Barbie and her friends have taken the most heat in debates about the epidemic of body loathing. Could the twelve-inch plastic Barbie, the most popular doll in America, really cause eating problems? Barbie is the stereotypic, perfect all-American beauty, blonde and blue eyed.
She is "perfect." Parents and body image experts question the influence that "perfect" dolls have upon young girls. Clearly, most girls will grow up to look nothing like Barbie. Will girls compare themselves to her? Do they want to be like her? Will Barbie be their first role model? It's hard to say what kind of power she may have.
However, there is one case that has been well-documented by the media of a woman who has spent thousands of dollars to have over a dozen surgeries to make herself into a real Barbie.
Barbie isn't responsible for all the eating disorders and dieters in America. Barbie is merely a doll that is one piece of a very complex puzzle. Many other dolls, TV shows, and magazines convey the exact same message. Barbie is a symbol that represents all the reasons why so many people struggle with body image dissatisfaction. Just like a fl ag and other symbolic objects, she is the item we hold up in the air to summarize the cultural factors contributing to body image problems across the nation.
So, what does Barbie stand for? Barbie perpetuates the idea that beauty, thinness and perfection are important. Barbie is all about how she looks, what she wears and what kind of cool car she drives. You do her hair and dress her up and that's about it. The play is focused on image and appearance. Efforts have been made to give her a personality by giving her respectable occupations like doctor, veterinarian, teacher, and soldier.
But she still looks exactly the same - pink heels and fl owing blond hair. We don't know who Barbie is as a person. To us, she is plastic, stiff , beautiful, and always smiling. Her image lacks the ethnic diversity, intelligence, and emotional richness of the women she represents.
Lots of little girls love their Barbies dearly and never give a second thought to her symbolic role in life. There is another group of kids who are vulnerable to any messages about perfection and body image. Does early exposure to images of perfection and the importance of beauty plant a damaging seed in some children's heads? Will those seeds bloom long after girls have stopped playing with their Barbie?
In the past few years, several universities and organizations have built life-size Barbies to symbolize the media's absurd emphasis on perfection. If she were a real person, a life-size Barbie would be much taller than any supermodel we know of (seven feet tall), have a breast size bigger than Marilyn Monroe, and a waist smaller than a twelve-yearold child. Clearly, she would be just a little bit freakish. The life-size Barbie has been known to frequent campus parties and visit wellness weeks to do her symbolic duty.
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