In a Barbie World

When it comes to the social construction of gender, the way toy stores advertise their product play a huge role in the contribution. Sitting on the floor looking at the Walmart toy selection, I noticed a few things that I never really paid close attention to before. First, when did the colors pink and blue become a tool used as a gender binary? Second, why does it seem to be a pattern of the professions that the toy emulate in regards to each gender? Third, what does this all mean?

Barbie is always in style. She keeps up with the era no matter the style. In the 1970's Barbie was all about girl power during the time of sex discrimination in education and athletics. Barbie showed "girl power" by participating in numerous sports(“History”). Barbie now, not only keeps up with the current fashion; moreover the technology. Barbie went to the moon, but now she is going to mars(Chang). Barbie teamed up with NASA to create a Mission Mars Barbie. This shows that Barbie really does know how to stay in style which is what many young girls want. American Girl dolls are based off of history. American girl dolls have the historical dress, that is not as modern and stylish as Barbie’s. American Girl dolls are also made to look like a young girl. In summary, Barbie is more stylish than American Girl dolls, which will appeal to younger girls. Barbie has changed with the era’s styles and technology, providing a more modern girl toy to play

The object under consideration is the barbie doll. A barbie doll is a toy for children who have moved on from developmental toys to more sophisticated toys. Barbie doll fit an unrealistic size and shape figured doll that kids can play with in various ways. They can play dress up and do different things due to barbie having multiple careers paths she is able to take. It does promote a positive image to young girls because it promotes the idea that you can be anything you want to be, however, it still plants the idea of an unrealistic body image. Barbie is slender and tall and barbie dolls do not deviate from thing and this is problematic because it creates a certain kind of standard young girls begin to believe in.

In an article in Interview Magazine, Emily Prager discuses her opinions of Mattel's toy doll Barbie being designed by Jack Ryan, husband to Zsa Zsa Gabor, and designer of military missiles. The concept that a doll for young girls was designed by such a person greatly shocked Prager." Suddenly a lot of things made sense to me" says Prager. The element that Ryan designed Barbie may explain some of the key aspects of the doll itself.

In the article “Klaus Barbie, and Other Dolls I’d Like to See,” Susan Jane Gilman talks about how we create this doll that sends a message to girls that they have to look a certain way. Gilman talks about how Barbie sets the standard that girls have to be a tall, skinny, blonde, blue eyed, straight, white female (Gilman). It tells girls that if they were anything else, they were never going to be pretty enough or accomplish much because they do not look like the ideal woman. At another point in the article, Gilman talks about how Barbie has introduced other dolls that are different races but are only limited edition (Gilman). With these limited edition Barbie dolls, it furthers the fact that people who are not the stereotypical Barbie, are not as good. Since this ideal woman is now within the

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

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.

Toys and sports also promote gender appearances. Male appearances are characterized by being physically fit, strong and aggressive whereas females are to be beautiful, feminine and nurturing. Jane Smiley describes Barbie as being slender, stylish and most of all popular. Barbie is often dressed in pink and wears make up. Models in today’s society fit this description which makes other females want to achieve the same look. The appearances for females set by society‘s norms are presented in toys that gives off the message that ‘if you do not look like this’, it is considered unattractive. “Frilly, sexy, pink, purple, bedizened, and bejewelled were the preferred Barbies,” (Smiley 238) shows that females should have these characteristics in order to be seen as

One of the most popular “girl” toys today is Barbie, she has been popular ever since she first introduced. She is a stereotype to all girls,

On March 1959 during the American International Toy Fair, Barbie with a demure sidelong glance entered the world stage for the first time. Unlike the earlier traditional toys, Barbie in her high heels and black and white striped swimsuit seemed ready for an upscale pool party, and in the end, she revolutionized both the toy industry and society’s culture by representing the changing society as more women joined the workforce after World War II. As a result, today when any typical American woman reflects back at her childhood besides perhaps crayons, the Barbie Dolls have to be in the top list since it became an integral childhood partner. For most innocent American female children, the Barbie doll is more

Barbie dolls are trying to improve their race representation by creating more diverse Barbies so that little girls of different ethnicities don’t feel left out. According to Kristina Milnor, “between 1993 and 1997 the American toy company Mattel produced the “Great Eras Collection,” a series of Barbie dolls dressed to represent historical moments ranging from Eighteenth-Dynasty pharaonic Egypt through 1920s America” (215). Mattel released ten different Barbies in the Great Eras Collection in hopes of having a more diverse line, along with Mattel’s trademark Barbie. The ten different Barbies come from different historical periods that have different skin colors and have different clothing to represent racial diversity. In hopes of trying to boost little girls of color self-esteem, Mattel tried to make the line as diverse as possible, but there is a problem. According to Milnor, “here are ten dolls in all, beginning (since they appeared out of chronological order) with Gibson Girl Barbie, proceeding to Flapper Barbie, Egyptian Queen Barbie, Southern Belle Barbie, Medieval Lady Barbie, Elizabethan Queen Barbie, Grecian Goddess Barbie, Victorian Lady Barbie, French Lady Barbie, and finally Chinese Empress Barbie,” which are all considered high class status (215). This is a problem because it does not reflect all little girls. There is race representation in this line but having all the dolls portrayed as high social class does not represent most of the little girls playing with

If people will speak up about how Barbie affects people, society will start to realize that having the skinniest waist or having no body fat is not what life is about. Many people are starting to take a stand. A man named Nickolay Lamm created a doll called The Lammily Doll. “That’s why graphic designer turned toymaker Nickolay Lamm created the lammily doll — what the Barbie would look like if she actually had the measurements of an average 19-year-old woman’s body” (Stampler). People started reacting in such a positive way. “I wanted to show that reality is cool,” Lamm says. “And a lot of toys make kids go into fantasy, but why don’t they show real life is cool” (Stampler). Women are effected by body image almost every day and it starts when they are young. The article Effects of the Media on Body Image says “from 1988 to 1993 the number of incidences of bulimia in women between the ages of 10 and 39 has more than tripled” (Kovar). Instead of bringing down women society needs to bring them

Barbie is an important role model of girls at a young age. “Handler got the idea for Barbie after noticing her daughter, Barbara, dressing adult paper dolls in cutout clothing.” [Englert] “Ruth immediately recognized that experimenting with the future from a safe distance though pretend play was an important part of growing up.” [History -Barbie] Recently, Barbie has announced that Barbie will be curvier, different hair length and/or color, different skin tones, etc. to have girls experiment the doll as themselves with decision making, problem solving, and more. “...Barbie continues to find new ways to inspire and encourage the next generation of girls.” [History -Barbie]

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

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.