Oh dear, Duncan, we disagree again!! I did let my child play with Barbie dolls, because I didn't want her to feel different, which I think has psychological ramifications of its own. However, there is a whole group of concerned parents who do not allow their children to play with Barbie, ever!
While there are several factors implicated in eating disorders, including pressure to succeed academically and socially, Barbie is definitely one of the icons which makes girls feel their natural bodies will never be good enough or sexy enough. Barbie is the beginning indoctrination for tiny toddler girls of the societal view that women should be very, very, thin with big breasts. Did it not occur to you that at the same time Barbie has become so popular, thin women are getting breast implants, which often endanger health?
Did you know that the majority of eight-year-old girls are on diets now in America, and that one-quarter of women in college suffer from eating disorders? This is a disease which causes human misery, and has a significant death rate.
A doll is NOT just a doll. Most girls have several Barbies, and they start playing with them at about two. Barbie's figure does not appear in nature, and so it sends very early and very strong messages that cause girls to seek impossible bodies. There is no way they can ever be like Barbie, but spend their young lives trying to, and become ill as the result. Whatever happened to Mattel's new Barbie with a more realistic figure, incidentally? I have not heard much about it lately. Of course, they would really have to change the proportions of all Barbies to make the campaign effective, instead of just offer an alternative, because the fantasy image of Barbie is seared into our cultural landscape, to the detriment of all women everywhere.
Of course, this does not mean Mattel is not a wonderful investment!!
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