Our Barbies, Ourselves Summary Essay

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.

Despite the controversy faced through the years Barbie is an ever relevant and popular toy for young children in America. The controversial topic of the matter being mostly dedicated to the appeal of whether Barbie sends a good message to kids, or not. What most people tend to overlook about Barbie is the reason and inspiration of her creation, the feminine cultivation she displays, and the diversity and positivity of her life and personality.

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

In Our Barbie, Ourselves, Emily Prager presents an argument to the reader that is not entirely unheard of in today’s society. Prager points out the fact that the popular childhood toy, Barbie, is not made to scale of a real woman and that this is possibly due to the fact that one of Barbie’s main designers was a male. The author also picks on the fact that Barbie’s male counterpart, Ken, has no visible genitalia whereas it seems Barbie’s own display of intimate female parts is okay. The entire piece takes on a feminist stance, questioning why it’s okay for female’s bodies to be objectified and displayed on a doll, when the male doll seemed to be made with concealment in mind. Prager has the reader question the morality and ethics of the designer,

As a child, every girl dreamed of having a Barbie, but as an adult, I don’t think that was the maker’s objective to become an actual Barbie. “These skeptics in the Barbie debate view Barbie as a toy, stating that she does not have power or influence over little girls or grown women” (Virasin).

Today’s society raises young women to conform to archaic practices with total disregard towards a child self-progression. In Barbie Doll poem by Marge Piercy it is portrayed a young girl who was attacked by society because of having unruly features on her appearance and body. To make clear, Piercy uses the title “Barbie Doll” in her poem to symbolize the cultural American traditions of making young girls live in a fairy tale world; where everything they see or do is perfect. The girl in this poem played with Barbie toys since she was little, but when she reached her puberty people started to criticize her of having imperfections on her face and body; which made her commit a really wrong decision for herself. In today’s society there are a large number of women having plastic surgery, because they do not feel comfortable or confident with their own appearances. Women are not just beauty queens and home makers; they should retreat from female stereotypes at a young age so they do not confront society pressure.

In conclusion, Barbie’s changing fashions, interests and views have altered in response to suit pop culture throughout the years. Barbie is a physical personification of popular culture throughout the years, and she has grown to fit the world around her, to change with the ‘fads’ and ‘fashions’ of the time. However in some cases it seems as though she has transgressed us on some levels. Barbie is a palpable representation of the amount of change that has taken place over the decades, a change in social thinking, social constructs, fashion and beauty. The Barbie doll is the perfect representation of popular

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.

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

Society has a way of placing unrealistic expectations on women. By using television, magazines, billboards, and even toys we see a mold of what women are supposed to look like. In other words the perfect woman should look like a Barbie Doll. In Marge Piercy’s, “Barbie Doll,” we find a girl child growing up through the adolescence stage characterized by appearances and barbarity. Piercy uses lots of imagery to describe the struggles the girl experiences during her teenage years and the effects that can happen.

[In American society there is an extreme want for women to look perfect on the outside. There is a extraordinary amount of importance and anxiety placed on women to surrender to becoming Barbie dolls. After rereading and analyzing the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy, I identified the main theme as appearance and that Piercy uses irony to convey the stereotypical views of feminine beauty throughout society.] When first reading the title of the poem, “Barbie Doll,” I suspected that the speaker was describing a little girl’s toy. However, as I started reading the poem, I realized that the title was referring to the outer beauty and perfection society expects of women.

It wasn’t until the late 1960’s that critics began “comparing Barbie to a Playboy Bunny and calling her a corrupter of youth” (”Bad Girl” 3). One woman commented, “She’s an absurd representation of what a woman should be” (“Bad Girl” 3)-–and that’s exactly what many others thought she was, too. With such impossible real-life measurements of 5’9” tall, 36”-18”-33” bust, waist, and hip (Benstock and Ferriss 35), it’s easy to see why mothers across the country banned the doll from their homes and refused to let their impressionable young daughters be influenced by a piece of painted plastic (Bestock and Ferriss 35). Since dolls have often been responsible for teaching children what society deems important or beautiful, many concerned parents wondered why Mattel did not design a doll that taught more valuable lessons than dressing pretty and being dangerously skinny (Edut 19)? Who said a runway model was best suited for teaching a child what is beautiful anyway? “According to a Mattel spokesperson, a Kate Moss figure is better suited for today’s fashions” (Edut 19), and that is one reason why Barbie must be so disproportional. Actually, another reason for Barbie’s anorexic figure can be traced back long before Kate Moss and the fashion runway. Barbie was

As many of us kids grew up with toy figures, Barbie was one on the top. Barbie was the perfect role model woman to young girls and boys. She was perfectly skinny, had a perfect boyfriend, family, perfect hair, and she had a perfect house. Her reputation was perfection, that every girl needed to be just as perfect. Doesn’t seem so bad right? Well many girls aspired to be the perfected Barbie had. Some would even go too far to achieve this look.

Just like Disney, Barbie is another popular children’s toy that many people would recognize and have memories of. Mary Rogers wrote the article “Hetero Barbie?”, which addresses Barbie’s undetermined sexuality. At first, Rogers says as girls get heterozexualized “they pay increasing attention to the size and shape of their bodies, the range and contents of their wardrobes, the styling of their hair, and the making up of their faces. Barbie epitomizes, even exaggerates, these families mandates.” Barbie’s thin waist, big breasts, and tall height can send a negative message to kids. Barbie can cause young girls to put important focus on physical appearance, just like Disney films.

“Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy discusses the social expectations placed on women dating back to the 1970s and continuing today. Using an ominous tone, she examines the standards of beauty and class to which society expects women to conform. Holding all women to the same high standards in appearance and mannerisms will result in all women looking and acting uniformly without any unique ideas, individuality, or personality. This perfectionism placed on women causes societal sufferings that will ultimately lead to destruction of future generations.