Our Barbies Ourselves Analysis

Myranda Ogles Ms. Rollins English III 7 May 2014 Barbie’s Negative Effects on Girls’ Self-Esteem and Body Image The first Barbie introduced was an 11-inch tall and curvaceous adult figured doll. It was debuted on March 9, 1959 by a California toy company. Ever since then, Barbie’s body has been critiqued for her voluptuous frame.

Barbie, a doll manufactured by Mattel, Inc., encourages an unrealistic body image, racial insensitivity, and contradictive goals, and it is having a negative influence on young girls everywhere. Launched in March 1959 by Ruth Handler, an American business woman and president of Mattel, Inc., Barbie quickly became popular and has gone on to sell three dolls every second, in over one hundred and fifty countries. However, Barbie’s rise to success has not been wholly positive – there have been numerous controversies, parodies, and lawsuits, all addressing a number of issues. One such issue is how Barbie promotes an unrealistic and unobtainable body image. For example, to scale, Barbie is five feet, nine inches tall, has a thirty six inch chest, eighteen inch waist, and thirty three inch hips. Had Barbie been a real person, she would not be able to walk, much less hold her head up. Secondly, Barbie is racially insensitive and perpetuates stereotypes. “Mexico Barbie,” from Barbie’s “ethnic” line, comes with a passport and a Chihuahua, as well as stereotypical red lace ribbons in her hair. Lastly, Barbie portrays goals that are both unobtainable and contradictive. Barbie has had a variety of careers, such as being a doctor, astronaut, and President of the United States, but also engages in stereotypical domestic activities, such as cleaning and baking. These characteristics are affecting young girls in a time when they are most developmentally susceptible, and teaching them a number of negative lessons.

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.

America has always been a country that strives for equality. With a recent question of equality rising in the wage system, feminism has taken on a life of its own. With women becoming the primary source of income in homes and with a woman now running for President, attention is drawn to the things in society that might be considered unequal. One of those things, targeted since their creation, is Barbie Dolls. In “The Controversy behind Barbie” author Prisna Virasin attempts to qualify the existence of Barbie Dolls to her readers. While she succeeds with a personal story to tie her readers into her argument, she fails to provide an initial thesis statement to guide the reader, she fails to thoroughly address the positive perspectives of Barbie, and doesn’t provide sufficient evidence to back her claims on the positive and neutral perspectives. Virasin uses a pathos style and

I more so focused on the article Barbie because it reminded me a the movie “Life-Size” that I used to watch all the time as a child. The film came out in the year 2000 and it is about a girl who brings her Barbie to life. The Barbie character is played by African-American model, Tyra Banks. In the film the Barbie comes to life and has to deal with the changes of her Barbie world in comparison to the real world. Barbie explains how she has multiple jobs and a closet full of clothes, nice jewelry and shoes. This is how Barbie is view by young girls and it formulates the idea that this is what females are expected to do and look like. Tyra Banks is known world wide and is considered to be and idol for many. I believe that she was chose to play this role due to the fact that she is seen to the world as a beauty icon. Little girls that have watched Life Size, thought that Tyra was beautiful and even though she faced many challenges in the real world she ended up not being able to survive without all of her belongings in her picture perfect world. The Barbie character attempted to bake and do clerical work but it wasn't as easy as her unrealistic world made it see. Another thing that caught my interest was that the Barbie in the film was African American versus an Americanized caucasian

Barbie Dolls and Girls Every child has its own way of describing or adoring the toys. They can relate to the toys and the ways in which they use it can be totally different. But at the end of the day what really matters is that they are having a good time with them. That is why having toys and wanting toys is something that all the kids want. This was something that was feasible in the eyes of the businessmen and the venture capitalists and that is all that they wanted because it was a good opportunity for them to maximize their profits. This is a phenomenon that has been common in all times and there have been people who have been producing the things that the children want throughout the ages. In the world of toys the demands of the kids found anew form when some entrepreneurs launched a product by the name of Barbie and it rose to the heights which have been unparallel and unrivaled to date. It is felt that the females while they are young and even in their older ages can relate to the dolls and this type of doll was probably the best thing that ever happened to kids. Adults have different perception they want girls to play with dolls like Cabbage Patch dolls and Barbie whilst they expect boys to play with something related to action. There is a major difference in the preferences of the boys and the girls when it comes to toys. The boys are always more inclined towards using the things which have more meaning on the outside and they prefer being extroverts. While on the other hand the females are more introvert and they prefer toys which can be set up in the confines of the house. The world of Barbie took this to new heights because it was a different and a completely new world in entirety. There were innumerous things that...

The Barbie doll is another example of media controlling girls view. They made her the unattainable dream of woman hood. Barbie, in human proportions, is implausible. The creator’s image of the doll was for her to become a role model for young women not the opposite. S...

Housley, Caitlin. "Professor Discusses Barbie Doll's Impact." The Observer. N.p., 23 Feb. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. .

When I grow up I want to look Just Like Barbie Throughout many generations of media publicity, women and girls have publicized and influenced to look like supermodels and in return this leads to them not genuinely loving themselves for who they truly are. There is many causes and effects to these insecurities and one of them had been from childhood girls comparing themselves to Barbie made by Mattel. Barbie herself comes from a long line of controversy of love and hate as well as changes with her appearance. Barbie was inspired based off of the original call-girl character named Lilli, which was a German doll.

As a young girl the fondest memory was playing with all my Barbie dolls and having the time of my young youth. Getting new Barbie’s for my birthday and Christmas was the highlight for my friends and I every year, and comparing which dolls the others got with each other. Never once growing up did any of us feel that Barbie was bad for us to play with, or that she was a bad role model. She could be anything that she wanted to be and her friends were all different too. Barbie was just a doll that we could make say what ever we wanted to, and we let our imaginations make each doll have their own personality. Our mothers played with them when they were our age and turned out pretty well, and no one that I have ever come across has ever felt scared from playing with Barbie. When the article “Barbie doesn’t add up,” was read by my self I felt shocked and upset that someone with no experience would be able to say that Barbie was a bad role model for young girls.