Barbies: Your Opinions

[ploomf]

I had a ton of Barbies growing up. I loved them, dressing them up, cutting their hair, crash landing them on a deserted island in the backyard and making the live off raspberries until they were rescued, I had a ton of fun with them. Never thought I had to look like them or anything. I consider Barbies to be pretty harmless personally.

[ploomf]

Speaking of Barbie, this is very strange...

 

Feminist Group ‘Crucifies’ Barbie Doll

 

Well I don't know about anybody else but I sure feel more liberated now. :rolleyes:

[homeschoolmom]

Toxic fumes... :stars:

[Papist]

Barbie alone will not do harm to a girl's self-image. The parents' guidance, or lack there of, is more the culprit.

[Spem in alium]

Wow, you should see monster dolls! 

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS27FGj7-k2_IW1RP4xE_uKqkFpJ6SAQ04Ydv7gGP35d_V8LwzD

 

All I can say is: Lord, help us.  :unsure:

 

saved each other and saved Ken (er...more like my brother's Max Steel doll) and Max saved them and there were ALL THE MARRIAGES.  

Reminds me of my Barbie games. My sisters and I never had a Ken, but were happy stealing and using my brother's Action Man doll. He meant we could have awesome weddings. 

[4588686]

They taste delicious.  

[jazzytakara]

Playing with Barbies didn't really impact me. I had a fair amount of them growing up and I never viewed them as something to try and look like. I didn't relate my body to a plastic doll as it was fake and I was real. They were more so for me to use to enact stories or rival against my porcelain/ceramic figurines (I didn't have a lot of dolls, but I was given a lot of decorative figures for my shelves, so I used them too). I also preferred Christie over Barbie (for those of you not familiar with Barbies friends, Christie was Barbies 'black' friend', similar to Teresa being the brunette with slightly tanned skin friend), so I don't feel Barbie impacted my perception of different races and cultures.

 

Barbie never impacted my opinions on race or beauty, it more had to do with how I was raised and what I saw in television shows/magazines. Family members telling me I needed to suck it in impacted me more than a doll ever did. The bodies of celebrities and models in the media were real life people I identified with, and it was those unrealistic interpretations that got to me. 

 

I personally think that Barbie is over analyzed , Barbie has been a popular toy since the 1950's, and in the beginning she was just a pretty doll with fancy dresses, now they have career based Barbies, etc. But despite Barbie being a girly doll, the feminist movement and women's rights have improved and strengthened over the years, so I don't see how Barbie has been a negative impact, its just a doll. What we need to concern ourselves with more is how the female image is portrayed in the media, dangerous diets are popular because people want to look like the stars they see on TV, but celebrities don't live the same way we do/they have different resources than we do. If you work 12 hour days, raise a family, volunteer, or anything really, you aren't going to always have time to work out or cook a healthy meal. Many celebrities have the finances to afford healthy food, some even have people cook the food, raise their kids, clean their houses, train them, etc. Also some celebrities film a movie for two months and then have maybe 6 months off in between. Long story short, it is unrealistic to aspire to be the same figure as  *insert name here*.  There are even medical things to consider, genetics, body structure that all account for weight loss, gain, and maintenance.  Also how our parents raise us and the societal values we are exposed to impact body image, how we view other races and cultures, more so than a doll ever will. 

 

I read an interview that Kristin Bauer, where she told people about acting, that if you want to succeed in this business you need to get used to being hungry. I don't think that is healthy at all. Jennifer Lawrence said she wanted to maintain a healthy figure her quote being that she didn't wants kids to think 'I want to look like Katniss, so I'm going to skip dinner.' However, in a recent photo of her she seems to have undergone a lot of weight loss, I'm hoping it was just the angle of the photos or the outfit  rather than having one of the few healthy looking actresses caving to the industry calling her fat in Hunger Games...

. 

Anyway, I think we should work on spreading healthy body images and respect for others through the people who actually impact society. Real people, rather than dolls, will have a much better chance at improving self-esteem than plastic and rubber ever will.

