You can be anything. If only that were how it worked. Compared to girls who played with Mrs. Potato Head, girls who played with fashion Barbie identified a greater number of careers as ones they could not do when they grew up. The same pattern emerged even when girls played with Doctor Barbie.
Why would this be? One study examining this connection between Barbie and body image found that after hearing a story illustrated with pictures of Barbie, young girls expressed higher levels of dissatisfaction with their bodies and a greater desire to be thin than girls who heard the same story but saw images of a full-bodied doll.
Another study that looked at how much food girls ate after playing with different-sized dolls found that girls who were assigned to play with average-sized dolls ate more food than girls who were assigned to play with Barbie.
Americans live in a culture infused with sexualized images of women and girls. Even Halloween costumes for little girls are sexy.
Branksea Festival Lottie has rich, dark skin and beautiful clothing with kid appeal. In the plush doll category, consider Go! And in the Disney Princess lineup, the Toddler Tiana dolls are a favorite. Barbie dolls were originally meant for girls 9 to 12 years old. With every new generation of children, however, the toy industry has increasingly felt the squeeze of age compression. Marketers have pursued revenue growth by targeting ever-younger children with their products, but in consequence, items embraced by little kids have fallen out of favor with the older children who originally enjoyed them.
Mattel therefore abandoned the marketing of Barbie products to girls this age. According to a recent article in Advertising Age :. When I was a child, older girls played with Barbies, not preschoolers—and those girls were not barraged with sexualized dolls and hyper-feminine products set against a backdrop of pinkwashed girlhood. Barbie buys its way into pro-girl spaces, appropriating girl empowerment to sell more dolls.
This new partnership involves the release of a Girl Scout-themed Barbie doll and a Barbie uniform patch for Girl Scouts to work to earn.
In the essay, Mattel appropriated feminist ideas to justify placing Barbie in Sports Illustrated, a publication known for reducing women to sex objects…despite having claimed for years that Barbie is a career woman who is a good role model for girls. With just a little time and care, you can find a perfectly fun, appealing, and healthy fashion doll that the child will love and cherish. Rebecca Hains, Ph. Rebecca is on Facebook and Twitter.
There are so many things we do not realize until somebody tells us. You are doing a great job Rebecca on having people informed. We may be doing such a harm to our younger generations in an unconscious way. Thank you. Totally agree. As a parent it is our duty to be cognizant of what we instill in our children, our attitudes, and how we behave on a daily basis to give our children a good example to model after.
I played with Barbie on a daily basis my entire childhood and I see my experience as an incredible creative outlet. That is partially the parents fault…but not completely.
Kids can stop eating to make themselves look thinner, this is no secret either. They look at themselves in the mirror with disgust and can have a great impact on how the children look at themselves growing up.
This can lead into anorexia, depression, anxiety ect. Again the racial diversity is very slim. I completely agree. Barbie is an absolutely wonderful toy. I adored them and my daughter who is 9, by the way adores them. Discouraging a girl from being feminine, liking pink, wearing dresses, ever needing help, liking princesses, wanting to fall in love — THOSE are the damaging things.
You are teaching those girls to be ashamed of who they are and to try to be more like men. Girls and boys are different, people. Deal with it. Embrace it. I would never give up my femininity, and I am very smart, highly educated, and completely support my entire family.
You say Barbie is sexualized? Bratz dolls are disgusting. Just because you love a brand does not mean it does not have issues, these issues can even be quiet terrible. It is a type of dissonance when we love something that is not good in some way. Your brain is trying to dismiss the harm Barbie represents in order to preserve your sense of love of it. However, it is much healthier for you, and the discourse around Barbie, if you simply accept that you love something that also has deep flaws.
It is ok for you to love something that sends bad messages to young girls, but it is not ok for us to keep pushing those bad messages on to further generations. I see them too but they are I. The back ways away from that Barbie in the front which is a white Barbie. Also all the commercials I have seen star white Barbies. Is this serious??? Almost all girls i know used to play with Barbies and they turned out perfectly fine. I agree with that, they are just dolls! But, I can also see why people would turn on them after reading this.
Because they acted fine? And when your daughter says in 10 years she hopes to look like Barbie when she grows up, what will you say to her? Ignorance is bliss…. A lot of girls have body image issues as they get older.
This is not because of barbie. Little girls play with barbies. Usually not the older ones who are having body issues. Yeah, expectations from other people and the media send bad messages, too. What you can do, though, is choose not to buy Barbie. Also, a lot of girls have body image issues when they are playing-with-dolls age. The only one that ignorant here is you. And you should really mind your own business about other peoples children.
Do you truly think that necessary? I agree. A lot of stuff scientists say might be false. I used to collect barbies since the age of 9 years old,and i am chubby right now! In my opinion all girls have the right to have an idol and something to play. Furthermore, watching even 10 mins of one of barbies vapid shows as an adult is horrifying.
It basically teaches that you get by by making sure your hair is perfect and you have the right accessories. Any real work, she gets others to help, or she somehow magically gains skill in a new craft. Now, speaking as a pediatric nurse, year old children do not have the same brain development as teens, nor adults. You have to model that, in life, in play, in media. The point of this article is simple, there are better choices for toys out there, and it is not hard to steer clear of barbies.
