Forever Barbie

[Godelsensei]

As a knock-off of a popular German toy for grown men, sold primarily in tobacco shops, the ever-familiar Barbie doll was re-invented by a woman, Ruth Handler, and introduced to the American public in 1959. Since then, the doll has changed in everything from expression, to basic facial structure, to what she can and cannot do, career-wise. When you get down to it, following the history of Barbie is parallel to following that of women's role in Western society; the doll's eyes were originally downcast and her expression humble--very different from the penetrating, manic grin/glare of the dolls I used to play with when I was little.
Her facial structure has changed, as have her clothes, hobbies, and careers. However, Barbie has, and always will, remain the image of over-done, in-your-face, big-busted femininity. And, likewise, how she is viewed has remained pretty-much static: little girls adore her, for whatever reason, and a select group of mothers, along with most feminists, loath her. They accuse Barbie of brainwashing the young women of the world into thinking they have to be the flesh-incarnate of that flawless, smiling, vinyl doll. (Every one remembers the song "Barbie Girl".)
This accusation is easy to support--Barbie is, after all, a big-busted, tiny-waisted, yellow-haired sex toy gone child's plaything.

Having that as your role-model throughout child-hood has got to teach little girls the wrong sort of lesson. (Something along the lines of, "Good looks, boys, expensive clothes, and flashy cars are all that matter in life.") However, when you look slightly deeper into the world of Barbie and her friends, one cannot help asking the question, "Or does it?"

Barbie is the centre of a female-oriented world. All of her friends are girls, all driving expensive cars and toting trendy titles and careers: Astronaut Barbie, Pilot Barbie, Doctor Barbie. Positions that, thirty or forty years ago, would be entirely dominated by men.
But Barbie was always the centre of everything, even from the beginning. She is entirely independent, answers to no one, and seems to have nothing holding her down. She has no parents to live up to the expectations of, no children to take care of--originally, her creator was loath to even give her a boyfriend, because she thought it would ruin her image.
Which is [i]why[/i] Barbie has never had children. Sure, her friends do, and she has baby-sat, and has a little sister, Kelly, but Barbie is ultimately her own woman. She, again, dominates her own life and has nothing holding her back.

Which is an interesting way to look at the easily-sniffed-at image of female sexuality that is ingrained into our subconscious from the tender ages of three or four years old.
I primarily see Barbie as just a doll, but when you try and interpret her and her world, it's surprising what you can get out of it. Also, it's interesting all the different ways girls interpret Barbie's role as a toy; my friend and I used to re-enact the Spanish Inquisition, while other children used to take their doll's to the prom. (I distinctly remember sticking Lifeguard Ken's hand in a pencil sharpener, to the horror of another friend, when she saw the results.)

I'm also interested in what guys might have to say about Barbie, likely having no real experience playing with one.
I loved mine to death, literally, as did most of my friends, while allot of girls I know still have theirs in perfect shape.

It's interesting what you'll do to a toy before you have any concept of monetary value.

So, what is Barbie, to you? Do you think you've been influenced by Barbie at all? What are your parents' take on the doll? (I know my mother was hesitant to give me one, at first, because she thought she would be a "negative role model".)

Look beyond, "It's just a toy...!" What do you see?

[Manic Webb]

[QUOTE=Godelsensei]Barbie is the centre of a female-oriented world. All of her friends are girls, all driving expensive cars and toting trendy titles and careers: Astronaut Barbie, Pilot Barbie, Doctor Barbie. Positions that, thirty or forty years ago, would be entirely dominated by men.
But Barbie was always the centre of everything, even from the beginning. She is entirely independent, answers to no one, and seems to have nothing holding her down. She has no parents to live up to the expectations to, no children to take care of--originally, her creator was loath to even give her a boyfriend, because she thought it would ruin her image.
Which is [i]why[/i] Barbie has never had children. Sure, her friends do, and she has baby-sat, and has a little sister, Kelly, but Barbie is ultimately her own woman. She, again, dominates her own life and has nothing holding her back.[/QUOTE]
You hear feminists complain about Barbie being a bad image for women all the time, and I've always been puzzled by this. As you've clearly stated, Barbie is a working single woman. She's educated (apparently she has degrees in medicine, marine biology, and journalism among others), has had nothing high-paying jobs (we're talking doctor, not nurse), has never gotten married, recently dumped Ken, has several homes (including a house in Malibu), nice clothes, and a fancy convertible car. If intelligence, success, and self-made riches are a bad representation of women, I don't know what to say. Sure, she and all of her friends are skinny with huge breasts, but any educated woman (like Barbie) knows that a physical appearance like that is impossible for many women to attain, and they're better off the way they are.