[CatholicsAreKewl]

Barbies teach children that immodesty is fashionable. I prefer the Fulla doll:



 

[TheLordsSouljah]

I don't like these... I don't like dolls that look so unrealistic

Agreed. They're just.... gross.

[Tufsoles]

I always seemed up set growing up with the barbie dolls. I never found a "barbie-esqe" doll growing up that was olive complected, dark auburn hair, and Hazel eyes. I wish there was a doll that looked like that. sad day.

[Sister Marie]

As a child I loved Barbie... as a teacher of Middle School boys and girls I don't find her helpful.  Many of my students, both boys and girls, have ridiculous ideas as to the ideal woman.  I don't blame this primarily on Barbie but on the many influences of the modern culture on our children.  However, I'm sure Barbie is a part of that culture that insists that an attractive woman maintains a body that is painfully difficult to maintain.  As a sister, I am keenly aware of the value placed on women according to their physical appearance.  I wish there were more dolls that focused on intellect, moral standards, courageous decision making, and empowering women of value and worth.  I don't necessarily think that Barbie degrades women but I don't think Barbie helps young women develop their intellectual, moral, and spiritual aptitudes.  I would love it if there was  a doll... even Barbie, who embodied selfless giving to others, generosity, love, hope, and joy in service.  Imagine the young women who would be affected by a doll that embodied those qualities!

[PhuturePriest]

As a child I loved Barbie... as a teacher of Middle School boys and girls I don't find her helpful.  Many of my students, both boys and girls, have ridiculous ideas as to the ideal woman.  I don't blame this primarily on Barbie but on the many influences of the modern culture on our children.  However, I'm sure Barbie is a part of that culture that insists that an attractive woman maintains a body that is painfully difficult to maintain.  As a sister, I am keenly aware of the value placed on women according to their physical appearance.  I wish there were more dolls that focused on intellect, moral standards, courageous decision making, and empowering women of value and worth.  I don't necessarily think that Barbie degrades women but I don't think Barbie helps young women develop their intellectual, moral, and spiritual aptitudes.  I would love it if there was  a doll... even Barbie, who embodied selfless giving to others, generosity, love, hope, and joy in service.  Imagine the young women who would be affected by a doll that embodied those qualities!

 

But how do you get those characteristics in a peace of plastic? I'm not arguing, just curious.

[Sister Marie]

I think you show Barbie or whatever toy it is as a woman with that value.. show her as a nurse in modest attire.  Show her as a teacher, again with the focus being on her awesomeness not on her body.  You show her as a snowboarder or a soccer player or a student who is serious about what she is about instead of a woman with impossible measurements.  Show her as a woman for others instead of a woman who exists for the external value placed on her due to her beauty by men and other women.  I don't know if that is enough but we need to show young women that their true value lies in giving of themselves to others in what we would call works of mercy and what the world would call good works instead of as a sex symbol.  Give Barbie nurse a story.  Give Barbie teacher a story to go along with the doll... Let young women see her as a strong, independent, and other-focused woman.

 

Good question FP

[PhuturePriest]

I think you show Barbie or whatever toy it is as a woman with that value.. show her as a nurse in modest attire.  Show her as a teacher, again with the focus being on her amesomeness not on her body.  You show her as a snowboarder or a soccer player or a student who is serious about what she is about instead of a woman with impossible measurements.  Show her as a woman for others instead of a woman who exists for the external value placed on her due to her beauty by men and other women.  I don't know if that is enough but we need to show young women that their true value lies in giving of themselves to others in what we would call works of mercy and what the world would call good works instead of as a sex symbol.  Give Barbie nurse a story.  Give Barbie teacher a story to go along with the doll... Let young women see her as a strong, independent, and other-focused woman.

 

Good question FP

 

I was actually thinking something along those lines. It would be a pretty cool idea, really. When you think of Barbie vs. G.I. Joe, they both give off very different messages. In G.I. Joe, you respect the toy because it represents the military, and it gives you something to strive for. I don't really see anything to strive for in Barbie except for not ending up like Barbie.

[dominicansoul]

I still have my X-Files Barbie & Ken.  I never played with them, they are still in the box since the day they were given to me...

 

 

 

 

 

 

might sell it...