Barbie Stereotypes

Who is this mini plastic devil that has crawled out from the bowels of hell with the sole purpose of poisoning the minds of our young and impressionable? Her name is Barbie and that is exactly the impression of her that young, new, millennial parents would have you believe. They would have you believe that an inanimate object is to blame for the poor self image the girls of today have. It is not as if the media has already taken everything they deem desirable about a women’s body and have objectified it in all manners possible for a profit. It is not as if the film industry stereotyped what “beautiful” was long before Barbie was even hitting shelves in 1959; insert Marilyn Monroe here. No, they want to make an 11 inch doll the scapegoat to one of the biggest problems this generation has, the negative female body image. What about boy’s toys? Are they not as influential on boys as dolls are on girls?
Young boys and girls are influenced by their respectable toys in a manner of ways. While girl’s toys promote an unrealistic version of
the female image, boy’s toys are said to promote violence. Perhaps it would be better if they swapped toys. If boys played with dolls and girls played with pellet guns. Perhaps their self image would develop in a more suitable form. But boys playing with dolls could be an uncomfortable pill for these young millennials to swallow. And maybe it is their own adult perception of this doll that is causing this scare. Their adult minds have perverted the Barbie doll and they have found a conduit through which they can reflect their own adolescent insecurities; finding premature fault in their children’s upbringing rather than fault in their own. Besides Barbie cannot be perverted, she cannot even show cleavage so where is the negative body image in that.
Young girls are barely aware of their own bodies at the age they are playing with dolls, these ages ranging from 3-12 years old.
The most important thing developing at that age is their imagination. Barbie acts as a gateway to new stories and adventures for young girls. The new clothes, shoes and gadgets provide a change of pace for them. And what little girl did not think of herself as a mother when she was dressing and feeding their Barbie doll; but I mean God forbid 5 year old girls view themselves as anything other than the “modern woman”. Parents are so quick to put their children in a box these days in order to ensure that in the future they are well adjusted to those boxes. And then when the box does not quite fit their children in the way they had hoped they panic and take to their blogs and invent the new parental craze like blaming a toy that their children does not even play with anymore to explain their poor adjusted
kids.
Barbie was not designed to promote any type of body image. She is just a toy meant to entertain and delight small children. She has irrational body features because she was not meant to be played with by the rational minded. It is the duty of the parent to promote the appropriate images and ideologies to their children. So perhaps instead of condemning and banning the poor defenceless doll maybe parents should let their children decide what they want to play with in the first place.