The Influence of Barbie Doll on Little girls
Introduction
Barbie Doll was introduced in 1959 and since then, numerous types of Barbies have been made. It is however important to note that despite the numerous types, the size and shape of the doll remains the same. This paper will give a division of Barbie Doll according to its various types and then analyze the influence of Barbie Doll on little girls.
Discussion
Barbie is a fashion doll that was manufactured by the American toy-company and launched in the year 1959. Barbie defines the little girl’s preference for dolls due to its exceeded looks and elegance. Hence, this doll is almost every girl’s best play friend and mate. Barbie doll can be divided into several varieties. Some of these varieties include: fancy singing Doll, Barbie Doll with best quality Bedroom Furniture Set, Barbie Doll with make-up setup, Barbie Doll with Kitchen Furniture Set, Umbrella Musical Doll and Charming Moving Doll (Rogers, 1999).
Moreover, Barbie Dolls are available in combination with taffy dog puppies, play set and many other accessories. Barbie dolls are manufactured together with the several accessories. The products include of not only a wide variety of dolls with their clothes but also accessories ranging from goods such as apparel, books, cosmetics and even video games. The doll’s popularity has been greatly contributed by her fashionable life and long hair. The doll has been a subject of several controversies and claim arising from the irony of the doll itself and her lifestyle (Rogers, 1999).
Barbie Doll has a great influence on the life of little girls and this influence has often been regarded with criticism. The criticisms are based on the assumption that little girls consider the doll as a role model and attempt to emulate her. Barbie doll can be viewed as an iconic image that represents the feminine ideal. Women often recognize Barbie’s figure and perceive it in a personal light. Hence, women and even little girls consider Barbie as the ideal role model and desire to transform and look like her. Moreover, the existence of Barbie in the market creates a continual awareness in women and the need for identification and evolving with this doll as she captures the culture (Dittmar and Halliwell, 2008).
Barbie doll is a predominant feature in American society and culture. She has been portrayed as a fictitious character that many individuals especially girls and women have contrived into a reality. Barbie is a name that is striking and creates instant familiarity and evokes controversy, success and emulation. The corporate creators of Barbie doll make the doll accessible in fulfilling the needs of every little girl and even women in the American society (Rogers, 1999).
Barbie promotes an unrealistic idea of body image for young women. This leads to a risk of young girls becoming anorexic with the objective of achieving the body image portrayed by Barbie Doll. It is however important to note that Barbie is a universally recognized icon or image and what she represents to each and every little girl or woman can be personal. The inception of Barbie doll in 1959 marked the beginning of a thriving product and a model image that young women have often viewed as unrealistic, superior and quintessential (Dittmar, 2008).
Barbie doll can also be regarded as an institution and a work of art that directly reflects the cultural impulses formed within individuals. To many young women, Barbie doll is a true representation of the ultimate woman and looking like her is the ultimate power. Hence, young girls, just like Barbie are in a quest for control and domination over men and over the society at large. Mattel, the creator of Barbie doll has ensured that the doll consistently adapts to the culture and the target audience. The same case applies to little girls who desire to adapt to changes in culture and be acceptable just as like Barbie. For this reason, young girls are struggling to find a sense of identity and acceptance by emulating Barbie doll.
While Barbie doll is idolized as a role model for young girls, a model of aesthetic perfection, an icon of American culture and a cultural icon of heterosexual femininity, the doll is on the other hand despised by child educator and feminists. These educators and feminists believe that Barbie is an epitome of the cult of thinness and a tool of sexism and racism. Speculations indicate that if Barbie were human, she would be so thin that she would not have the ability to menstruate due to lack of adequate body fat. Barbie doll has an influence of little girls developing self-concept and body image. Previous research studies have shown that majority of young girls have ambiguous feelings towards Barbie doll and the feminine sexualized image that is represented by Barbie.
