Don’t blame Barbie…
My last post got me thinking about Barbie, that plastic gal we all love to hate… only to love again.
I had plenty of Barbies growing up, and I adored them. I dressed them (sometimes in clothes I “designed” — Project Runway, here I come!), I created homes for them, I made them talk to one another, I really connected with each and every one. But I don’t think I ever wanted to be like Barbie, to be perfectly frank.
I know that NEDA (National Eating Disorders Association) uses Barbie to make a point about real women’s figures, but I’m not so sure that a doll can be blamed for our national obsession with skinniness. As a girl, I innately knew that Barbie was just a plaything. I never saw anyone who looked like her, and I didn’t really want to look like her, either.
What do you think?
Should Barbie be removed from the shelves of toy stores and locked away forever? Or is she a harmless toy, a scapegoat that’s targeted by a media not looking for the true answers to eating disorders and related behaviors?
2 opinions for Don’t blame Barbie…
Krista
Feb 20, 2008 at 10:18 pm
I don’t think it would cause any harm to make some Barbies in different shapes and sizes, but I don’t think the original should be taken off the shelves. I never aspired to look like Barbie growing up and I don’t think having the doll contributed to my eating disorder whatsoever.
Freddie
Feb 23, 2008 at 1:33 am
None of my unrealistic muscular action figures made me starve myself or obsess with over exercise. I knew they were still lifeless toys. I also never thought Barbie was perfect nor real. It was a toy of fantasy like the action figures. Barbies are fun. If they were withought that quality, then we would not care about them.
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