Then again, I'm a guy. I'm on the outside looking in.

[r2vq]

I say Barbie isn't the best figure to be giving to little girls.
Her body is similar to what mass media tells girls to become, skinny and big busted.
Children play with this and grow up thinking, consciously or unconsciously, that this is the right body to be. This body is normal. There was a woman who got, I believe, over 30 plastic surgery operations to look like Barbie. She even had her make-up tatooed onto her face. She also paid for the plastic surgery of a mate who legally changed his last name to "Kendoll".
Why? Her reason is because Barbie is the "perfect" beauty.
A biology teacher at my school once said that if a girl had Barbie's proportions, she'd snap at the waist. Perfect.

My sisters had Barbies because they were given to them. They never played with them though, they had them stuffed away in boxes. They even had the house for her, which, if I may add, wasn't even big enough for her. =.-

Also, the working conditions for those women who make Barbies are just horrible. Mattel has serious problems when it comes to their HR department. Barbaric problems... Sweatshop problems...

-ArV

[Godelsensei]

[quote name='r2vq']A biology teacher at my school once said that if a girl had Barbie's proportions, she'd snap at the waist.[/quote]

One has to remember that the doll's proportions are based on the idea that [i]she isn't going to be naked at all times[/i]. If Barbie's waist was of proper proportions, it would end up looking unbalanced when you dressed her up. (The same is true of Ken's "lump". Because that's pretty much what it is.)

I'm not arguing that Barbie is a positive role model or anything, but the technical aspects of the doll's design are something people usually fail to consider.

[AzureWolf]

[quote name='Manic Webb']Then again, I'm a guy. I'm on the outside looking in.[/quote][COLOR=blue]ROFL! Am I a bad person for really liking that comment? XD

I've always noticed how girls are more willing to conform to things than boys. When you see little kids play, girls are always try to live out ideal lives or some type of drama, but boys always have wacky, far-out adventures with their toys. Think about it: Barbie versus Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Also, I never found Barbie all that attractive. Who can smile that long without having an evil, ulterior motive?! It's just sinister! But in all seriousness, the face is rather creepy.[/COLOR]

[Pumpkin]

[QUOTE=Godelsensei]
Having that as your role-model throughout child-hood has got to teach little girls the wrong sort of lesson. (Something along the lines of, "Good looks, boys, expensive clothes, and flashy cars are all that matter in life.") However, when you look slightly deeper into the world of Barbie and her friends, one cannot help asking the question, "Or does it?"[/QUOTE]

How is she a bad role-model? The only people I could see being mad at Barbie are angry housewives cause seriously is there anything wrong with an independent woman who can change professions, date around (since she is no longer with Ken and has since been with many boyfriends nothing wrong with that) and just happens to be a blonde bombshell. I think everyone is a barbie in some way, we all have something thats great about ourselves. Honestly, I think when people say kids get influenced badly by it, I think thats a load of crap because it never affected me. I never got to the point where I said "Yeah I want to be just like her" and even if I did, I don't think kids just focus on the pretty part but more of the fact of her things and professions. Which she got on her hard work not from lets say her father's support. Sure she's blonde and ditzy, but she becomes 'friends' with everyone she meets. To me no rolemodel is perfect, and Barbie never came across to be as the "perfect beauty" but more as a woman who knows what she wants.

[DeathBug]

I think Ken is a worse role-model than Barbie, all things considered. Ken has no job, no personality, no friends and no arm articulation. He's merely an accessory, with no more importance or personality that Barbie's inflatable loveseat.

[Delta]

[COLOR=#FF5646][SIZE=1]^ Ken: "Like, yeah, dude."

Ken's been getting the lead roles in the CG Barbie films of late. [i]The Nutcracker[/i] and [i]Rapunzel[/i] to name a few. Then again, it probably has something to do with the fact that he's the only male Barbie doll who's popular enough.

