Imagine your perfect woman.
5’10 Feet tall, weighs 100 pounds. And a bonus, she’ll never get pregnant. Every man’s dream.
Yes, we are talking about the most beloved doll of all time, the beautiful, the perfect, the iconic, Barbie.
This children’s toy was first debut in 1959, and she was the ideal role model for all girls, or so it seemed. She was perfectly skinny, had a perfect boyfriend and family, perfect hair, perfect house, perfectly… perfect.
Yet how was this perfect doll affecting the millions of young girls who were playing with her?
The average girl from ages 3-11 owns at least 5 Barbie dolls and spends hours playing with them and dressing them up. And the more time anyone spends time with anything, the more influence it has on them.
This perfect doll has not had the best impact on young girls.
Of course, Barbie has had many good role model jobs such as a teacher or a vet, but what was her first job? A super skinny teenage fashion model, and no matter what the job, she’s kept that look that makes every girl jealous.
There are more pressures on girls than ever before about the proper way to look and act and dress. And they feel the need to fit in and the only way that they can fit in is by looking, acting and dressing that certain way. And, Barbie is always there to start these trends.
When these young girls are playing with their brand-new Barbie doll, their brain is registering everything about that doll.
How skinny and perfect she is, and so naturally these girls are beginning to want to be just like Barbie, happy and perfect all the time, which starts many of them on their way to body image problems.
It’s estimated that 8 million people in the United States alone have an eating disorder, only 10-15% of them are male. Which leaves the 85- 90% of them to be female. And 80% of those females are under the age of 20.
Many admitting that they started worrying about their body image when they were between the age of 4 and six years old. That is around the age that a girl usually gets her first Barbie doll, and many of the girls who have / had an eating disorder admitted that Barbie played a huge role on their influences in behaviour and looks.
They were led to believe that the only way to be happy and have a wonderful life is to be just like Barbie, with the super skinny look.
In 1965 Mattel came out with a “Slumber Party Barbie” that came complete with a bathroom scale permanently set at 110 pounds. The doll also came with a book entitled How to Lose Weight. And inside this book it gave the advice: “Don’t Eat”. The matching Ken doll also came with slumber party accessories, but his were milk and cookies, sending a very different message about body image and weight for different genders.
After this doll came out the company’s sales dropped drastically and so they came out and said that they would try to give Barbie a more “real” look, and her sales went back up.
Of course, it’s not all about the weight. Barbie is also known for her perfect looks. Hair, makeup, clothes, the works.
These also lead girls to spending hours piling on makeup, destroying their hair with dye, straighteners and curling irons, and begging their parents for clothes from the most expensive and popular stores to try to achieve this perfect look.
Some of the older, and richer, women also spend thousands of dollars trying to achieve this “perfect” look. Including plastic surgery, face lifts, and having a professional stylist for every day.
One such woman is named Sarah Burge and she’s from the UK. She spent over $1 million just to achieve that Barbie look. Being the perfect example of how Barbie has hurt women everywhere.
Her story started like every other girl who goes through this, since she was young, she was taught that in order to be beautiful and happy, you had to have the perfect hair, clothes and makeup. The older she got, the more convinced of this she was.
Somewhere along the line, she decided to blow thousands of dollars trying to get this ideal look.
She claims now that she has so much more confidence and that women everywhere would be smart to go through this, because “it’s okay for women to be someone they’re not.” Just another one of Barbie’s wonderful lessons. And every year she spends thousands more on her “maintenance” to keep this look up.
She is teaching young girls everywhere exactly what Barbie is teaching them, in order to be happy, you have to be perfect.
Barbie does not have the best effect on young girls, and that later carries on through the rest of their life. Barbie’s effect has caused bankruptcy, low self-esteem, and serious illnesses and eating disorders.
This beautiful doll gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “if looks could kill.”