Barbie dolls: do they warp girl’s minds?
So what do you think about Barbie? Love her or hate her?
Barbie turns 50 this month and today, March 9th is her official birthday.
If you have a daughter or might have one some day - did you or would you let her have Barbie dolls?
I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I had Barbie dolls and they didn’t completely screw me up. On the other hand, it did give me warped ideas about what adult women are supposed to look like - but I got over it.
I don’t know yet if I would let a daughter have them. I haven’t kept up, but I’m guessing they still make them with unrealistic proportions. If they changed them and made them more realistic I think they would be ok. I did just read that Barbie’s waist is now bigger, but as far as I know her breasts are still really big. The really old ones that look like they are wearing lots of makeup just look creepy to me.
If they offered different ones with not just different skin and hair colors, but height, waist and breast sizes and with no makeup I’d feel much better about a daughter having one too.
The idea of having a doll that is an adult is to help young girls explore what they would like to be when they are an adult. And for them to imagine being something other than a mother, which is about the only option with the more traditional baby dolls. That’s a great idea, its a shame its been messed up to some degree due to the way Barbie’s body is designed.
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5 Responses to 'Barbie dolls: do they warp girl’s minds?'
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on March 28th, 2009 at 9:36 am
I played with Barbies when I was young. It didn’t ruin me for life or give me a poor body image.
We as a society just need to lighten up.
on July 14th, 2009 at 5:14 am
I have no probelm in letting my daugter play with barbie dolls , i think the dolls help her imagination and role playing. I’m not overly concerned about perception she might get from the proportions of the doll…i think that at the momment she is too young to even know that. She just sees a women as a women and not concerned with how big the breasts are etc…but i do like the idea of barbie beig made in different sizes , heights etc that would be a good idea
on July 15th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
My two little sweethearts (most of the time!) both love Barbie but obly one is what I would describe as a clothes horse…
She is the one though that is becoming more obsessed by shape…
on July 23rd, 2009 at 12:45 am
I don’t see any problems with little girls having Barbies. They usually only tend to pretend to act like their Mommy and like the previous comment, I think it’s role playing.
on July 23rd, 2009 at 8:24 pm
I was a complete Barbie girl when I was young. Funny, my mom said I would see any kind of nicknack and say, “wow, that is GREAT for Barbies!” and off I would go with it. When I had my third child and found out she was a girl, I imagined us sitting and playing barbies for hours on end. Funny though, she never took to them… she is “not a barbie girl, in a barbie world” ha ha… No, I never felt women should look like Barbie, and I certainly don’t…. I think they are OK… especially if you look at all the Bratz dolls and how THEY look today!