Effect of Barbie on Young Girls

Controversy

• The first Barbie was a teen super-model. Some parents thought that their daughters would want to grow up to be like Barbie with an out of proportion body.

• Others thought that Barbie wasn’t a bad influence, because children use their imaginations to play with Barbie and make her be anybody or do anything any girl can imagine.

Pluses• Having girls use their imagination made some people think Barbie was a

great toy.• To the girls playing with her, she was just a doll not something they wanted

to look like when they got older. • Girls have to use their imagination with Barbies. They can voice their

thoughts, feelings, and aspirations through Barbie. Barbies are better for kids’ imagination than the techno toys of today. You can’t just stare at a Barbie and expect to be amused. Playing with Barbies allows girls to be more than a mother to dolls. Barbies lets girls dream about something.

Minuses• Not everyone thought that Barbie was a good influence

on young girls. Some believed that Barbie gave girls an unhealthy view of what a girl’s teenage body will look like. We found out that Barbie is out of proportion too. “If she were alive, Barbie would be a woman standing 7 feet tall with a waistline of 18 inches and a bust line of 38-40.”

7ft

Real live Barbie.

Interviewing Our Moms

• Our moms said that Barbies made them use their imagination. They could pretend to go on dates, drive a car, go shopping, or do other things rather than just being a mom to a baby doll. Those were things young girl dreamt about doing. They also said that they never thought about looking like Barbie. Blah blah

blah blah

Our thoughts toward Barbie

• I played with Barbies when I was little and I don’t think everyone should look like her. I also don’t think she was a bad influence towards me. Barbie is just a doll, so people should just calm down. – Jen Ficek

• I didn’t play with Barbies when I was younger. I thought the clothes took too long to change and get on. So I played with my doll house and the dolls with plastic clothes. - Jen Humphrey

More Interviews

• One lady says that Barbie is a stupid toy and she never played with it but she doesn’t believe that Barbie has any bad influence over girls.

• Another believes that girls will try to look like Barbie and will get eating disorders.

Evolution Changes How People Think About Barbie

• Barbie has evolved over the years to represent women over time. For example, Barbie’s first jobs were women’s jobs of the time (ex. stewardess, model, nurse) and now she has had almost any type of career you can think of (ex. doctor, dentist, astronaut and gymnast, etc).

Studies

In 1995 researchers at the University of Arizona studied how African-American and Caucasian girls viewed their bodies. They asked teenage girls to describe their own bodies as well as what a perfect girl would look like. African-American girls didn’t want to describe physical traits of an ideal girl, but Caucasian girls gave roughly the same description of Barbie. Their idea of an ideal girl was 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighed about 100 pounds and had long hair. Researchers called this description "a living manifestation of a Barbie doll."

Sources

• http://www.worldcollectorsnet.com/barbie/ - on this site it said, “Barbies were made in 1959 and have evolved greatly over the years.”

• http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/RFCA8H2AABX7H -this site said, “Makeover by Bob Mackie rejuvenated Barbie with updated makeup, more prominent lips, and a youthful lift to the face with Neptune Fantasy Barbie.”

• http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_153_39/ai_n6143557 - This site said that girls didn’t think Barbie was a bad influence and boys just thought they were stupid.

More Sources

• http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/RFCA8H2AABX7H - This site believes that girls will try to look like Barbie and will get eating disorders.

• http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=express&s=cottle050102 – At this site a lady says that Barbie is a stupid toy and she never played with it but she doesn’t believe that Barbie has any bad influence over girls.

• Another source was our moms.• http://people.howstuffworks.com/women2.htm This site

said that some girls thought an ideal teenager should be 5’7’’ weighing 100 pounds with long blonde hair. In other words, a Barbie doll.