Is Barbie a good or bad influence?
And I don't think there is a truly clear answer. Let me explain.
Barbie was created in 1959 by a woman named Ruth with a daughter named Barbara. (Side note - Obviously, Barbie was named after Barbara, but the weird part is that Ken was named after Ruth's son... and Barbie and Ken are like...a couple?) As I understand it, Barbie was created because the only dolls out there at the time for girls to play with were predominantly baby dolls. And baby dolls were simulating playtime for very young girls to already start acting like the caretaker, the mother, the wife. Ruth wanted a doll for her daughter to play with that did not place a feeling of responsibility and adulthood on her so early in life.
So then there was Barbie - a teenage fashion doll. And the rest was history...
Not quite. Barbie has been attacked for various charges of "bad influence" on young girls. She's too thin. She's too blonde. Her clothes are too adult. Her boobs are too big. She is an unattainable image of beauty. It's true that if she were a real person, her waist would not be able to contain a functional set of organs and her feet would be too small to support her height.
But what about the actual Barbie doll makes the children in our society covet her looks? In my opinion - nothing. It is the reality that we are a part of that places such an importance on image and looks. Barbie is not the enemy here. Children are picking up cues in their cultures and societies that pretty and skinny and fashionable is better than average. Granted, Barbie probably doesn't help with the fact that children see and hear this standard all around them anyway, but it is not her fault.
Do you know what Barbie is hardly ever recognized for anymore? Her ambition. Her career goals. Her adaptability. Her success. Her ability to do whatever she wants without a man to support her. (Yes, Barbie has had multiple wedding dresses, but Barbie has never officially married Ken.) She is independent. She is the first woman astronaut, the first woman president, she is a doctor, an artist, a teacher, a mother. Her slogan at some point was, "Be who you want to be." Barbie is an example for young girls that they can dream. She emulates imagination through her fantasy characters and ambition through her many careers. And to top it all off, we have to fault her for looking pretty while doing all these things?
I am not saying Barbie is the ideal role model if we take every aspect of her into account - there are many controversies surrounding the doll. But I am saying that the actual doll cannot be criticized for the importance that our society places on the beauty myth. From what I've found, adults and parents worry about the influence of Barbie's looks on their kids more than the kids do. I remember reading a book a few years ago (I can't recall the name or author now) that had counts of women remembering their playtime with Barbie. A few admitted that they strived for her perfection, but most said she was just a doll. Just a plastic doll that they could fuel their imagination and story time through.
I agree that subconsciously, Barbie's figure is probably engrained in our minds to some extent. Another point to think about is the effect of Barbie on young boys. A lot of times, the first time a young boy consciously sees nude representation of the female form is an undressed Barbie doll in his sister's or friend's toy box. Not only can Barbie warp girl's standards for themselves, but that is also an implicit event that could effect men's standard they hold women to as well. Just a thought.
All that said - there is this really cool project that Nickolay Lamm is starting. I'm sure you've seen his viral simulated image of what Barbie would look like if she had accurate human proportions. He is trying to get funding to make an "average" Lammily Doll reflective of real bodies. He has a crowdfunding site, so if you feel so inclined, you can support his ideas to help make this actually happen. "My plan is for Lammily to come in different ethnitcities and body shapes... I want to show that average is beautiful," says Lamm.
I recognize that Barbie is not a good role model in terms of her physicality. It is truly unattainable. But I think she sets some pretty good examples otherwise. But I also think that it would be incredible for a Lammily doll to come on the market and I hope that it proves to be successful.
What do you think?
- Annika Wooton
Miss Butler County 2014
Link to the Lammily doll page I was referencing: http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/this-barbie-doll-has-the-porportions-of-an-average-american
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