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The Good the Bad and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us
Is barbie a good role model for girls
Barbie's influence on society
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Since her arrival in 1959, Mattel has sold over 1 billion Barbie dolls, making her the most successfully sold doll of all time. 1 billion girls since her inception have pretended to be flight attendants, cheerleaders, re-enacted marriages to Ken, cut her hair off, painted her face with magic markers, took clothes on and off, and exhausted every possibility of performative play. Feminists, Scholars, Artists, Psychologist, and Journalist, have contributed to the discourse about her detriment with the universal message that Barbie gives conflicting messages about body image and how a girl should take space in the world. In like manner, many have come to her defense. She’s just a doll, right? No, she is a brand, indestructible, until 2001,
“If Barbie was designed by a man, suddenly a lot of things made sense to me,” says Emily Prager in her essay “Our Barbies, Ourselves” (Prager 354). Prager’s purpose for writing this essay is to explain the history of Barbie and how the doll itself has influenced and continue to influence our society today. Prager is appealing to the average girl, to those who can relate to the way she felt growing up with Barbie seen as the ideal woman. Emily Prager uses a constant shift between a formal and informal tone to effectively communicate her ideas that we view women today based upon the unrealistic expectations set forth by Barbie. By adopting this strategy she avoids making readers feel attacked and therefore
Imagine a world where women are the superior gender rather than men. Imagine a reality where women have full dominance in today’s modern society. However, the whole idea of feminism is to promote equality for both males and females; so that women are treated equally to men. It would be wrong to suggest women as the superior gender just as it is wrong to suggest men in that same light. Jane O’Connor’s story, Fancy Nancy: Fanciest Doll in the Universe, excludes the male gender which ultimately does not promote gender equality to her young readers. Although Fancy Nancy is a popular book series, Jane O’Connor demonstrates gender stereotypes
In the short story "Barbie-Q,” by Sandra Cisneros, the young girls didn't mind they did not receive other things such as new Barbie's or Ken Barbie's and the friends to go along with the dolls (206). These girls were just happy to play with their own dolls. The girls have bonded with each other and they enjoy playing with each other's dolls. A doll brings two or more children together for fun and social entertainment. Have you ever listened to a child frequently you will hear a child say " so what” that means the child really don't care, it don't matter; nothing else mattered to the two little girls. In the short story "Barbie-Q,” by Sandra Cisneros to purchase a brand new Barbie doll meant that the dolls are expensive in the store so the girls are very happy and pleased to own a second hand Barbie. When the parent places the dolls in the child's hands the dolls take on the character of the owner's beauty; culture; how girls see themselves and the future when the kids are all grown up. Barbie is a fun toy to dress up. Each child has her or his own imagination of a Barbie doll. I, too, myself, like watching all the different cultural background Barbie dolls in the malls or Macy's Department Store around Christmas times. Most large department stores dress
A maiden aunt never marries because a river prawn bites her calf and, due to minimal treatment by her physician, nestles there to grow. She devotes her life to her nieces, making for them life-sized dolls on their birthdays and wedding days. When only the youngest niece is left at home, the doctor comes to see his patient and brings his son, also a physician. When the son realizes the father could have cured the leg, the doctor says, "I wanted you to see the prawn that has paid for your education these twenty years."
Piercy, Marge. "Barbie doll." Portable Legacies. Ed. Jan Zlotnik Schmidth and Lynne Crockette. Boston: Wadsworth, 2013. 589. Print.
The Barbie is a plastic, man-made female toy, which has perfect facial symmetry, unnatural body dimensions, and perfectly unblemished white skin. In Chris Semansky’s Overview of “Barbie Doll,” he explains that the Barbie “is invented to show women have been socialized into thinking of their bodies and behavior in relation to a male-controlled idea” (Semansky). The title directly alludes to the Barbie toy, which represents a design of a man-made construction of the female image that shows an unnatural human form that could only exist inside the imagination of men. Throughout both “Barbie Doll” and “The Birthmark” you will find the female protagonists seeking an ultimately perfect form, free of the characteristics that those around them see as unworthy. It is as if they are chasing the blueprint of perfection that is present in the Barbie. The original Barbie came with three outfits a bathing suit, a tennis outfit, and a wedding dress (Semansky). Her outfits clearly symbolize restrictions forced on female privilege, identity, and autonomy, where “she embodies the ideals and values of her middle-class American community” who expect her to “spend her days at the country club and her afternoons cooking dinner for her husband” (Semansky). This is directly similar to the “outfits” those around the women in “Barbie Doll” where the girlchild is born
As creator of the Barbie Doll once said, “My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented that a woman has choices,” (Handler). However, Barbie has proved to serve the opposite effect and these ‘choices’ are growing slimmer and slimmer with increased exposure to this popular doll. The ‘Barbie Syndrome’ is an undeniable culprit of girls’ inherent desire to strive for perfection. Barbie’s unattainable beauty, multitude of different careers, and extreme lack of diversity has led to overall negative effects within women in today’s society.