[quote name='r2vq']A biology teacher at my school once said that if a girl had Barbie's proportions, she'd snap at the waist. Perfect.[/quote]
Not really. There was this one documentary about Barbies and a guy there said that her vital statistics would be something like 33-23-34, a figure women maintained some 50 years ago (think: 20-inch waist woman featured at Ripley's). I wouldn't be surprised if she trips, though; if she was as tall as a human, her feet would be, like, 5-inches long.

Lotus-feet Barbie, anyone?[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Missa]

When I was a child, Barbie was my favorite toy. You should have seen the collection I had. I had over thirty different dolls, at least three outfits for all of them, and my parents actually built my Barbie a house. (Complete with carpet and tiled floors.) Barbie had two cars, a doctor's office, and music equipment. I spent most of my days acting out what I thought was the "perfect life."

I never really paid attention to the way Barbie looked, or whether she was uber-independent and career focused. She was merely a tool to act out the misguided dreams and ideals presented to me by other women.

I am proposing that if little girls suffer from the "I want to be Barbie" syndrome, it's not Barbie that's really at fault. It's the ideas of perfection presented to her by whoever gave her that Barbie doll, and then allowed her to act them out.

I grew up being told that pretty was important and that if I wanted to be happy I would get married and have children. At one point I blamed Barbie for my bad body image, then the media, and then the female members of my family. I ultimately realized that insecurity came from trying to live up to the expectations of others, by making them my own.

So, I stopped trying to live up to the expectations of everyone else. I started trying to think for myself. What was important to me? What were the qualities that I wanted to have? I found out that being pretty, being successful, or having a family doesn't matter at all in my opinion. What mattered to me was being able to look in the mirror and say to myself, I am accepting, I am loving, I am forgiving, and I am happy. Now that I can do that, I realize that I am not pretty. I am beautiful. And what was that corny old saying, "You'll never be beautiful if you try to be pretty?"

I would also like to state that I agree with what AzureWolf said...

[QUOTE]I've always noticed how girls are more willing to conform to things than boys. When you see little kids play, girls are always try to live out ideal lives or some type of drama, but boys always have wacky, far-out adventures with their toys. Think about it: Barbie versus Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles![/QUOTE]

That is so true. But I thank God that, in this day in age, it is much easier for us girls to figure out that conforming is...Well, stupid.

[MissWem]

[QUOTE=Godelsensei]
Look beyond, "It's just a toy...!" What do you see?[/QUOTE]
[COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=1]I see a hollow malleable head.

In all seriousness the girls that play with barbie these days are also likely to watch the poorly animated barbie movies. As I am right now, Rapunzel barbie. Ken is surprisingly not in the show, at least it doesn't look like him. Although I think I've lost my point there.

The point I was going to make though, is that as a child I don't think they ever give much thought as to the kind of role-model they're being presented with. I see it more as an outlet to express possibilities and barbie does that. If you wish you could ride a horse, she can do it for you. Be a vet, go on holidays etc. etc. barbie allows so many children to visualize the possibilities. At least that was in my experience.

I looked after my barbies, I loved that she could do anything, be anything that I could imagine. [spoiler]The funny thing is that before I had any real concept of sexual development.. my barbies were lesbians[/spoiler] 0_o[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[quote name='DeathBug']I think Ken is a worse role-model than Barbie, all things considered. Ken has no job, no personality, no friends and no arm articulation. He's merely an accessory, with no more importance or personality that Barbie's inflatable loveseat.[/quote]

[color=darkviolet]Gotta agree with you there DB. Ken is nothing but a free loading leech! No job, no car, no [spoiler]genetalia[/spoiler] and molded on underwear! No wonder Barbie dumped him for that Australian (?) guy in the regular Barbie and there is no Ken in the My Scene collection.

Personally I like Barbie. But I wonder how the heck she manages to have all that free time since she's a doctor, a vet, a stewardess, a pilot, (how that can be done we'll never know) a gymnastics instructor, an ice skating instructor, a cheerleader, an arobics instructor, a ballet dancer, a fashion designer, a journalist.and Lady knows what else! Yet she manages to go to Malibu, Paris and everywhere else, go fig.

I wouldn't mind being barbie since she has all those material possesions and a horse (which she doesn't ride correctly) but I guess the reason why she has all those jobs is because she has to pay for those things some how.

