Barbie
Barbie has been a role model for young girls for 60 years now and the question is, is she really a good role model?
A Little History
Barbie was created by a mom, Ruth Handler. She based the Barbie off the German Doll, Bild Lilli (which was made from 1955-1964). Ruth Handler noticed that her daughter was playing with paper dolls and giving them adult roles, she decided to make a more adult doll that would suit the roles that her daughter would come up with. In 1956 Ruth went to Germany and found Bild Lilli dolls and purchased 3. She gave one to her daughter and used the other 2 to come up with Barbie. Did you know over a billion Barbies have been sold (my parents have purchased me at least 10)! How did Ruth come up with the name Barbie? Her daughter's name was Barbara so she shortened it to Barbie. On March 9, 1959, 2 different kinds of Barbie dolls were released (a brunette and a blonde).
Over the years Barbie has become a huge business. There are more types of Barbies that you could have, ones for different occasions such as birthday dolls, a TV show, merchandise, etc! I could walk up to a little girl on the street and ask her if she's ever heard the name Barbie. And she would probably know who the doll was. Barbie has the "perfect body", "largest house", "best boyfriend" and the ability to do every possible job out there. Is any of this realistic? No.
The prototype of Barbie is horrible. Her proportions are totally off, how can someone have a 18-inch waist, 39 inch bust, 33 inch hips and size 3 feet? She is 5'9 and weighs approximately 110 pounds. That would mean her BMI is 16.24 and fit the weight criteria for anorexia!
What if I said that I wanted to be like Barbie. She's happy, has a perfect body, has lots of money and has a bunch of outfits to do a ton of different jobs in. Why would I not want to be like her? The problem is she isn't a real person, she is just a concept, an idea. That being said, if you've read about successful females or even men, they have all done more than 1 job in their life.
There are about a dozen women and men that want to look like Ken & Barbie. They have dedicated their lives to have tiny waists or six packs, long lashes, big breasts and no wrinkles anywhere! Valeria Lukyanova has only had breast enlargements and nothing else (that she has admitted), one Ken and many Barbie wannabes have had ribs removed to have tinier waists! I still find it hard to believe that they want to look like a doll. Everyone wants to look different and some of them have used plastic surgery to get there. I just hope at the end they love their bodies.
I hope that every girl and boy will be able to appreciate how many toys they have and how much their parents give/gave them. I hope that everyone can love their bodies as they are and they don't have to make any enhancements, add any hair, eyelash extensions or get any ribs removed to do it.
Don't feel like putting makeup on my cheeks
Do what I wanna
Love every single part of my body
Top to the bottom
I'm not a supermodel from a magazine
I'm okay with not being perfect
'Cause that's perfect to me- Anne Marie-Perfect to Me
A Little History
Barbie was created by a mom, Ruth Handler. She based the Barbie off the German Doll, Bild Lilli (which was made from 1955-1964). Ruth Handler noticed that her daughter was playing with paper dolls and giving them adult roles, she decided to make a more adult doll that would suit the roles that her daughter would come up with. In 1956 Ruth went to Germany and found Bild Lilli dolls and purchased 3. She gave one to her daughter and used the other 2 to come up with Barbie. Did you know over a billion Barbies have been sold (my parents have purchased me at least 10)! How did Ruth come up with the name Barbie? Her daughter's name was Barbara so she shortened it to Barbie. On March 9, 1959, 2 different kinds of Barbie dolls were released (a brunette and a blonde).
The prototype of Barbie is horrible. Her proportions are totally off, how can someone have a 18-inch waist, 39 inch bust, 33 inch hips and size 3 feet? She is 5'9 and weighs approximately 110 pounds. That would mean her BMI is 16.24 and fit the weight criteria for anorexia!
This is what a real girl looks like!
Barbie is making girls think they should have these
crazy proportions so they have crippling self-doubt!
Barbie is making girls think they should have these
crazy proportions so they have crippling self-doubt!
I know that TV shows are never realistic but come on! Who wakes up with perfect hair and has a boyfriend that doesn't have a job because you're his job. How does she have legs with no scratches or bruises? Mine have a bunch of scars and right now I have at least 5 bruises on my legs. All I am saying is I think that Barbie is a little too perfect and way too unrealistic. I think little girls should grow up playing with something that they can really look up to. Why does Barbie have makeup on, should we be encouraging our children (your children I don't have any yet) to wear makeup so we don't show who we really are? To cover up our "flaws" which make you, you?
Why does Barbie have a huge house with a bunch of appliances and a humongous closet? There is an episode on the Barbie TV show where they walk for days through her closet to find a necklace, isn't that a little bit too dramatic? Can you imagine how many things she purchased on Black Friday? Or how many personal stylist boxes of clothes she gets every month to have accumulated so many clothes?
Why would you want to purchase a doll for your child or let them watch a TV show about a girl that doesn’t teach any life lessons? It doesn't teach them how to save to get a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house. Your child will see all that Barbie has and won’t be grateful for what they have. They’ll want something bigger and more items. I get why the people who write the script are making Barbie have everything, but no one has everything. I think we could make a better role model for little girls and boys. Now some people would consider me to be a little girl and I can tell you I don't like Barbie at all. When I was younger, I received a lot of Barbies and I had a Barbie dream house that I purchased with my own money from eBay. I watched Barbie: Life in the Dream House for hours on the weekend or when my parents were at work and I had "nothing" to do. I loved that Barbie could do anything and that she had all these clothes and especially loved the color of her house. How it had a doctor’s office inside it and everything that she wanted.
One of the only good parts of Barbie is that she has 130 careers. Motivating kids to have more than one job is good. Like I said Barbie has had 130 jobs, why do I get a weird look when I list 12?
There are about a dozen women and men that want to look like Ken & Barbie. They have dedicated their lives to have tiny waists or six packs, long lashes, big breasts and no wrinkles anywhere! Valeria Lukyanova has only had breast enlargements and nothing else (that she has admitted), one Ken and many Barbie wannabes have had ribs removed to have tinier waists! I still find it hard to believe that they want to look like a doll. Everyone wants to look different and some of them have used plastic surgery to get there. I just hope at the end they love their bodies.
I hope that every girl and boy will be able to appreciate how many toys they have and how much their parents give/gave them. I hope that everyone can love their bodies as they are and they don't have to make any enhancements, add any hair, eyelash extensions or get any ribs removed to do it.
Don't feel like putting makeup on my cheeks
Do what I wanna
Love every single part of my body
Top to the bottom
I'm not a supermodel from a magazine
I'm okay with not being perfect
'Cause that's perfect to me- Anne Marie-Perfect to Me
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