The Influence Of Barbie Dolls

Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the Barbie Doll, and the positive and negative impacts she has on society. Central Purpose: I will discuss how Barbie has effected women and the pedestal she has set upon us career wise since our youth. Introduction Quote; Once a wise female said “The first 10 years of a girls life is spent playing with Barbie, and the next 10 years are spent trying to look like one”

Starting young, adolescent girls around the world are becoming self-conscious due to society’s influence upon what they should and shouldn’t look like. Many argue that The Barbie Doll plays a key influence in what young girls assume their bodies should look like. However, some will argue that the Barbie Doll toy is a good role model for young children, especially girls, because of her career choices, how she’s depicted in her movies, and her overall personality.

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.

Depending on who you ask you’ll get a different opinion on the matter. My roommate for example doesn’t think Barbie has a negative influence on girls and that it’s okay to strive to be perfect. I also asked the resident assistant on my floor at Scott Hall, she had the complete opposite opinion of my roommate, her opinion is that Barbie does have a negative influence on young girls and that parent should really think about if they should allow their children to play

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 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

Emily Prager, in Our Barbies, Ourselves, stated that Barbies have influenced little girls around the world on what the perfect body looks like, when in reality there is no “perfect” body. Our Barbies, Ourselves states “here are millions of women who are

What was that one doll every little girl just had to have growing up? What doll made little girls obsess with perfection? What doll set the unrealistic standards for girls starting at ages three or four? Barbie is a children’s toy that was first introduced to the market in 1959. Barbie was the perfect role model for all girls. She was perfectly skinny, had a perfect boyfriend and family, perfect hair, perfect house, perfect everything, but her existence is completely ironic. Although Mattel, creator of Barbie, attempts to make Barbie absolute perfection, all her imperfect buyers are wondering why they cannot look like the beautiful doll. She is responsible for the diminishing young girls’ self-confidence. Lisa Belkin believes girls in today’s society cannot comprehend what true beauty is because they were so entranced with the idea of Barbie in her online article “Banning Barbie.” Barbie should be pulled off the shelves immediately. Barbie’s looks, actions, and lust for materialistic objects are the blame for the degeneration of assurance in young girls and women.

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

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]

Barbie has become a pillar of the children’s toy market since her inception. Forbes reports, “Ninety percent of American girls ages three to ten own at least one Barbie, according to the doll’s maker, Mattel톖.” The doll has an impactful reach on kids today through both the dolls and other products that have been inspired by or created to accompany Barbie. This exposure, which has been proven to damage the self-esteem of women (American Psychological Association 1), impacts the development of kid’s views of themselves and other people. Comparing real women to these images causes these girls to have negative views of themselves as they grow older and judge other women harshly. It also causes boys to hold girls to an unreasonable standard of their appearances, which further damages the girl’s self worth when they don’t meet these standards (ScienceDaily 1). Consequently, the

There have been several articles calling attention to the images children are exposed in cartoons, or Disney productions, but what about the toys they play with? In the death grip of my two year old sister, like many other young girls, lies a fairy princess Barbie doll. Barbie has been the toy of choice for girls everywhere since her debut fifty years ago, representing the ideal girl with a perfect life to match that can not be achieved. Barbie and other dolls alike negatively affect young girls causing body image issues and low self-esteem.

In the article, “ Influence of Barbie on Gender Identity” Barbie is considered to have a negative impact on households in America because of the way Barbie looks, discriminated as from other minorities, and the roles she has as a woman which are stereotypes. Many feel as though Barbie gives young girls insecurities at a young age and that when young girls interact with a Barbie they are supposed to act and think in a mature way. One person wrote in this article that Barbie has never influenced her gender identity when she was growing up. She never thought about Barbie as a bad influence. As she stated, “ All I was worried about was whether or not Barbie had all her accessories and looked pretty once I clothed her” (qtd.

In 1959 Mattel Toy releases a womanized figure called Barbie, a doll with unrealistic body proportions. Little girls all over the world idolized this toy, wanting to grow up just like Barbie. The blond hair, skinny waist and blue eyes toy. Parents were thrilled by this toy but little did they know it created a big self-esteem drop and brought their child’s insecurities up.