[QUOTE=AzureWolf][COLOR=blue]
I've always noticed how girls are more willing to conform to things than boys. When you see little kids play, girls are always try to live out ideal lives or some type of drama, but boys always have wacky, far-out adventures with their toys. Think about it: Barbie versus Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

You were obviously never around girls like me. Barbie was a suffle and my friends and I used to play with her in the snow (she was stranded in Antarctica w/ her bathing suit.

Barbie vs Ninja Turtles? I think Barbie would win that one! [/color]

[Arcadia]

[size=1]I loved playing with my Barbies, but I never had any problems sending them on crazy adventures. Generally, any time the Barbies were brought out, some kind of epic story was about to take place. The thing is, though, I didn't just play with Barbies... I also played with Ninja Turtles, and My Little Ponies, and Legos, and Polly Pocket, and Matchbox Cars, and loads of other toys. And that's all they were to me: [i]toys[/i]. I think Missa hit the nail on the head. It's not the actual Barbie that gets little girls, it's the ideas presented to the kids with Barbie and without her.[/size]

[Semjaza]

The idea of children growing up with Barbie as some sort of image for them to reach is probably a legitimate one. When that's what you play with all the time, I guess it can have certain affects on your thinking. I understand it in that sense, but it's still never made much sense to me. To me, it's just a toy... I don't know why a girl would strive to be like Barbie in appearance or assumed attitude. I certainly never strived to look like He-Man or the Ninja Turtles.

This reminds me of this film I saw in a class awhile back. It was based on the Carpenters (if you don't know them offhand, they did that song that goes "Why do birds suddenly appear") and their lives. Most specifically it dealt with Karen. She had an eating disorder that pretty much ruined her life and eventually took it.

Anyway, the film is done with stop-motion animation and everyone is a Barbie doll. I assume this can have multiple implications. Perhaps the people were all fake/"plastic", for example. The main idea it gives across, however, is the idea of the Barbie being taken as an unrealistic image for a living woman to live up to.

Anyway, that's nothing new, but I thought the movie was interesting. Apparently it was never really released beyond being traded as a tape since the Carpenters wouldn't let it get out (it uses a lot of music, I assume it's because of the licensing).

[Kamuro]

well, call me "crazy" but I think we're reading to much into this? lol its a toy, children are young, and impressionable, but are they really influenced by a toy? because of the clothes, the hair, or the shape of the plastic body? whether barbie was in the childs hands or not, that kind of thinking is everywhere, perfect people, with perfect things, living the perfect life, if they hadn't learned it from barbie they would have from britney spears or jessica simpson or something, which is incredibly sad, #1-because both of them put together is still an IQ less then barbie and #2-life shouldn't be based on material things, or how people look, guess thats just the way it is

[Panda]

I was such a tomboy growing up. I admit that I had my fair share of Barbie dolls. Of course they all were played with along with GI Joes and misc. Star Wars action figures. Usually she would be the mutant creature. Think "Attack of the 50 foot Woman" and you got it.

I never liked the over abundance of her material goods. When I was little I don't recall Barbie having a career, just Ken, tons of clothes, cars and houses. Now there is a Barbie for every profession. I must admit that the Veterinarian or as they call it -- Pet Doctor Barbie -- is quite professional wearing her capri pants and mid-drift exposing top. :rolleyes: There was also the Animal Lovin' Barbie who came with her own panda AND was ready for "safari and fashion fun". I know if I were to go on safari I would definitely wear a short pink mini-skirt and gold lamee! :rolleyes:

I never saw her as a roll model at all. I could never relate to her. She was just something to attack with dirt clods and be the villian in the war games I played with my older brother. She was incredibly rich, never worked and was a tall, thin blonde. Obviously being Japanese I knew I would never grow up to be like her.

I do remember quite a few of my childhood friends wanting to be Barbie when they grew up. I am sure it was the idea of having the jet-set lifestyle and popularity. I don't blame them, that idea is very tempting. I just always felt that if Barbie were a real person she would be a total airhead rich kid snob. Life is easy and money grows on trees for her, not like the rest of us who have to struggle in life.

[celestialcharm]

My siblings and I decided that Barbies "sisters" are her kids. You never see her parents around unless they have kids and give them to her to raise.

