Many of you have surely seen and even played with a Barbie, the fashion doll created by Mattel Inc. and launched in March, 1959. This blonde, plastic doll if compared to the body structure of a real human would have a height of 5 feet and 9 inches, a 36-inch chest, an 18-inch waist, and 33-inch hips (Winterman, 2009). Certainly this is not realistic in today’s society. Barbie’s unrealistic body structure can poorly influence young girls on their own body image and as such, regulations for toy makers should be put in place to promote positive body composition.
The more scientists study, the more they begin to realize just how young children can become affected by the things around them. The issue of a young girl’s body image is becoming more and more of an area of concern. A study performed at the Pennsylvania State University showed that children as young as 5 years old can have body dissatisfaction (Davison, Markey, & Birch, 2003). As people perform further research on why this problem may be occurring, a link has been led to the popular children’s toy, Barbie, that has been around for generations. Advertisers have promoted the Barbie Doll as a role model for young girls. Barbie has been seen in many forms, everything from an astronaut to a nurse to a teacher.
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However, over the years, the “ideal” body image has greatly changed. As seen in an article by The World of Psychology, Americans have begun to strive for a thin, boyish physique body type compared to the previously ideal look of a more full-figured woman. “In 1975, most models weighed 8 percent less than the average woman; today they weigh 23 percent less” (Carolyn, 2015). In addition, many in today’s society now view larger women as indulgent and lacking in self-control. These women are also often looked down on making the issue of body image that much
By this time Barbie was a very popular doll that a lot of young girls wanted to have in their hands. Mothers and other parents were liking the doll because she provided a sense of what the “grown-up” world would be like. Plus, a lot of girl’s loved playing dress up and playing pretend house wife. But Barbie was more than just the house wife, Barbie has a career, many of them and she was a fashion icon. Than Barbie, the classic Caucasian, bond headed went even farther. “In the 80s, she joined the multicultural movement and was depicted as African-American, Latina, and Asian”, (Friedman, 2006). Now, not only could girl choose what profession and career they wanted their dolls to be, but now they could choose the race they were and maker Barbie more like their own. Yet still parents started to notice the Barbie’s measurements and how unrealistic they were. They started to worry about of this would have a negative impact on their children when they grew up to be adults. I can use this article because it explains that Barbie came in different race now but her measurements were so unrealistic. This causes concern and many people still today wonder if Barbie has a part in why women stress over their body
As the modern world has changed, the idea of what is beautiful has changed as well. Since the middle of the last century, female adolescents have developed an obsession with their weight and how their body should look according to what is depicted in the media. As a result, this obsession has turned dangerous. Stress is placed on thinness to the point where looking normal is being underweight. Such a body image has become perfection. This is not only seen on television, in live action movies, and in animation, but in real life as well. For example, in the animated film, “Shrek”, Princess Fiona is an attractive slender woman during the day. However, at night she becomes an overweight, hideous ogre (Kovar, 2009). This indicates to young impressionable females that thin means beautiful and being overweight means not being attractive. Due to such images, an increase in body dissatisfaction and the development of eating disorders have put the health and lives of some young female teenagers in jeopardy (Van Vonderen, & Kinnally, 2012).
Barbie's image through the shape of her body and all of her accessories is beginning to lead to many issues in our world. Barbie is portraying a negative impact on society through her influential being as a plastic doll. In 1965 the slumber party package was on the market showing buyers how straight forward she is with her products and accessories. The package had all of the normal slumber party things like a robe, comb, and hair rollers but it also had a weight scale set at a permanent weight of "110" and a disturbing book on weight loss that read in all caps, "DON'T EAT." This package is an example of how misleading Barbie and her products really are because it is implying to children that they should not eat and that if they grow up
The image of Disney’s ravishing princess marrying her perfect Prince Charming has infatuated young girl for decades. These delightful movies present role models for young girls influencing them to dress up as their favorite princesses in the image of their Disney princess models. Many parents regard this imaginative act of child's play as charming or innocent. However, there has been much speculation about the media’s message directed towards young girls. The most prevalent source of this worry is abundant in animated films (Travail). Although animated movies are exciting for young children, recent studies have shown that these films are causing a spike in body dissatisfaction in girls. Throughout the past century negative body image among young girls has been driven by Disney’s animated movies, Barbie dolls, and Barbie’s new animated films.
