BARBIE
Now a days, people are more concerned because of how they look, their image; especially women. This is due to the major influences that the media has over their visions. It is not only the media that is having this type of influence over women; also fashion dolls are having much of an influence, mainly Barbie dolls. The Barbie doll is a doll that is originally designed for girls, but women today see her as an ideal figure, and as a result they believe that that is the way they should look like.
It was not until the 1950s that Americans began to feel the positive growth of the post-war economy. People these days watched a lot of television shows, teenagers were trying to set a new music trend, and girls were playing with their paper dolls. So, it was back then that "the Barbie doll came as an inspiration to Mattel co-founder Ruth Handleer as she watched her young daughter, Barbara, playing with paper dolls" (Barbie, par 3). This inspired her because she always saw that her daughter was playing with her paper dolls making believe that the dolls were human beings and about their careers. So, as soon as Ruth notices this, she acknowledged, "playing make-believe and pretending about the future is an important part of growing up"(Barbie, par3). She began doing some research, and discovered that there really weren't any dolls that actually had a body, except for paper dolls, but the idea was to create a doll in which the girls could actually change their clothes, comb them, etc. So she decided to do this by designing a doll that was three dimensional to try and fill the gap. Therefore, after several designs, in 1959, Mattel Inc. introduced to the market, Barbie the Teenage Fashion Model. The public had never seen a doll like this ever before because all that had ever existed before were baby and paper dolls. Ever since Barbie was introduced into the market, it has been the most popular fashion doll ever designed. As years have passed by, the Barbie doll has reflected the fashion industry all throughout its fashion trends and changes. Not only did it represent the fashion industry, but also it became friends of an entire generation of girls. Today, not only do girls play with them but people also collect them as treasures, which will later on be worth thousands of dollars.
Mostly females, feel this pressure to have a “perfect” image, a minor amount of females blames it on society, other, put the blame on themselves. For example, a campaign exists today against the classic Barbie doll. A majority of women, feel they are in competition with this plastic doll. A large number of people, notice this doll as “unrealistic”, stating that the doll’s waist is viewed as an “unrealistic” view of women. Another example, would be the view on models. Another chunk of women, notice models as “unrealistic” for women, stating that a majority of females cannot execute the “model look”. Nearly all models are skyscraper high, muscular and extremely thin. Women, spot this as a “ridiculous”. A minor amount of women has those features. Women also detect this “impressive” for women and desire to see themselves as “impressive”. This puts pressure on females to be viewed as “perfect”, while “perfect” cannot be achieved. As much as these problems can affect people, it can improve people. Even though, women notice these as “unrealistic” expectations, these are “unrealistic” expectations. Today, women are compared to the unthinkable and judged to their breaking
By this time Barbie was a very popular doll that a lot of young girls wanted to have in their hands. Mothers and other parents were liking the doll because she provided a sense of what the “grown-up” world would be like. Plus, a lot of girl’s loved playing dress up and playing pretend house wife. But Barbie was more than just the house wife, Barbie has a career, many of them and she was a fashion icon. Than Barbie, the classic Caucasian, bond headed went even farther. “In the 80s, she joined the multicultural movement and was depicted as African-American, Latina, and Asian”, (Friedman, 2006). Now, not only could girl choose what profession and career they wanted their dolls to be, but now they could choose the race they were and maker Barbie more like their own. Yet still parents started to notice the Barbie’s measurements and how unrealistic they were. They started to worry about of this would have a negative impact on their children when they grew up to be adults. I can use this article because it explains that Barbie came in different race now but her measurements were so unrealistic. This causes concern and many people still today wonder if Barbie has a part in why women stress over their body
Our society is entirely based on looks and how “the perfect women should be”. To be pretty you are expected to have the perfect body with the perfect face and hair. You could never cut your hair short because you would be considered a dyke. If you’re makeup isn’t perfect you are considered ugly and if you don’t have the “hourglass figure” you are considered fat and overweight. “Despite higher global self-esteem, women do not feel good about their appearance. This disconnect can be attributed, at least in part, to concerns about body image.” (@PsychToday, paragraph 4) Our society and social media is so caught up on how every woman should look that our own judgment has been clouded and we always believe we need to look and act that way. “The truth is that women’s insecurity about their appearance is driven by competition with other women.”(@PsychToday, paragraph 16) All we do nowadays is compare ourselves to others and that’s not how it should be. You are considered to be a “whore” such as Eve if you sleep around, so women are afraid to do it. You are considered to be “weak” if you stay at home and can’t support yourself, such as Lori. Our world is so caught up in people thinking that they need to be a certain way in order to impress themselves and others. Why do women shave their legs? Why do woman dye their hair? Why do woman get spray tans? Everything we do has to do with our appearance in order to impress
For starters the title, “Barbie Doll” holds a meaning. It symbolizes the ideal figure of a female body. Society creates this ideal that is embed into every century. It is never ending. It is intended that she must have the twig like arms and legs, the minuscule waist and nose,
Seeing a barbie makes me think about all the fun times I had playing with those little toy dolls and the memories of creating my own dream life through Barbie. Playing with Barbies is great and imaginative because the sky's the limit when you play. You can make your own family, a life of your own, and choose a dream career. Unfortunately not all people feel that way. Some people see barbies and think those tiny waisted dolls with large breasts are what influenced my insecurities about my body. The creator of barbie once said “I wanted little girls who were not
In the American culture today, women are becoming more sexualized at a younger age due to the influences of the corporate media. Corporate media and society form the perfect idealistic body that women should have and is constantly being promoted, making younger girls start to compare themselves to them at a young age. Certain shows and movies, such as Disney, influence young children and teenagers through their characters as to how a woman is supposed to be accepted. The way the corporate media and society make this body image they want women to have starts at a very early stage in a woman's life without them knowing. There are these childhood movies, such as Disney, Barbie and Ken dolls, programs such as Netflix, teen magazines, and the most common source of them all, the internet.