Well, anyhoo I used to love playing with my Barbies. One time I made her into godzilla and she attacked some electronic dog toy I had. :animesmil Ah, good times. Also, we (my cousins and siblings) had a funeral for Skipper when a cousin on my mom's side bit off Skipper's arms legs etc. :animestun

But personally, I don't really see that there's anything that wrong with Barbie. All toys have their faults. Right? :animestun

[Manic Webb]

[quote name='celestialcharm']My siblings and I decided that Barbies "sisters" are her kids. You never see her parents around unless they have kids and give them to her to raise.[/quote]
That reminds me of a Saturday Night Live sketch from a few years back. Amy Pohler was Barbie, and host Britney Spears was Skipper. Barbie told Skipper her dark secret-- Skipper was really her daughter. Turns out that while GI Joe was in Vietnam and Ken was in Canada (ha!), Barbie had a secret affair with a Han Solo action figure. She was so ashamed, she told everyone Skipper was her little sister. All of the other little sisters? The result of a 3-way with some Power Rangers figures. Supporting all of those kids is why she took so many careers over the past 40-some odd years.

[GTK]

The idea of Skipper being Barbie and Han Solo's love child amuses me way more than it should. I'm so gonna try and track down that skit now.

I -hated- my Barbies as a child. The funny thing was, I ended up with several of them XD I liked making them clothes though. Generally, I hated dolls O_o I was always stealing my brother's toys (which is funny... because now I'm into ball jointed dolls like super dollfie *shot dead*)

Anyway, in my opinion, Barbie is just a toy for kids. I don't really see her as a role model (now and when I was a child). Why don't people think of other toys as role models? If Barbie has to be modified so her boobs aren't so big, why not modify Pooh so he's not so fat? Hey, kids may look at him and go "I so wanna be big and round and have memory problems when I grow up!" or something random like that. It's just silly to think kids would look at toys as role models. And, even if they do, it's prolly just a phase that will eventually pass.

Though, if you think about it... Barbie is a bit like the Hilton sisters in that she has tons of cars, clothes, and money and does like no work.

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[QUOTE=Panda] There was also the Animal Lovin' Barbie who came with her own panda AND was ready for "safari and fashion fun". I know if I were to go on safari I would definitely wear a short pink mini-skirt and gold lamee! :rolleyes:
.[/QUOTE]

[color=darkviolet]Panda! You forgot the pink combat boots! :animeswea

I had that Barbie...I was especially fond of her pinkleopard print vest...I think, I was only seven or eight. I also remember the lovely matching leopardprint ruffles.

I had a lot of Barbies, I had this one Barbie in middle school, ear piercing barbie or something. I remember that she had a hot pink pleather mini dress. My brother called her Hooker Barbie. :animesigh

I don't really remember much else.I know I had this one barbie that came with this skirt that you could use as a purse. And you could make her necklace change color or something. And there was a beach fun barbie (the 19[i]90[/i] beach fun Barbie) who had this clip on hair piece that changed from blonde to pink somehow. Maybe it was cold weather because I remember that a friend and I played 'beach' in her backyard in the snow.... Of course I'm the same girl who decided that Barbie and Ken were fighting and she threw the refridgerator at him! Barbie was fun!

No I never dreamed of being barbie, but I did help RainBow Bright and the Color Kids stage an attack on their compound.[/color]

[Latharix_sama]

When I see a barbie what I see is the beginning of a sickness in little girls. Once a girl gets her first barbie, she'll want to get another one, soon she'll want clothes for the doll, then sooner or later she'll want the same clothes her doll has for herself and bug her parents for them. It's killing parents' pockets.
Barbies are a lot like celebrities for little girls. For teenagers and young adults, celebrities are the standard of true living and they want to acheive that standard, not knowing that it is deffinately NOT the standard of a good life. They try to be exactly like their idols. It's the same for little girls and their barbies. They want to be just like them in every way.
Once I walked in on my little cousin stuffing her bra (actually it was MY bra that she stole) with socks. She said she wanted to have big breasts like her barbie.
Even after girls outgrow the dolls, the sickness still remains in their mind. This is what I like to think as the sickness that causes the "prep gene" in these poor girls.
Life isn't gonna turn out like hers. Your not gonna be a supermodel, a idol singer, a vet, a pilot, drive a snazy car, have a hot boyfriend, and have tons of super-stylish friends in your life. Maybe you'll achieve one of those, but not every one!
Barbies are sex symbols too. You can ask my friend where she learned about the birds'n'da bees and she'll reply, "my barbie!"
Also on another note, those cheap, generic dolls? They look like prostitutes! No wonder we can't control the prostitution problem in our state! Girls are growing up with these things!
I was smart and never let the sickness get the best of me! All I ever did with my barbies was role play! And see? I'ma gothic lolita meganekko otaku and have a miserable life! And I'm HAPPY! :animesmil
Take that, Barbie! You can't brainwash ME!
To tell you the truth, I had more action figures than barbies. My toys went on grand adventures that usually ended with the majority of them dieing. I HAD a Hans Solo action figure. He was Thereasa's (you know, Barbie's friend?)forced-into-holy-matrimony-husband. Many of my role playing games had their divorce sealed into it.
Barbie's house was HQ and the mighty Godzilla was their honorable leader. They went on magnifiscent quests for him for no real reason. Kind of like Excel Saga.... :animesigh

