We all played with Barbies when we were younger. I was actually obsessed with my dolls. If my brother broke one I would throw a huge fit and demand a replacement. I dressed Barbara Millicent Roberts (horrible name!) in every outfit I had, and begged for the newest one whenever it came out. There was Malibu Barbie, Astronaut Barbie, Veterinarian Barbie, and so many more. When I got the life-sized Barbie doll I think I cried from pure joy! Barbie had a dream house, an airplane, and of course an adorable boyfriend; and I wanted to be just like her.
What I didn’t realize was that as I was growing up, I believed that Barbie exemplified beauty. This would then go on to destroy my self-esteem and that of thousands of other young girls. In the back of my mind, the image of that perfect girl was always there. As I was playing sports or coloring or whatever I did when I was younger, I just kept hoping that one day I would wake up and suddenly become like her.
Barbara was tall, thin, tan, busty, and perfect. Too perfect! When I was playing with her I always thought I would grow up to look just like her. Being young and naïve, I knew nothing of genetics and heredity. It just made sense to me that as I got older, I would get prettier and my rockin’ bod would just happen out of the blue!
I didn’t know that I would never grow up to look like Barbie. That was never in the advertisements. All I ever saw was a perfect, beautiful doll and I wanted to look just like her. Did you know it is anatomically impossible to look like Barbie? I bet you didn’t! You can spend thousands of dollars on plastic surgery to look like a robotic, plastic version of her, but in my opinion any beauty you had would disappear under the surgeon’s knife. When I would go into a dressing and try on clothes, I didn’t understand why they didn’t fit just right, or why my belly seemed to stick out a little bit. I’m not saying I compared myself to Barbie my whole life, but it is difficult to see yourself as beautiful when everyone idolized one doll, and one body-type, as the definition of perfection.
Since when is being yourself not beautiful? I hate to see young girls slathering on makeup and talking about getting skinnier and dieting. When I was 10 I didn’t know what a diet was! I ate sort of healthily, I was active, and most of all I enjoyed being a kid. Barbie tries to get girls to grow up too fast. It’s not healthy to want to look 25 when you haven’t even hit puberty yet! Nobody, no matter how old, should compare themselves to a plastic, fake doll that reflects nothing but false advertising. We need to love ourselves for who we are on the inside and the outside. If you aren’t quite thrilled with your appearance (and most of us aren’t) do things naturally to increase your self-esteem. Exercise more, drink more water, eat healthier. Please don’t subject yourself to plastic surgery to be a different version of you. YOU are perfect! Most importantly, never compare yourself to a doll that is not even humanly possible to look like. Barbie sucks, but you don’t! Love yourself <3