Steven Hoefflin performed a second surgery on his nose. Sadly, the operation left Michael with breathing difficulties. After a couple of years, he was seen on the red carpet with a smaller nose and lighter skin. Michael started to dramatically change his facial appearances with not only repetitive nose surgeries but his lips were smaller and he had cheek implants as well. During the years of his career it was recorded he had spent thousands of dollars on cosmetic procedures. It was also stated that Michael has had up to one hundred cosmetics surgeries, in a thirty-year span to achieve his idea of perfection (daily mail). Michael also wanted to obliterate the looks of his scornful father.
In global media and advertising, there are many female stereotypical images of body image and self-worth. Whatever the norms are for how women should fit in or how skinny their body should be affect many young ladies, when they hit puberty. Once girls reach their puberty, they become self-aware and try to change their body image to please others and to fit within society. Nevertheless, the girls grew up with Barbie dolls and fairy princess with physical features are perfect and unrealistic, yet are still an iconic over a long time. It is possible that children’s toys, such as Barbie are more than simply a plaything. It imparts a message of how things should be, wanting to be a kid forever, rather than living with the differences and changes that life throws at. This need to have the perfect thing is what they think most likely leads to their acceptance in society by physically altercating themselves. Yet over the years, there has not been much change, as women have gone through emotional and physical condemnation, simply because they are not the perfect woman. In the poem, “Barbie ...
The dolls that girl’s play with can influence them psychologically in how they think a woman should act, and gives them the idea that being hypersexual is okay. Barbie is a hot item when it comes to little girls that is all they want. Fashion expert Stephanie Hoskins talks about the effect Barbie has on young girls. Barbie is popular and she has so many clothes, what girl would not want to be like Barbie. In some countries Barbie is banned , “In 1995, Saudi Arabia banned the sale and purchasing of Barbie’s because it violated strict dress code for women” (Hoskins 1). The way Barbie dresses in some parts of the world is offensive. Maybe the USA should reconsider Barbie and the influence that she has. Even though the country she was banned in had strict dress codes for women maybe that is a good thing to have specific expectations for women. In Vanessa Br...
Both “Siren Song” and “Barbie Doll” deal with the relationship between the individual human being and a society that imposes a dehumanizing conformity. Both poems also use their use of irony conveying between the human being and society, for example “Siren Song” has some use of verbal irony and situational irony in the sense that if the reader knew what a siren was, then they would know that it’s a warning and them being lured into this siren’s song would only result in death. “Barbie Doll” also uses verbal irony and situational irony when the poem speaks that the effort of making oneself look pretty and conform to society’s expectations only results in making oneself look worse and lose humanity.
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”).
It may seem trivial and go unnoticed to most, but by assigning Barbie a real career, people are able to identify with and recognize her. The marketers also provide Barbie with a life other than modeling, such as friends and a home. The Ken doll, which is commonly known as Barbie’s boyfriend, makes her appear more real to the audience. Girls are able to identify with the idea of a boyfriend, which makes the notion of Barbie seem more realistic and desirable. The same idea is applied to the many friends Barbie has been accompanied by over the years. Lastly, and perhaps most famously, Barbie, like almost all of the girls who play with her, have a home. The Barbie Dream House is just another clever way her marketing team has presented her to society as a real person. Humanizing Barbie, and portraying her in such a manner makes her more attractive to potential buyers. The girls who engage in play with dolls do not want merely a doll; they desire something they can relate to and envision in the real world. Imaginative play is a large portion of childhood, and the ability for children to posses a doll like Barbie , who represents a real person in society, is extremely valuable. The use of social constructionism in the marketing of products such as Barbie is both brilliant and effective.
“Everybody feels like an outcast because the world is so large and every fingerprint is so vastly different from one another and yet all these standards and beliefs, and dogmatic systems of judgment and ranking in almost all the societies of the world” -Ezra Miller. All around us, cliches and standards are seen throughout culture. This is because judgment is a constant challenge in today's society. If one dress, acts or plays out of the considered normal, then those people are put into rankings and are distanced from everyone else. In today’s world, the experience of being an outcast is universal.
Nor did I totally grasp the grim realities of how race and culture at times co-exist. Barbie, herself, established a sort of cultural barrier, where race, beauty, and culture intertwined. Her impact on culture is profound and has been influential in many areas of existence. Why was it important for me to choose the black Barbie? Was it culturally correct to do so? The premise of this paper is to address whether Barbie, the inanimate object everyone adores, contributes to the social segregation of our