[elfpirate]

[quote name='Godelsensei']What are your parents' take on the doll?[/quote]
[b]Well, my parents' take on Barbie was pretty much as you describe in your next paragraph:[/b]
[quote name='Godelsensei']Having that as your role-model throughout child-hood has got to teach little girls the wrong sort of lesson. (Something along the lines of, "Good looks, boys, expensive clothes, and flashy cars are all that matter in life.") [/quote]
[quote name='Godelsensei']I'm also interested in what guys might have to say about Barbie, likely having no real experience playing with one.[/quote]
[b]There are girls that have no Barbie experience, as well...:animeswea [/b]

[quote name='Godelsensei']So, what is Barbie, to you? Do you think you've been influenced by Barbie at all? Look beyond, "It's just a toy...!" What do you see?[/quote]
[b]I was absolutely [i]banned[/i] from anything Barbie when I was little for precisely the fear of it being a role-model for superficiality, materialism, and a generally poor concept of feminity and womanhood (or at least, the expectations therein). I wasn't even allowed to play with the Barbies that other kids had. If I was playing at someone's house, and they brought out their Barbie stuff, I was expected to go home.[/b]

[b]I resented it for a little while (probably until I was about 6 yrs old) and then realised that I hated dolls anyway, and that they were just a really weird, disproportionate doll.[/b]

[b]Ironically, I was never banned from war toys and toy guns and GI Joe's-- oh no!--I could have as many tanks and jeeps and miniature grenade-launchers as my little heart desired... and somehow that was a perfectly acceptable influence on my psyche...:animesmil [/b]

[b]So what do I think of Barbie? I guess I am of the school of thought that Barbie is a role model, and although her career choices have improved a bit over the years, she still represents a warped ideal of women-- both physically and in the sense that Barbie (and all the little accessories and cars and dream-houses, etc) is obviously materialistic and teaches little girls that these are the things to be valued in life... when, in reality, they are of the [i]least[/i] value in life.[/b]

[b]There is no Barbie that is assymetrical or pudgy or short-legged --nor even one without makeup on. I believe that little girls compare themselves to their toys and other images as they grow and that these things do have an effect on a person's self-image. (hell, I compared myself to my GI Joe's all the time... so I assume that girls with Barbies compare themselves to them).[/b]

[b]And I think that perhaps my parents' plan backfired a bit on them, as they now have a kid who couldn't care any less about fashion and material things and boyfriends, and would rather throw on some fatigues and combat boots and go trapsing through the woods with a bow like Stormshadow...but...meh--I think they wouldn't like me as much had I turned out like every other kid.[/b]

[b]Barbie will always be Barbie, and every supermodel plastered on the billboards in this country will always reflect an unrealistic ideal and little girls will always grow up thinking they are inadequate. It's not all Barbie's fault-- not by a long shot-- but she is a part of it.[/b]

[b]BTW-- I finally bought myself a Barbie when I was a freshman in high school, just to see if I really had missed out on something-- and she was dismembered and melted to different objects around my room within a week.:animeblus [/b]

[Kamuro]

*worships elfpirate* I'm so sick of seeing those stereotypical people, and if it was because of barbie, then I hate barbie lol, I would much rather have a girl that interests in different things rather then fashion and make-up just like everyone else, a barbie - ken relationship is not what I want, its boring

[IceWolfEyes]

Meh, Barbie as a role-model? Not in my case. Sure I had about 5 of them (Chibi, I also had the beach barbie, her necklace changed color in warm and cold water), but I never pictured growing up to be her. Mainly because (I know this sounds mean) the female figures in my life were short and dumpy or tall and dumpy or tall and skinny with no boobs. None the less, I did enjoy playing with her, maybe not as much as with my teenage turtle dolls...

