BYE BYE BARBIE!

[DANA]

Do you remember when you were a little girl and enjoyed playing with baby dolls and Barbie dolls? I can recall when I was only six years old and I received the new Barbie camper and Barbie doll for Christmas. Back then, I thought that Barbie was fun to play with and I used my imagination to play "make believe" that I was Barbie. What little girl wouldn't want to be beautiful and perfect, like Barbie?

As Barbie celebrates her 50th birthday today, a lawmaker named Jeff Eldridge wants Barbie banned in West Virginia. He believes that Barbie puts too much emphasis on outer beauty and materialism, instead of focusing on intelligence and emotional development.

To better understand Eldridge, lets consider how the average woman compares to Barbie. The average woman is 5'4", a size 12, has a 37" bust, a 29" waist and 40" hips. A Barbie doll is 7'2", she has a 40" bust, a 22" waist and 36" hips. A Barbie doll's neck is TWICE the length of a normal humans neck! NOTE: Several websites provided various measurements of Barbie that ranged from the above measurement to 39-23-33. The exact measurement is questionable, but very apparent that it is UNATTAINABLE and DISTORTS a healthy body image for little girls.

The typical American girl, aged 3-11, owns eight Barbie's. How could American girls grow up in our society with a healthy body image and a positive self-esteem if they are receiving the unconscious and disturbing message that females must be tall, slender and physically beautiful to be considered acceptable?

The truth of the matter about Barbie's unrealistic measurements is that even if she were human and did marry Ken, they would never have children. Based on research done by Rader Programs, the percent of Barbie's body fat would be so low, she would have ceased to menstruate. That is if she ever started because she has been grossly underweight since the beginning!

At the Vanderbilt University's Wellness Resource Center located in Nashville, TN, they are dedicated to help members develop and increase their awareness of every aspect of wellness. They believe that wellness is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful existence. In addition, the resource center believes that wellness is a holistic concept involving physical, spiritual, social, emotional, intellectual, and environmental dimensions.

The Wellness Resource Center has a life-size Barbie Doll for the public to view. She is built in direct representation to the actual Barbie doll. The purpose of Barbie is to force people to see what an unrealistic image young children (in particular young girls) have as their ideal model. Read some of Barbie's specs below and find out just how UNREALISTIC she is . . .

The REAL Barbie . . .

* would have to crawl to support her top-heavy frame.
* would only have room for a radius OR an ulna in her arms.
* would only have room for a tibia OR a fibula in her legs.
* would only have room for an esophagus OR a trachea in her neck (she could either eat OR breathe . . . we guess she must just breathe)
* would wear a size 3 children's shoe
* would have a severely distorted face (like the pictures of aliens), due to the almost triple average size of her head.

At an age where children are very impressionable and seek to be like the role models around them, whether it is dolls or the media, it is important for parents to use positive role models, especially for girls. Parents could promote a positive self-esteem in their children by seeking real life role models, such as doctors, teachers, women and men in history, artists, writers as well as moms and dads.

Another way to promote a healthier body image is by teaching your children about their true identity and how they were created to be unique with special talents all their own. One program that aims to promote a healthier body image is The True Campaign. The goal of their program is to end the crisis of distorted self image by challenging cultural ideals about identity and beauty.

Personally, I do NOT believe that every little girl that plays dress up with Barbie is destined to be struggling with an eating disorder or her self-image, but I do believe that children should have the opportunity to use their imagination, enjoy their childhood, have fun playing indoors and outdoors as well as to learn at a young age that beauty is not determined by the outer appearance. Educating children is important and the lesson should teach that regardless of size, color or shape, true beauty is much more than skin deep.

[Camille]

While I agree that Barbie doesn't exactly promote healthy body image, I don't know about banning Barbie. I think it would be better to teach children regarding healthy body image. I think it is great that Dove has launched the True Beauty Campaign so that young girls can come to the realization that true beauty comes in many packages.

[DANA]

Camille, when I did a bit of research to investigate the story behind Barbie getting banned in West Virginia, I read that if Barbie truly did get banned for good in this state there is not any form of punishment or discipline for getting caught with a Barbie doll. Maybe the banning Barbie is a bit over the edge, especially if they are NOT going to even make consequences for having one. Why bother banning Barbie in the first place?

It is a very controversial subject and I believe in educating positive body image, rather than removing a doll off of a shelf in Target, Walmart and Toys-R-Us. Would the residents of West Virginia truly stop purchasing Barbie dolls in other states or on the internet? If Jeff Eldridge banns Barbie, does this mean that Barbie books, DVD's, fashion, sheets, pillows, dish sets and all the other Barbie items get banned, too? Will Barbie become part of the black market in West Virginia?

It reminds me of the controversial issue of gun control and individuals trying to remove guns from every household. Personally, I do not own a gun. However, taking guns off of people will NOT prevent less murders or accidents. Educating the public about gun safety and proper gun use could help save a few lives, which is more proactive.

It will be very interesting to see what comes of the bill to ban Barbie in West Virginia. I will keep you posted!

[Joan Hutchinson]

I had several Barbies when I was little. In fact the first Barbie I received was Ballarina Barbie that I received after a ballet recital in a bouquet of roses. The doll was a gift and a celebration of my dancing accomplishiments at the time. From that point on I saw Barbie as an inspiration to be strong and accomplished. The doll was beautiful(and still is beautiful--I still have her from 1976), but that wasn't the point of the doll for me or the message I believe my aunt was giving me. My mother was a bit apprehensive about letting me have this plastic fantasy of perfection in my sheltered world of no television and whole grain foods, but she let me keep it with the understanding that it was just a doll. To ban a doll like Barbie is silly. Matel has changed her body shape several times to make her less out of proportion...made her breasts smaller & her waist thicker. They have even softened her make-up. Barbie is overall a good roll model...for a doll: she is an executive, a pilot, an Olympian, a soldier, a mother, a doctor, and an astronaut. However, A girl's body image and self esteem are learned from her family and education. Let's treat ourselves well as adults so our daughters can see how real woman feel about their healthy, beautiful bodies, as well as through our scholarship and professional success. We should lead by example, not a doll.

[DANA]

Thanks Joan for your excellent insight to the controversial topic! I think that you made an extremely important point that we need to lead by example, not a doll, such as Barbie. I do believe that having successful and accomplished Barbie themes, like an Olympian, a ballarina, a soldier, mother, executive and doctor are very inspirational for little girls. It gives them the opportunity to dream about what they want to be when they grow up.

I do think that they need to consider making Barbies of many different shapes and sizes because in our real life, everyone is unique and everyone comes from many walks of life, whether they are tall, short, large, petite, heavy, thin, average with every spectrum of color to their skin. It would be an excellent teaching tool to use all types of shapes and sizes for future Barbies. It would open the eyes to young girls that God made everyone of us different with special gifts of our own.