Persuasive Essay On Barbie Doll

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.

Even though the older girls see Barbie doll as the ideal body image for girls their age the fact of being a role model ends around age 7. They eventually move on to sociocultural images seen in the media. Although those characters often have an ultrathin body like Barbie as

First of all, Barbie doll represent an unrealistic body type and a rigid beauty ideal that studies show can be harmful to girls. This is dangerous, when considered that from the young age girls play with the doll and want to be like Barbie. It is not possible to look like the doll and be healthy at the same time. Also, the looks which Barbie represent are suggestive. Blond hair, pretty face and unreal body curves may suggest young girls that this is what girls are supposed to look like.

However, that isn’t true, Barbie is playing a huge role in eating disorders in women. It’s estimated that 8 million people have eating disorders and that only 10 to 15% are men and the rest are women. Out of that percentage, 80% of the women are below twenty. Author of “The Barbie Effect” says, “Many admitting that they started worrying about their weight when they were between the age of four and six years old. That is around the age that a girl usually gets her first Barbie doll, and many of the girls who have or had an eating disorder admitted that Barbie played a huge role on their influences in behavior and looks.” (“The Barbie Effect”) Another example would be a victim of an eating disorder, Galia Slayen, and how she created a ‘Real Life’ Barbie doll to raise awareness. Slayen had created it out of chicken wire and some other things from the store to make her according to the statistics of what Barbie’s size would actually be like if she was real. Slayen was feeling pressured by her peers and with the obsession for perfection that she had had since a young age. After it all, Slayen said, “Despite her appearance, Barbie provides something that many advocacy efforts lack. She reminds of something we once loved, while showing us the absurdity of our obsession with perfection.”

Young Girls look up to many people as role models, one role model that plays an immense part in their lives is Barbie. Barbie is defined as being pretty, beautiful, and even perfect. But is she really that wonderful as she seems? Her body shape is completely inaccurate representation of the female body and people get easily influenced by these unrealistic standards. If no one steps up to help young girls realize that Barbie is not perfect then they will have dissatisfaction with themselves forever. Body dissatisfaction is becoming more and more popular and one reason is that Barbie presents an unrealistic body image that affects young girls and their idea of a perfect life.

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]

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

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

The toy industry does an exceptional job at reinforcing this stereotype. The toys aim at girls regularly features makeup kits, hair accessories, jewelry, and costumes. This shows girls that appearance is a priority above everything else. There are fashion dolls such as Barbie who have been proven to be extremely harmful to girl’s self-esteem due to her disturbing and unrealistic body type. Whenever a girl grabs a Barbie doll she is reminded that she can achieve anything and be whatever she wants just as long as she is attractive, thin, white, and well dressed. In a study of young girls (Macrkee, Pedersen, Murray, &Stacey, 1994), “the researchers found that girls often mentioned the doll’s physical features and appearance such as her hair as the reason for liking them”(p.354) Consequently, many girls began to look to Barbie as someone who possesses desirable traits so naturally these girls began to desire to be just like her, cheerful and perfect all the time. With each strive they make in order to reach these unattainable standards many girls eventually come to experience their first taste of

Young girls should not be influenced to believe they cannot do as much as a man. Overall, Barbie depicts women in a negative light by making them seem unintelligent and incapable of achieving amazing

However, this new “New” Barbie line could work to socialize girls in a more positive way. Parents often struggle with giving their young girls a talk about body image and self preservation you could say, despite the fact that such a talk is crucial to their socialization as a woman. Introducing these new and realistic dolls is a way to teach girls about their bodies in puberty, helping them through their transition to become young women. Having such a doll also helps to socialize girls away from the negative stigma surrounding body image and dignity. The senior director of Barbie product and design said the changes “This is radical because were saying there isn’t this narrow standard of what a beautiful body looks like,”, rather then being used to the way society presents woman at a very young age. Additionally, the fact that this is a “Normal Barbie,” this doll can help to socialize girls to understand that all body types are

Barbie dolls have been one of the most popular toys for young girls since 1959, they are so popular that in the early 1990’s a collecting crazes among young girls broke out” (Barbie Media). What many may not know about barbies is that they have also been a very controversial topic amongst feminist for years. “Feminist claim that barbie's set an unhealthy and unfair beauty standard, leading to a crisis for young girls and their self esteem” (reddit). If a Barbie dolls were human size they would differ from the average women completely. The average woman weighs 166 pounds and is 5 feet and 5 inches tall with a 32 inch bust, and a 35 inch waist. “The barbie would stand 6 feet tall, weigh 100 pounds, and have a 39-inch bust, a 19-inch waist, and the hips of a prepubescent boy” (Samantha Olson). Surprisingly, young girls are a lot more conscious of their body weight and physical appearance. In fact, “42% of girls between the ages of 6-10 admit to wishing they were thinner” (Barbie media). Based on this research, it is proven that Barbies set unhealthy expectations for young girls with growing bodies. In summation, if Barbies create low self-esteem for young girls, why should society give the dolls so much publicity and praise?

Barbie dolls are the original figure for an unrealistic body. The disproportional body of Barbie has been a role model for many young girls for decades. Some girls do not see Barbie as a role model, some see Barbie as a role model in different jobs and activities, and some see Barbie as a role model for appearance. While there are different opinions about Barbie’s influence on appearance, many young girls are affected by Barbie’s unrealistic body expectations.

Barbie is becoming a more realistic symbol of women. Why now? People are starting to realize how unrealistic and detrimental it is to have such high standards. Girls have played with this iconic toy since the mid twentieth-century. It took over half of a century for the iconic toy and symbol to become more relatable.

From the time we are old enough to hold a doll in our hands to when we’re waving our parents goodbye on the bus to middle school, Barbie dolls are a girl’s best friend. We skip around the house singing “I’m a Barbie girl in a Barbie world!” and spend hours upon hours dressing the dolls up in extravagant ensembles we dream of having in our wardrobe. Since the first Barbie dolls hit the market in 1959, they have been an icon for young girls around the world. However, if you take a chance to really analyze this popular child’s doll, there is more than meets the eye. Due to the close contact young girls have with this doll as their growing up, the design and nature of this doll should be studied a little closer. Barbie dolls have an extremely