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Barbie’s Effect on Young Girls

Barbie’s Effect on Young Girls. Lauren Mortenson English 102, Section 5232. Why This is a Big Issue. Barbie is a popular doll that is commonly the first thing that young girls play with. Certain celebrities are changing themselves into real life Barbie dolls.

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Barbie’s Effect on Young Girls

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  1. Barbie’s Effect on Young Girls Lauren Mortenson English 102, Section 5232

  2. Why This is a Big Issue • Barbie is a popular doll that is commonly the first thing that young girls play with. • Certain celebrities are changing themselves into real life Barbie dolls. • Body image is a popular issue in today’s society.

  3. Barbie • “The Barbie doll is one of the most successful toys of the 20th century and, arguably, the icon of female beauty and the American dream” (Rogers 1999).

  4. Barbie’s Proportions • “Among the changes necessary were for the female to increase 24 in. in height, 5 in. in the chest, and 3.2 in. in neck length, while decreasing 6 in. in the waist, and for the male to increase 20 in. in height, 11 in. in the chest, and 7.9 in. in neck circumference” (Brownell & Napolitano 1995).

  5. Girl’s Reality • Girls may not get full negative effect when very young. • As girls get older they realize that they are able to change the way they look. • Girls become more aware of what society thinks is the “ideal” body image.

  6. Body Dissatisfaction • It has been proven that many girls have a higher body dissatisfaction when playing with Barbie dolls. • The graph to the right shows that Barbie’s have a strong effect on young girls when they are just starting school.

  7. What Girls Want! As younger girl’s get older they start focusing a lot on their physical appearance. Many girls and women today all want the same thing. They want to be skinny, popular, liked by the opposite sex, and to be beautiful. Barbie gives them that image of what they “want” to look like.

  8. Barbie’s Image Characteristics of Barbie Tall Skinny Blonde Big Breasts Perky

  9. Celebrities and the Barbie Image • Today, most celebrities seem to all want the same look. • There are many celebrities that strive to look just like the Barbie figure. • Celebrity Examples: Pamela Anderson, Jennifer Ellison, and Victoria Silvstedt.

  10. Barbie Syndrome What is it? • “Barbie syndrome is a term used to loosely describe the desire to have a physical appearance and lifestyle representative of the famous Barbie doll.” • “Someone afflicted with Barbie syndrome strives for an unattainable body type.”

  11. Sarah Burge “Almost 40 years on and after 27 procedures have already topped more than £180,000-worth of surgery.  So much so that the media have called me ‘The Real Life Barbie’. But I’m more plastic than Barbie ... and I love it!” – Sarah Burge

  12. Mattel’s Efforts • Makers of Barbie have tried to make Barbie better by: • Making Barbie’s of different cultures. • Dressing them in all types of outfits. • Having Barbie’s have different careers. • Making disabled Barbie’s. • Making all Barbie products diverse.

  13. Better Messages but Still the Same • Efforts have been made by the makers of Barbie to make them better for children to play with. • However, the main issue has not been changed: the size of Barbie. • She still has the same proportions.

  14. What Needs to be Done • To solve this issue the makers of Barbie really need to work on making the size of Barbie comparable to the size of an average woman. • Also, if parents of young girls are worried what effect Barbie dolls will have on their children then they should limit the time that they play with these dolls.

  15. Work Cited Brownell, Kelly D., Melissa A. Napolitano, Myriam Mongrain, and Julie Van Der Feen. "Distorting Reality for Children: Body Size Proportions of Barbie and Ken Dolls." International Journal of Eating Disorders 18.3 (1995): 295-298. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. University of Arizona Library, Tucson. 1 July 2007. Burge, Sarah. "Cosmetic Surgery." Real Life Barbie. 9 July 2007. 13 July 2007 <http://www.reallifebarbie.com/html/cosmetic_surgery.html>. Munger, Dave. "What Barbie Does for a Little Girl's Body Image." Cognitive Daily. 19 Apr. 2006. Science Blogs LLC. 13 July 2007 <http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2006/04/post_1.php>. Rogers, A. (1999). Barbie culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Rozwadowski, Elena, and Elizabeth Cook. "Finding a Solution for Eating Disorders." Eating Disorders. 13 Oct. 2006. The Minnesota Daily. 13 July 2007 <http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2006/10/13/69379>. "Barbie." Wikipedia. 10 July 2007. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 16 July 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie>.

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