I feel like people ought to read the entire post despite it being understandably long before posting their opinions. As a little girl I played with Barbie dolls and never thought of starving myself to look like them. Why not ban the teddy bears in case they encourage kids to become obese?
Why not ban Halloween costumes in case they make kids turn into real-life monsters? This article is rubbish. Both me and my 4 year old love to play with Disney Princess dolls.
Yes this is absolutely serious!!! It is just a doll, but it gives the future of the world to look at themselves in the mirror with disgust and wish they were tall and slim and blonde..
Not everyone is going to have the same experience as you and your friends. Having one kind and only one kind of role model being unrealisticly shaped and not having a racial variety? Look at the picture shown of the afican American and the Caucasian Barbie.
Is that really how we want to show our kids that Race and Diversity plays a big part in the world and we should be discriminatory? But you can parent any way you feel is right, its your kid. But I hope this can help you be a little more opened minded.
So if you can avoid those thoughts in your children by just buying a different doll why not? Also, kids are very sensitive to everything and its crucial for them to have a safe inclusive space where they can learn how to accept and love the differences all humans have. Turned out fine? Are you aware how common eating disorders are? Very very very common. Barbie is one of the factors here. Just saying. I mean, at least Barbie tries to BE a good role model to girls and boys.
Take Bratz for instance. It makes me wish that I could wear some of the clothes that they had. Anyways, Bratz is the one with big lips, big heads, and stylish clothes. Unlike Barbie, they kinda look like Kylie Jenner clones if you ask me remember her lip challenge? So my point is, other doll lines can make girls feel bad, not just Barbie. I have always loved Barbie dolls. I am 66 years old so I experienced the introduction. I begged my mother for a Barbie doll. No kidding.
My argument is that they should ban Barbies because they are not healthy for little girls. They would have a negative consequences about themselves and why they want to be so thin like a barbie doll. This kind of doll could be very harmful to them. Barbies are unhealthy dolls and they should play with Lottie dolls or other healthy dolls are fine with them to play with. I think that barbies are not appropriate for young girls. First, they could copy Barbie or they just want to dress like her.
I loved playing with them and dressing them up. I am an auditor not a flight attendant, although I loved my Barbie airplane…. Thanks for your thoughtful insight on this subject. I probably will not buy Barbie dolls for my friends having baby girls. She would most likely agree with this article. So my point is.. This was wonderfully written. Right up until the point where you started encouraging bratz dolls as a good alternative to barbie.
At least barbie dolls have clothes sold separately for those that are inappropriately dressed. Bratz dolls are dressed like club hopping 21 year olds at best. And their paper dolls…. My daughter had to layer on the outfits. Thanks for reading. I think you misunderstood—where did I recommend it encourage Bratz dolls as a good Barbie alternative?
That is not a recommendation I would ever make. While this was a good story, I would have to disagree with it. I grew up playing with barbies for a long time. Being a bigger person I have never had any problems with what is suggested.
The day my niece was born I bought her a barbie doll in hopes that one day she would love them as much as I did. I still go down the barbie isle at toy stores just to think back on the good times I had. I even collect them to this day. Right on. While I now consider them to be more than a little too slightly sexualized for young girls, I had many at the time, and did not wind up with body image issues.
People need to lighten up—this is just a toy. Since when is it healthy or normal for toys to have to reflect the overall growing waistline of America? And not one of them have blue eyes, white skin, or blond hair. Fantastic comment and as another collector, I wholeheartedly agree with you!
I strongly suggest the author check out the Barbie Basics line, particularly Collection 1 which showcases six different skin tones and a range of ethnicities. The Basics dolls are stunning and the whole point is that each model is different. I can name 3 African-American head molds off the top of my head: Pazette, Mbili and Desiree, the latter of which has been around since the early s and is used for a large number of AA playline dolls. I totally agree that in the s, black Barbies were spray-painted white Barbies, but that is NOT the case any more.
Lastly, I am white and some of the most treasured Barbie dolls in my collection are black. Its the best change ever. I played with Barbies all the time as a girl and collect them to this day. Great read, i too grew up playing with barbies and i may not have a damaging body image of myself but i can openly admit that i have always felt like there are areas i would love to improve.
There will always be a girl prettier than your daughter at school- and your daughter will always feel envious of that prettier girl. They feel bad about themselves, their appearance and their weight and they project that on the dolls and ultimately on their kids. Barbie looks just like mommy. Sorry but that overweight Lammily doll is downright gross. Trust me, a fat kid will have a much harder time at school than one with a few body image issues.
I know, I was one. Meanwhile, my daughter is four. She prefers the skipper and youthful shape of the younger doll counterparts. And I prefer dolls that illustrate a career or positive activity like a vet or chef. I was more comfortable with the Lammily doll. The kids pounced on them. Max favoured the blonde curvy Barbie as she was the closest in looks to Super Girl , and called her Ella. Rose chose the brunette petite Barbie who looks a little like Bumblebee , and called her Azzabella.
So, it turns out the new Barbies have worked their magic on the kids and me just as Mattel intended them to. Posted at h in Validate by Guest Contributer. Related Posts. How to guide your kids through bad Influences Children cannot be what they cannot see — or so the saying goes, writes Dilvin…. Print page.
0コメント