It has recently been brought up that media influences girls in pre-adolescence, which is highly likely since most young girls idolize Barbie (Rintala & Mustajoki, 1992). “Were Barbie a flesh-and-blood woman, her waist would be 39% smaller than that of anorexic patients, and her body weight would be so low that she would not be able to menstruate” (Rintala & Mustajoki, 1992). Most young girls wish that they could look like Barbie when they grew up, but if they knew the reality of having her measurements, their perceptions would probably change. Children frequently fantasize about who they will be, what they will do, and how they will look when they grow into adulthood. Advertisers use women that are abnormally thin, and even airbrush them to make them appear thinner.
The overview of the studies listed below are experimented and tested evaluations of the effects that thin dolls have on young girl’s body image. One study in particular finds and addresses that the dolls did directly affect the young girl’s food intake, but had no effect on body image. In this study the researchers used girls 6 to 10 years old, average sized dolls, and Legos in a controlled condition. This testing also required the girls to do a taste test, and questionnaires. The other study finds and addresses that Barbie’s could be a driver of negative body images in young girls. In this testing there were 162 young girls used, from ages 5 to 8. The young girls were shown pictures of Barbie, which is known to be slimmer, Emme Dolls, which
Imagine being a 5 year old girl playing with baby dolls and brushing your Barbie doll’s hair and feeling fat. A 5 year old feeling fat sounds crazy, right? Well with the influence Barbie has had for years is causing girls younger and younger to feel that their body is not “perfect”. Eating disorders, unrealistic expectations, and self-confidence are all at jeopardy once a young girl is rewarded with her first Barbie doll.
Barbie’s human body size characteristic may be unrealistic, but the doll isn’t a human shrunk down to play size. For instance, in the movie “Life-Sized” a girl’s doll comes to life. While it may be that in this movie the doll had a hard time adapting to life as a human, she eventually got the gist of having a career and living life the way everyone wanted
Living in a Barbie World She took the world by storm with her luxurious blond hair, blue eyes, and long legs. Soon, little girls all over the world were emulating and praising this eleven-and-a-half-inch-tall plastic doll (Napier). Throughout the decades, she has become an icon to little girls, so much that some are wondering whether the stereotypical ideals for women exemplified by Barbie have affected females in regards to body image.
Since the early nineteenth century, when the entertainment industry started to progress rapidly, there have been many toys, video games, and television shows that have had many negative effects on young children. One example of this troubling trend is the Barbie Doll. Barbie Dolls, a seemingly innocent plastic figurine, have in fact had a negative effect on young girls’ perception of themselves, their self-image, and self esteem, causing many problems for them including immodesty, eating disorders and teenage pregnancy. Children spend so much of their time playing with these dolls and they negatively affect how they view themselves. These negative effects are not merely suspected, but have been proven through years of research.
"The Negative Effects of Barbie on Young Girls and the Long Term Results." Divine Caroline. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2014. .
Those perfect days as a child when your countless days were filled with playtime. The time to set up those houses and dress the dolls up, and act out the future. “Through their play Barbara imagined their lives as adults. They used the dolls to reflect the adult world around them. They would sit and carry on conversations, making the dolls real people” (Ruth Handler). As a young child, it is all you look forward to in your future: being successful and confident, loved and cherished. Many dolls were used to project this. Specifically, the Barbie. Barbie is a positive role model girl should look up to for confidence and inspiration. She is a talented and educated career woman, self-sufficient in every aspect of her life, and a stunning example to young girls the body that is healthy and fit.
Barbie has gotten a lot of backlash in the past couple of years, and people are absolutely in love with the product or they hate it; there really is not an in between. Barbie receives many critiques about how their product makes a body image for girls that is nearly impossible to achieve or how they don’t have enough racial diversity. However, Barbie is trying to fix all of this, and become an empowering toy for young girls, and boys, everywhere. Barbie’s creator, Ruth Handler, said, “The whole philosophy of Barbie was that by playing with the doll, a young girl can be anything she wants to be. Barbie always represented that a woman has choices.”
Hoskins,Stephanie. “The Negative Effect of Barbies on Young Girls on the Long Term Results” www.divinecaroline.com No Pubished Date Web 8,January 2014
When I was very young, I owned very many Barbie dolls. To me, they were just so beautiful, and flawless, and I loved them very much. But the Barbie that said the most to me was the President Barbie. This spoke to me. It said that anyone, anywhere, of any gender, socioeconomic status, background, sexuality, ethnicity, race, or belief system could be anything they ever wanted to be, as long as they worked hard enough to achieve it. And this is a very important message, and it is a message that Barbie sends to people every day, all over the world.