Barbie

Does Barbie depict the 'perfect' woman? It can be argued that the Barbie doll represents the 'perfect' women, she is beautiful, skinny, great clothes e.t.c. I found an interesting online debate about whether Barbie dolls have a negative influence on young girls. One of the responses is below that I found the most intriguing.

‘Barbie dolls have a negative influence on young girls. From a young age girls are given their first Barbie doll and taught what "perfect" should be. Barbie portrays the perfect image and life. Not only is Barbie tall, skinny and beautiful, she has all the luxurious accessories to match her perfect life. To go along with her perfect life she is accompanied with the perfect boyfriend, family and dream house. At a young age girls are being influenced by this doll, what she should look like, and what kind of life she should lead. Young girls strive to achieve this look which is life threatening to obtain. Regardless of the changes they made to Barbie, she is still far from real. What many girls forget when comparing themselves to Barbie is that plastic can be moulded any which way, but people aren't plastic, and in transforming your body to become "plastic", fatal consequences are at risk.’ (Anon, 2010)

Throughout my project I would also like to look at how the media’s portrayal of women and what is seen as ‘beautiful’ can affect young girls when growing up. It can be said that young girls may be strongly influenced by what they read and see in the media because they are trying to find their own identity.  When growing up the media can have a significant impact on children, influencing them to think a certain way, ‘in children’s media, beauty is often associated with goodness, whereas ugliness is associated with badness’ (Doeschka and Engles, 2010, p.621).  It can be said that dolls such as Barbie can have in influence on young girls to how they should aspire to look like in the future, ‘Like children’s media, playing with toys is also part of the socialization process of children.  Fashion dolls might serve as role models for young girls. Playing with these dolls might provide girls with mental representations of what is expected of them later in life, with respect to their social skills as well as their body appearance’ (Doeschka and Engles, 2010, p.621-622).

Doeschka, J. and Engles, R. (2010) Sex Roles. The Effects of Playing with Thin Dolls on Body Image and Food Intake in Young Girls, Vol. 63, no 9-10.

Mac the makeup company used the theme Barbie to advertise their products which I thought was interesting.  The women in the photographs look extremely similar to the toy Barbie.  In my opinion it is representing that if you buy that makeup you may look like Barbie, the ‘ideal’ woman who is beautiful. These are the influences that I have been discussing, that one may see photographs of beautiful women and feel the need to change their appearance.