Dolls And Violence

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

This paper will summarize the ERR articles from the bulleted topics and issues. This paper will also include summaries on toys that may encourage violence and aggression, toys that may promote pro-social behavior, gender stereotyping in toy selection, and cultural stereotyping or, lack of cultural awareness in toys.

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

Young girls playing with Bratz dolls is not an ideal situation because the doll teaches them how to make themselves look more sexualized. This plastic doll is only six inches in length, much shorter then it’s competitor Barbie, but it still holds much more impact on a child. With very voluminous hair and outrageous makeup such as eyeshadow, lipstick, and mascara, little girls are being exposed to something that they should not have to experience until they are in their teens. The dolls lead young girls to think

Young girls have been playing with Barbie dolls since the dolls inception at the American International Toy Fair in New York. Recently, researchers have been skeptical on whether the dolls have an effect on the self-image of girls who play with them. In order to determine if Barbies have an impact on young-girls self-concept, clinicians have carried out several studies where they monitor the interaction between the young girls and the famous figurine. From these experiments, scientists concluded that Barbies can have a bearing on a girls self-image, making the consumers who buy the doll more aware of the issue Barbie

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

The types of toys children play with can affect how they develop. Toys can help or hinder a child’s development in intelligence, social skills and personality. Certain characteristics may be genetically entwined in a human being, but some characteristics and behaviors can be learned, from parents, surroundings, and the toys with which a youngster plays. Elise Moore, author of “How Do Toys Aid Development”, stated “if play is the work of the child, toys are the child’s tools” (Moore, 2).

If a child who has no interest or knowledge in guns and weaponry begins to play a "shoot-em-up" video game where the sole purpose is to kill other people that child could become interested in guns and move on to something more realistic such as pellet and paint ball weaponry. From there the child could move into actual guns when he/she is able to acquire such weapons and this could lead to an act of violence against another human being. Violent video games can foster an interest in guns and violence in children, which can lead them to more realistic violence.

Toys are artifacts created by humans that come in all shapes, sizes, and form used for entertainment, therapy, or simply to past time. One of the earliest toys was a doll made of stone that was estimated to be four thousand years old. What is really interesting is the fact that archaeologists have found that the majority of human civilization produced toys. Nowadays, toys are mass produced and have become an essential item in the human lifestyle. So much so that these toys have the ability to shape children or adults to act or be a certain way. Companies take advantage of their products and advertising to have customers continually buy their products so that these paying customers can achieve their desires. However, some products actually

As far back as 1994, Webster and Wilson found that “Because guns are ubiquitous in the United States and integral to the current epidemic of youth violence, pediatricians should participate in primary prevention of firearm injuries,” (Webster & Wilson, 1994, p. 617). The author also discusses the effects of media violence in the nature of television and video games as instilling violence into the development of children in their formative years. “These portrayals of gun use may suggest to children that guns confer power, respect, and a

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

Girls liked playing with toy dolls that they could make say and do what ever they wanted, and they could live in a fantasy world with their friends. Boys liked playing with their toy trucks and tools because it was fun to run things over and play with toys in the dirt, or with the tools, they act like they could actually be like older boys or their fathers and build stuff. Neither one of the toys that the boys played with seemed that it would scar them for life. With Barbie they more and more have made her a more positive role model by having her say encouraging things. So when it comes down to it, how a young boy plays with his toys is the same as how a young girl plays with her Barbie’s because they both just want to have fun with a toy, and they can make it do whatever they wanted. Young children could have control over something which both genders liked to do.

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

Aimee Tompkins (2003) claims that children are being affected by everything what they see around them in the youth, and people, who see violence in the youth, always tend to be more hostile and less responsive to images of violence. That 's why parents try to border children from any possible negative influences. But they often do not even realize that by buying to child a game console, they put them into the risk. Since most video games contain violent character. According to statistics given by the ‘Children now’ organization (2001), 89% of the top-selling video games have violent character and serious violence is contained in half of them.

“Life is a video game. No matter how good you get, you are always zapped in the end” (“Video Game Quotes” 1). Over time researchers, psychiatrists, and parents have often wondered how damaging violent video games can be to the youth in society. This is an important matter to people with children in their personal lives or work environment. These games have become a large risk factor for aggressive behavior in children. Researchers have been saying that video games do affect adults as well; however, they have even more effect on younger brains in early development. Video games have negative effects on childrens’ behavior. Some effects that video games have are reduced academic performance, aggression, obesity, and emotional disorder.