Stereotypes In The Barbie World

Living in a Barbie World

She took the world by storm with her luxurious blond hair, blue eyes, and long legs. Soon, little girls all over the world were emulating and praising this eleven-and-a-half-inch-tall plastic doll (Napier). Throughout the decades, she has become an icon to little girls, so much that some are wondering whether the stereotypical ideals for women exemplified by Barbie have affected females in regards to body image.

When Barbie first appeared, she bore her trademark black and white swimsuit and swirling ponytail. Over the years as fashion and teenage lifestyle trends have shifted, so has Barbie. She has evolved from having bendable legs, a twisting waist, long hair, and sophisticated look in the 1960s to the athletically

These are Barbie's measurements in proportion to the size of a real woman and also the spark that started the fire of controversy concerning gender stereotyping in the nation. The accusations by feminists and doctors alike are that Mattel, the manufacturer of the doll, has projected harmful body images onto our female youth by subtly placing these stereotypes into the media and into little girls hands. The psychologists insist that the young girls notice the body shapes of the doll and translate them into what a female should physically look like thus creating a problem down the road such as low self-esteem or an eating disorder

They contribute to how these young girls relate to and understand other individuals, other times, and other places.

Although given a bad reputation for portraying an impractical image for girls, Barbie has been a positive role model in encouraging their capacity to love others and themselves. She has remained a superior influence in her years, drawing her identity from current fashion trends and social issues beginning in a decade of modesty to the millennium of over-the-top glamour. Barbie has indeed progressed into an appropriate-for-the-times, you-can-do-anything type of independent woman. Eventhough this is so, Mattel and the role of Barbie - and of toys more generally - in constructing young girls' sense of appropriate gender roles remains hotly debated to