Essay On Barbie Doll

Launched on March 1959, the Barbie doll is a toy that was first put on display in New York. It quickly garnered a lot of attention with the target audience of the creators, young girls. This doll was different than its previous dolls because it was a doll that was an ideal representation of a woman. Thus allowing young girls to use their imagination to create and act-out what this doll’s life is like and what their future would potentially be. To successfully understand this toy, we must think like C Wright Mills, a sociologist who asks to use our sociological imagination, the intersection of one’s biography and history. This artifact reflects and perpetuates the dominant ideology of how to perform your gender the “right” way in the early 1960s. I will argue this demonstrates West and Zimmerman’s concept of “doing gender” which is clarified with Judith Butler’s concept of socialization of gender.

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

On top of this, 69% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported that magazine pictures and runway models influenced their idea of a perfect body shape (only 5% of the female population naturally has the body type portrayed as ideal in advertisement). This is obviously a problem because, growing up, girls everywhere are told that they’re pretty and that being pretty is the most important thing about them and they start basing their worth on their looks. But then, every single woman they see on TV, in movies, in magazines, any woman considered “hot” and “beautiful” doesn’t look like them anymore, which brings on deadly disorders like anorexia and bulumia that wreck the lives of young girls. Since 90% of people with eating disorders are women between the ages of 12 and 25, we should be asking ourselves “what is causing my child to develop destructive habits at such a young age?” The answer is that they’ve been told that the type of body

At a young age, most girls play with this doll that has a skinny, yet curvy, figure, large blue eyes, the perfect smile, and gorgeous hair. Young girls are infatuated with the idea of that’s how they will look when they’re older. Barbie is the ideal beauty standard many girls grew up with, myself included. Why then, did I feel so insulted when someone labeled me as “Barbie”? Should I not have been enthused that someone thought of me as the typical ideal? It bothered me for a while but I eventually figured out the cause for that. A Barbie is also defined as a “person, especially a young woman, perceived as blandly attractive and vacuous” (“Barbie”). To this person, I was “blandly attractive” and “vacuous”. To them, I was only good for my appearance, there was no substance to my being, I was only useful for my looks. I know I am not this person. I know I have more worth than looks. I know that the experiences I have had, have shaped me into someone completely different from this definition. I know that they were wrong, yet for some reason, it still offended me too much. Defining this word helped me realize how I appear to others, and it made me think deeply about if I was ok with what they were seeing.

The poem, "Barbie Doll," written by Marge Piercy tells the story of a young girl growing up through the adolescence stage characterized by appearances and barbarity. The author uses imagery and fluctuating tone to describe the struggles the girl is experiencing during her teenage years, and the affects that can happen. The title of this poem is a good description of how most societies expect others, especially girls to look. Constantly, people are mocked for their appearance and expected to represent a "barbie-doll"-like figure. Few are "blessed" with this description. The female gender is positioned into the stereotype that women should be thin and beautiful. With this girl, the effects were detrimental. The first stanza describes the

Furthermore, media surrounds teenage girls in today’s culture. It is impossible to escape the sight of media. The media’s constant idealistic beauty is ever present to a vast amount of self-conscious girls. This image of beauty causes girls to have low self-esteem (Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar). Media defining this perfect body image causes many adolescent girls to feel dissatisfied with their bodies and become depressed. “Viewing ultra-thin or average-size models led to decreases in both body satisfaction and self-esteem in adolescent girls aged eleven to sixteen, with changes in self-esteem fully mediated by changes in body satisfaction” (Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar).

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

The Poem “Barbie Doll (1969)” by Marge Piercy describes the life of a young girl who fell victim to society’s idea of beauty. Marge Piercy was a known social activist and uses this poem to bring attention to serious issues facing young females in society. “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy is a narrative poem; the poem is written in free verse. The author selects a free form of poetry and other devices to help get her point across.

“Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy is about a girl who is a normal child growing up; playing with dolls, miniature kitchen items and pretend make-up. It quickly takes an interesting turn when a pubescent child makes fun of her nose and legs and she was advised to exercise and diet despite the fact that she was intelligent and healthy. The poem continues on by the girl cutting her legs and nose and a bizarre visual of her laying in a casket with an ending that states “to every woman a happy ending”( Piercy 791). This poem was written by Piercy in 1969 a year in which many women liberation groups were forming and the breaking of womanly roles was taking place. The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy,

Barbie has always been viewed as a perfect and beautiful woman. Many children obtain Barbie dolls and strive to be similar to them. The original Barbie is a very impossible figure to obtain. She is a perfect hourglass figure with perfect skin, makeup, and hair. Recently, the latest Barbie dolls have been introduced. These dolls display a wide range of skin tones, body types, and hair colors and types. Barbie has also introduced more career themed dolls with a broader range of careers. These Barbie dolls are receiving much controversy. Many people are arguing that Barbies are meant to be perfect and beautiful. However, these Barbies offer children very unrealistic views on what their appearance should be when they get older. The new Barbie dolls

As a young girl the fondest memory was playing with all my Barbie dolls and having the time of my young youth. Getting new Barbie’s for my birthday and Christmas was the highlight for my friends and I every year, and comparing which dolls the others got with each other. Never once growing up did any of us feel that Barbie was bad for us to play with, or that she was a bad role model. She could be anything that she wanted to be and her friends were all different too. Barbie was just a doll that we could make say what ever we wanted to, and we let our imaginations make each doll have their own personality. Our mothers played with them when they were our age and turned out pretty well, and no one that I have

b. Ruth wanted to introduce a three dimensional doll with adult body that you could dress up with fabric clothing

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.

Many children learn life skills from the toys they play with. Legos teach children how to build objects while following direction. Coloring books help kids with motor skills and creativity. Even basketballs, and footballs teach kids teamwork and physical endurance. Barbie dolls show girls that they have to be put together, wear heels, and have the perfect life with the perfect car and the perfect boyfriend. The old Barbie doll was very unhealthy in the way she looked, and this showed girls a bad example on what their bodies needed to look like. New Barbies are made to show what a healthy person should look like. They have new body types like curvy, short, and tall to show that not everyone looks the same. Old Barbies brought young girls’ confidence down because of their unhealthy body type, while new Barbies, with more body types, skin tones, and eye colors, boost girls’ confidence.

The newest Barbie doll just came out and I am freaking out. I am in elementary school and still obsessed with tiaras and shiny things. I want the new doll with straight blonde hair and a skinny waist. The doll is beautiful. I play with my other dolls at home as I listen to my grandmother oogle over my curly brown hair and chubby cheeks. “Look at that beautiful girl” she says as I make my dolls go shopping. The other adults sitting around the table agree and make other comments.