly get the same answer: “A Barbie.” But what exactly has caused

One may ask themselves, how can Barbie ever be the enemy. She is the top selling doll in the world, her franchise is worth over a billion dollars, and 99% of girls from the ages three to eleven has owned a Barbie doll according to (Barbie Media). Also, recent studies have shown that the average American girl between the ages of three to eleven owns ten Barbie dolls, according to “Barbie” by Sara Pendergast. So, what has led to so much controversy towards the beloved Barbie. Well, the major obsession regarding female’s exterior appearance and self-esteem is playing a huge role and Barbie is to be blamed. The power of Barbie over young female’s self-esteem, has a lot more impact than the president himself.

Barbie is the worldwide brand of fashion dolls manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. Nevertheless. Today Barbie is not just a toy, but an entire corporation; she has a sweetheart Ken, a family, friends, animals as well as a house, a car and designers’ clothes. Since the first launch in March 1959, Barbie became an icon: she was sold in 150 countries and still remains the world 's most popular doll. According to Mattel, nowadays, three plastic, 11.5 inch Barbie dolls are sold every second.