Selection on Topic and Barbie’s Personal Significance
I chose to do my presentation on a doll that has become a cultural icon—Barbie. I will admit that I did own several Barbie dolls as a child. The doll was a popular gift for birthdays and during the holidays growing up. I had several Barbies, some Ken dolls, and a few of Barbie’s friends. Frequently, when my girlfriends would come over for a play date, my mother would suggest that we occupy our time by playing with my Barbies. Sometimes, I would even tell my friends to bring over their dolls and we could play with each other’s.
It was not until I was older that I began to realize the negative impacts
that this doll and her friends can have upon young and impressionable children,
especially girls. From early on, children are bombarded with negative
portrayals of females in the media. Commercials, advertisements,
and television programs so often portray females in a submissive, weak,
and unintelligent manner. It is my opinion that the Barbie doll further
reinforces this stereotype and shapes the mind of what a female’s body
should look like. It has not been a long time since I have played
with my Barbies or even taken them out of the case I have them stored in.
(I bought this one specifically for today’s presentation to use as a visual.)
And I cannot imagine myself making the effort to reinvent life into these
dolls that I once cherished so much.
Research on Barbie
The first Barbie doll was introduced at the New York Toy Fair in 1959. She was an instantaneous hit and undeniably went on to become the most successful doll ever to be marketed. Barbie is both a cultural mimic, moving with the times, and has been culturally mimicked. Well known artists, such as Andy Warhol, used her as their subject in paintings; real life fashion shows have been modeled after the doll’s wardrobe; and doll collectors continue to travel all over the world in search of those hard to find pieces of Barbie paraphernalia. Mattel has produced over “600 million plastic dolls and more than one billion outfits, including 1.2 million pairs of shoes and 35,000 handbags” (O’Sickey, 22). The doll’s designers claim that Barbie has an outfit for every occasion, which according to them is every female’s dream.
Barbie has had a variety of careers: from rock star to astronaut to
homemaker. This doll has seemed to done it all. However progressive
Barbie’s images may have appeared throughout the years, her makers have
been successfully in creating an image that has become to be thought of
as the ideal feminine body type. Ironically, Mattel has been advocate
for young girls, establishing a non-profit organization called Girls Inc.
In 1999 alone, the corporation donated $1.5 million dollars “to support
programs that teach girls about technology, finance, math and science,
career planning, and sports” (www.adiosbarbie.com). Mattel’s
success can be credited with its decision in keeping up with the times,
fads, and fashions. They have even created a line of new dolls called
the Generation Girls and on Barbie’s gaunt stomach lays a butterfly tattoo.
Cultural Significance of Barbie Dolls
Some people may look at a Barbie doll and say that she is just a doll; merely a child’s toy incapable of having any negative social repercussions. Others would argue that this commonly found household object is indeed more than just a nostalgic object from one’s childhood. Yes, it is true that the time a child first plays with a Barbie, she has too many other factors in her environment to be able to link a “specific behavior trait with a particular toy. But because Barbie has both shaped and responded to the marketplace, it’s possible to study her as a reflection of American popular cultural values and notions about femininity” (Lord, 7). When introduced to a young child, presumably a little girl, representations and ideas of what a female is supposed to resemble enters into her young and impressionable mind. Barbie’s unrealistic body type may then become a young child’s new ideal.
Barbie’s body type, “which translates into real life measurements 5’9”, 36-18-33” (O’Sickey, 35), is anything but realistic and naturally cannot be achieved. If Barbie were real woman, she would not be able to menstruate. According to a group of researchers at University Central Hospital in Helsinki, Finland, they concluded that if Barbie were an actual woman, “her narrow hips and concave stomach would lack the 17 to 22 percent body fat required for a woman to have regular periods” (Lord, 226). Lack of menstrual cycles is a common result of women suffering from anorexia nervosa. Actually, there was a time, 1965 to be exact, with the introduction of “Slumber Party Barbie”, that the doll’s creators encouraged the young female consumers to become obsessed with their own weight. Along with the set of pink plastic hair curlers, the doll included some “bedtime reading—a book called How to Lose Weight that offered this advice: “Don’t Eat.’ ” (Lord, 229-30).
The Mattel Corporation has introduced an entire world of Barbie related
merchandise. From a website ( ) to a Barbie Magazine , young
girls are barraged with images of what has been established by society’s
standards to beauty and femininity. Author Ingeborg Majer O’Sickey
writes that the “ Barbie Magazine’s primary function is the production
and reproduction of images of certain kinds of femininity in order to train
girls to become perfect consumers of beautifying commodities. All
women’s fashion and beauty magazines are ultimately manuals for particular
kinds of training in femininity; Barbie Magazine is the preparatory
text, the basic-training manual, for the girls’ later reading of teen magazines
like Seventeen and Mademoiselle ” (O’Sickey, 23-4).
It is in these magazines that females are represented as commodities and
objects rather than individuals. These images, especially when viewed
earlier one’s childhood, and playing with dolls such as Barbie that young
girls can become alienated from themselves and may begin to feel inadequate.
Click on the picture
to link to an anti-Barbie website: 
Works Cited
Lord, M.G. Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a
Real Doll. New York: William Morrow and Company,
Inc., 1994.
O’Sickey, Ingeborg Majer. “Barbie Magazine and the Aesthetic Commodification
of Girls’ Bodies.” On Fashion. Ed. Shari
Benstock and Suzanne Ferriss. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University
Press, 1994. 21-40
Here's
a picture of one of the original Barbie dolls.
