A Not So Perfect Role-Model

I can still remember seeing her for the first time in her plastic box; she looked so perfect, I remember hoping to my 6 year old, oblivious self that throughout my future years I would transform from my chubby-stomached, short, brown-haired self into a tall, skinny pretty blonde lady and the more and more I played with Barbie, the more and more I idealized my future life: I would have a husband just like Ken and we would live in a Dream House just like Barbie's and we would both drive around in our equally dreamy cars and there would never be any mishaps because of course, we would never stop smiling and everything would come easy to us- I think that’s where I started. That’s the period in which I started feeling inferior to societies view of what a perfect girl/woman should look like and what her life should comprise. 

Barbie has been a childhood success with annual sales of 1.5 billion dollars for more than forty years... but what lessonshas she taught society? There are various controversies around the doll. Some of which include major consumerism and materialism but the issue I will be discussing today as its the one I feel most strongly connected to is her unattainable body image- that has legitimately been proven to be inhumanely impossible.

Comparison of Barbie and the average sized woman of the same age

You must be wondering why on earth this random topic popped into my mind- its because I suddenly became curious as to what has impacted my (and millions of other women's-never the less men's) image of what the perfect woman SHOULD look like. Think about it for a second: this image we have that has been plastered securely in our brains impacts everything- in my life for instance it impacts the weight I believe I should be to be 'perfect' as well as the various other characteristics I need to acquire or better in order to complete this perfection... and after the research and reminiscing I've done, I've come to the conclusion that maybe the researchers are right: maybe we were all affected by this doll a lot more than we think.

Various studies have been conducted comparing the effect Barbie dolls have on young girls- one in particular compared perceived body image when young girls (age 5-8) were exposed to images or the actual barbie dolls or when they were exposed to Emme dolls (a doll that was created to create a healthier body image for children-U.S size 16) or no dolls at all-the baseline. The discoveries showed that the children exposed to the actual barbie dolls produced lower self-esteem and a greater desire for a thinner body shape than the other conditions. The study concluded “These findings imply that, even if dolls cease to function as aspirational role models for older girls, early exposure to dolls epitomizing an unrealistically thin body ideal may damage girls’ body image, which would contribute to an increased risk of disordered eating and weight cycling." 

But is it fair to declare all dolls bad and damaging on young girls?  

... Well, seeing as Mattel have been marketing the extremely thin doll for years and years and doesn't plan on changing her build anytime soon, I believe mothers should turn to a new doll for their children to give them a much better chance at having a healthy body image and more self-esteem: the Emme doll (mentioned above)- she is a plus-sized doll that at her weight- (just like Barbie) she has many careers and accessories.  

To conclude, I'd just like to say that I LOVED Barbie as a child; playing with her made me very happy and I guarded my collection with my young life 

'The Hill's socialite star Heidi Montag
has undergone countless Barbie-creatingsurgeries
for which she admitted were as a result
of her constant desire to be 'perfect'. - A perfect example of how far some people
will actually go to become their idealistic image of 'perfect'

BUT 

I do now think that she could very easily have contributed to the very low self-esteem and inferiority myself and many other girls/women feel about their bodies, looks and lives in general; Barbie with her perfect self, life, husband, car, house, family and job creates an unlikely and naïve belief that this is all attainable WHEREAS if you present me with someone (from this planet) who has nothing not working out for them from bills and loans to marks to relationship issues to family problems to your phone battery dying to your hair not looking nice one day to your socks not matching to you wanting more, to you wanting less to you not getting what you want for gods sakes!- you'll be sure to see my jaw drop! 

X Zo