Moreover, the studies revealed that Barbie doll created a large impact on young girls’ development. The dolls are pervasive in the experiences of young adolescent girls. The studies showed that young girls often reported imaginative play with Barbie dolls. Young girls’ play with Barbie consists of enacting of adult social scripts and shaping the girls into developing self-concept by internalizing the stereotyped feminine scripts presented by Barbie doll (Rogers, 1999).
It is evident that the more time an individual spends with something, the more influence that objects has on him or her. Hence, Barbie doll creates a great impact on young girls who spend a lot of time playing with her. Hence, it is common to find these young girls having the desire to become like Barbie and look like her. The doll does not only influence young girls but also women. For instance there is one woman called Cindy Jackson who was very much influenced by Barbie that it became her life mission and objective to look exactly like Barbie. The woman eventually spent about $ 55,000 and went through several sessions of plastic surgery in order to achieve her goal of resembling Barbie (Rogers, 1999).
Hence, it is evident that t is extremely difficult and almost impossible to reach the ideal image of Barbie doll without changing our natural beauty. Young girls grow up wanting to have flat tummies, small hips and generally perfect bodies for Barbie’s clothes. Moreover, these girls develop unhealthy practices in order to achieve an attractive physique like that of Barbie doll. Moreover the doll implants the idea of sexualizing play in little girls’ minds. The debate on the negative impact of Barbie doll to young girls life lies in the fact that the doll’s perfection is too unrealistic to be healthy.
The image Barbie doll represents is not wrong from an empirical point of view, but it is instead inappropriate to compare the image to what America views as being that of a perfect woman. The portrayal of Barbie’s image as that of a perfect woman creates a sense of self-dissatisfaction in young girls who struggle to achieve perfect bodies, perfect faces and even perfect looks that resemble those of Barbie. Hence, young girls desire to be accepted by compromising on culture and cultural expectations. These girls internalize the notion that Barbie’s body is ideal and this has been linked to an increase in eating disorders and desensitization of young girls and kids to play with toys that have minimal amount of clothing (Rogers, 1999).
Barbie doll can be viewed as representing false standards that are almost impossible to achieve. The struggle by young girls to achieve the standards of Barbie doll has several fatal consequences such as those of anorexia and consummation. The doll pauses the danger of holding individuals or people to a single, high standard as dictated by Barbie. Instead, individuals have to be judged according to their merits and values.
Barbie doll is a true representation of a perfect young woman having a pretty face, feminine and perfect figure, beautiful hair, many friends and many other things associated with the dreams of each and every young woman. It is ironical that Barbie is resented, blamed for all ills and even disfigured because of her perfection. Barbie is a fictitious character, who was created in a form of perfection unknowingly. Some people can therefore argue that it is inappropriate to resent this fictitious character and blame her for all the ills since she is innocent. Today’s Barbie is portrayed as an intelligent, strong, accomplished, adventurous and someone who likes pink. Hence, Barbie represents young women regardless of their colors and nationalities and also represents little girls in one way or another (Papalia and Feldman, 2007).
Barbie is apparently a hard worker who seems to be liked by all her friends. Moreover, she does not hurt anybody and yet she is more like several women who live in abusive environments where they are blamed for things that are beyond their control. These women are used as punching bags, brutalized and treated with suspicion. Hence, this pretty doll, Barbie with has accessories and the ability to capture little girls’ imaginations is not guilty of anything besides being perfectly feminine (Papalia, 2007).
Conclusion
It is essential to keep in mind the fact that young girls have the ability to distinguish between fantasy and the real world. Barbie doll and the associated accessories can play an important role in a young girl’s life, so long as the real world provides balance and stability without setting her up with unachievable expectations. It is however evident that Barbie Doll ha s a great influence and impact in a young girl’s life both positively and negatively.
References
Dittmar, H., & Halliwell, E. (2008) Consumer culture, identity and well-being: the
Search for the “good life” and the “body perfect”. Routledge.
Papalia, D., & Feldman, R.S. (2007) A Child’s World: Infancy Through Adolescence.
McGraw-Hill.
Rogers, M. F. (1999) Barbie Culture. SAGE Publications.
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