Have a laugh at this; when I was 5 up to about 9 I would run around my house singing "Teenage turtles, da ta da ta DAAA!!!". Lol, funny as hell, my parents thought I was so cute...wonder why THAT changed.

Mayhap no one has been in the Barbie loop for a while (I have a 6 yr. old neice who is in the barbie phase), but Barbie has become a mother. She has a little daughter...or at least that's what I thought when I saw the little plastic baby she was caring for. Came with a crib and all sorts of fun things, Shira (my neice) played with it for ever. Babrie is also being modernized, her bust line has been shrunk, her butt has grown, and I think her waist has expanded a tad.

My parents didn't really care much about Barbie, I got to play with her and make her do whatever I wanted. Yes, making them have sex with each other was a fun thing to do. "Oh, yes. Oh YES! wrong hole, WRONG HOLE!!!" lol.

I like to watch the histroy channel, and last year they had a program about Barbie. Apparentally her creater made them for her daughter. And named the doll after her daughter as well. (mutters to self - what a dumb thing to do, poor kid prolly got made fun of all the time). And the creator also had a son...that's right, meet Ken. Just seems so wrong to me, sister and brother were dating. Redneck love, lol.

But aside from all that, my favorite barbie was not named barbie, lol. It was the little redish/purpleish haired gymnest with freckles. I liked her because her arms and legs had joints and I could actually sit her in a chair without her falling over. She was also short enough to fit in the doll house I had.

Now that I think about it, all I wanted on my body like Barbie had, was that incredably long hair. And I'm growin it out, lol. easy enough to do. No plastic surgury for me!

Icyeyes

[Gelgoog Pilot]

[QUOTE=Godelsensei]

I'm also interested in what guys might have to say about Barbie, likely having no real experience playing with one.
I loved mine to death, literally, as did most of my friends, while allot of girls I know still have theirs in perfect shape.

It's interesting what you'll do to a toy before you have any concept of monetary value.

So, what is Barbie, to you? Do you think you've been influenced by Barbie at all? What are your parents' take on the doll? (I know my mother was hesitant to give me one, at first, because she thought she would be a "negative role model".)

Look beyond, "It's just a toy...!" What do you see?[/QUOTE]


HA! I, sadly, have played with barbies! I wasn't always the cold evil older borther I am today, and my sister wasn't always the materialistic popularity engrossed girl she is. Believe it or not, to pass time we used to play dolls. Laugh if you will, I do...

I'm going to have to say that to me although still just a doll, barbie does represent societies veiws of women. Obviously, it is sad that they make the barbie so far from life like. No not the particular parts of her they leave out! I mean the proportions. It's similiar to the fashion industry, all we see are skinny women we forget that most women aren't paper thin. Though when I thought about it...I saw it this was. Corporations really don't care about the impact it'll have on the girls while growing up...they want money, plain and simple, much of the reason why you don't see a box with "Fat Barbie" on it. (I'd buy it heh)

Your points on how girls use her as a role model is interesting and probably true. Also a reason why they don't make Barbie pregnant. If girls thought the only way to look like their role model was to become pregnant...can you image...wow.

Although...I don't care to look into as much depth as you, I do happen to agree with what you've said...and if they took Barbie off the market...I can't imagine what it would be like. They've been the mainstream toy for girls SINCE 1959. What will take over? Polly Pocket...I doubt it...they just weren't as much fun as Barbie.

[lea]

I remember my mom and dad were very strict on the subject of Barbies.

*in toy store*

Mom: You cant have a Barbie because they are bad.

Me: *gasp* Why? How? =O

Mom: I'll tell you when you're older. u.u;;


Eventually, I persisted (annoyed? <.<;; ) far enough, to get an answer. I do remember her answer was along the lines of how no one can look like her and she didnt want me growing up thinking so; how Barbie wears a lot of innapropriate clothes, ect. For some reason, the answer satisfied me, after a whole bunch of "It's not fair!'s", as I knew there were a whole bunch of much better toys out there. I think I really only wanted one because my best friend had one. X_+


Some kids compare themselves to their dolls/action figures, but I dont think not untill a certain age. I mean, a chubby kid doesnt know there is "anything wrong", till other kids make fun of them, yeah?