Barbie Syndrome Negatives

Why is it we allow toys do dictate how we live our lives or how are lives are molded? Why is it a Barbie World? We all know and love the doll, manufactured by Mattel, named “Barbie”. She was and is a part of every little girl’s childhood in one-way or another. She gave every little girl the hope she needed to believe that she could be anything she set her mind to through play, dress-up, movies etc. Barbie could be a Veterinarian, a Doctor, a Lawyer, and even an Astronaut. She promotes and gives little girls the right to dream of being anything they want to be. There are so many positives, as children learn their passions and desires through play. However, and, unfortunately there are some very big negatives that go along with having

It is most often associated with pre-teenage and adolescent females but is applicable to any age group. A person with Barbie Syndrome attempts to emulate the doll’s physical appearance, even though the doll has attainable body proportions (Wall Street Journal). Self-esteem for girls is a sensitive topic, because odds are most girls want to change something about themselves. Whether it is her hair color, skin color, eye color, and even body shape. Some sources say that one culprit is the fictional person Barbie, this is due to her unrealistic body and the fact she’s tall, blonde, and blue eyed. "Girls exposed to Barbie reported lower body esteem and greater desire for a thinner body shape" than those who had been given dolls reflecting larger body types or no dolls at all” (CNN). Its been shown that girls who played with her as kids have this desire to look just like her because society has put this pressure on girls that in order to be pretty you have to be a tall size 2 blonde, this is believed to create an endemic of girls, teens and adolescents with anorexia. When Mattel decided to create these new dolls to help promote a healthy body image for young girls who can’t look like the original Barbie, its made society redefine what it means to be pretty. But, why have we as a society allowed for this toy to define our standards of beauty? One article from Time Magazine has said that this doll has lead girls to not only feeling bad about themselves, but has made eating disorders more prevalent. “The doll has led many girls toward eating disorders, body image issues, physical transformation, and lowered confidence” (Time