90% of girls ages three through ten owned at least one Barbie doll. Ruth Handler’s idea for children to live there adult fantasies through a toy, came to life in a tall beautiful blonde doll. Barbra Millicent Roberts, or Barbie for short was named after Handlers daughter. Barbie was originally molded after the European Lilli doll that was made to be a gag gift, but Handler transformed this idea into so much more. The first Barbie doll was created in 1959, changing the toy making industry forever. This simple idea turned into a massive success. The sponsor of the phenomenon was Mattel Inc. founded by Ruth Handler and her Husband. Ruth Handler’s original idea of Barbie was revolutionary due to the many impacts on society this small doll created.
Society thinks if women do not fit within the unrealistic image, something is wrong with them. The highly glorified concept of beauty marketed by the media contributes to the concern over body image that causes many women, including myself, to have eating disorders and poor self-image. I could really relate to the article, like Susie Orbach wrote about, most women in our society occupy themselves with making themselves fit into an image that society, men and the media find attractive and beautiful. “The women’s body is not as satisfactory as it is. It must be thin, free of “unwanted hair”, deodorized, perfumed and clothed”
Ruben Pelayo starts his summary of Tuesday Siesta stating “ the opening of the short story sparks no particular interest in a reader” (Pelayo). He thinks the imagery of the train passing through banana plantation after a long dark tunnel uninteresting. While on that train there is an old woman with a child in a old rusty car to the point the windows do not even close. Pelayo sees all these details and forms a boring still photo of a poor old woman and child in a rusty train car going through plantations and does not wounder why.
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration.
In a way, Barbie is a role model for girls to look to for confidence, because she is extremely talented and educated, and is considered the example of a career woman. Juggling over 130 careers on her resume, Barbie has accomplished the above and beyond. From rock start to pilot,Barbie has had every job a child could possibly ever dream about. This includes her being an astronaut and going to the moon; four years before Neil Armstrong. Even in the 90s, she ran for president before woman even made the presidential ballot. “My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices.” From the start Ruth Handler, the co-owner of the Mattel creations and creator of the Barbie doll, created Barbie for the purpose of inspiration to young girls. Handler saw that her young daughter, Barbara, enjoyed playing with adult female doll...
Barbie was first launched in March 1959, after Ruth Handler, president of Mattel, Inc., went on a trip to Europe and discovered a unique German doll, “Bild Lilli.” The aforementioned doll was special in that she was an adult, whereas man...
One day, as Ruth Handler watched her daughter play with paper dolls, she noticed that often the dolls were put into adult scenarios, such as grocery shopping, working, et cetera (“The Creation of Barbie”). As most dolls in this era, the 1950’s, were either babies or small children, Handler got an idea: what if she created an adult doll (“The Creation of Barbie”)? So, she drew up a design for one, and she named her Barbie, after her daughter, Barbara (“The Creation of Barbie”). Then, in 1959, Mattel, a huge and very popular toy company, picked up the idea (“The Creation of Barbie”). Barbie made her first appearance in New York, at the annual toy fair (“The Creation of Barbie”). That year, 351,000 Barbie dolls were sold, which was a sales record in America (“The Creation of Barbie”). Today, Barbie continues to be the most popular doll in the world, with two sold every minute (“The Creation of Barbie”).
According to Lisa Belkin, Barbie is good for society because she’s fun to play with and she encourages little girls to use their imagination and dream big. Many young girls who play with Barbie dolls have realized that she is just a doll. Some of these little girls don’t have the desire to look like Barbie; they just think Barbie is just a doll that they play with and leave them everywhere. At a young age girls are given their first Barbie doll and thought what “perfect” should be. Barbie portrays the perfect image and life. Not only is Barbie tall, skinny, and beautiful, she has all the luxurious accessories to match her perfect life. To go along with her perfect life she is accompanied with the perfect boyfriend, family and dream house.At a young age girls are also being influenced by this doll, what they should look like, and what kind of life they sgould lead. Young girls strive to achieve this look which is life threatening to obtain. Regardless to the changes they made to Barbie, she is still far from real. Little girls that are mature enough don’t strive to look like Barbie because she’s just a plastic doll.(Debate.org, 9). According to “The Intentions behind the creation of Barbie”, Barbie dolls ...
Susan Bordo states in her article “Never Just Pictures”, that children grow up knowing that they can never be thin enough. They are thought that being fat is the worst thing ever. The ones responsible for this are the media, celebrities, models, and fashion designers. All of these factors play a big role on the development of the standard and how people view themselves. Everyone at one dreams about being the best they can in any aspect. But to achieve that most believe that one of the big factors is outer beauty. So people look at celebrities and fashion designers, and believe that to be accepted they have to look like them. That’s when they take drastic measures to change their appearance because they’ve been influenced by the Medias idea of “beautiful.” This feeling mostly happens in women but in recent years the gender gap has become smaller. Now men also feel the need to look good because of the media. On the TV, instead of having infomercials ...