Living Doll

The biggest selling toy in history, Barbie was first released in 1959, to promote the first of its kind ‘womanly figured’ doll, a TV advertisement which spoke the lines:

“My barbie doll is really real”

“Barbie is small and so petite; clothes on that figure look so neat”

“One day I’m going to be exactly like you”



Parallel to the animated characters in Disney films which present female characters as thin and attractive with long legs and ample breasts. Barbie is presented with a body shape and proportions which are physiologically impossible (Fein, 1995, p152). She is described as the pinnacle of plastic perfection (BBC News 1998), however, Barbie were a human being, her proportions would be 6'9" tall, her bust measurement would be 40”, a tiny 22" waist, and 36" hips, her neck would be twice the length of a normal human woman. Barbie would not have enough room in her tiny waistline to have full sized organs, nor would she be able to menstruate (Fein, 1995, 153).


Her body, with its buoyant breasts, wasplike waist, and endless legs defies all human proportion (Ockman 1999)

A typical young girl who owns a Barbie has an average of 7 of the dolls. It is said that the toys that children play with also help shape a sense of what is physically desirable and undesirable
“When all you ever see from growing up from dolls and media is this super-thin ideal that isn’t even healthy (but portrayed as the ultimate peak of health), it can inspire a girl to chase after these “ideals” even to the detriment of her emotional, mental and physical health. " (Kelleher 2005 p152). Barbie, through appearance, actions and accessories, has continued to disproportionately focus her attention on body issues (Jeffrey 2009). In 1965 Slumber Party Barbie came with a book entitled How to Lose Weight which advised: "Don't eat." The doll also came with pink bathroom scales reading 49 kg, which would be around 15 kg underweight for a woman with a woman who is 5’9” (Lord 2004).

A range of feminist criticism has explored a variety of dimensions to the influences of Barbie. Second-wave feminists have criticized Barbie, and her impossible, unrealistic idealized body type, as an objectification by male desire. Third-wave feminist opposing such criticisms, asserting that Barbie’s body type signifies liberation from the shame previously associated with body changes in puberty, and commend Barbies independent woman image presented through her varying professional jobs (Jeffrey 2009). (eg. Barbie has been presented as a Vet, a Doctor and an athlete)

A Documentary by Asselanis’s (1996) called “I, Doll” outlines the normative effect of children’s opinions of ideal body types throughout the doll’s history. The film suggests the doll was modeled on a Hollywood ideal of beauty. The film’s underlying theme is that Barbie sets a bad body type example for children (Jeffery 2009)

Barbie's ‘perfect’ figure in line with other media driven advertisements make some girls feel unhappy with their bodies (Fein 1995). According to Niva Piran, “any failure to achieve an ideal body is viewed as the sole responsibility of the individual and representative of some internal character flaw” (cited in DeZon 2008 p. 9).

“Per Time Magazine, there is an 80% chance you have had her on at least one diet by the time she is in fourth grade. Fourth grade. Think about that. She is ten-year-old. She is still playing with dolls. Her body hasn't hit puberty yet. She is learning independence and is developing her own opinions on life. You are prioritizing weight and appearance in her life. By the time she is in college, her chance of having an eating disorder is 19%. She has put her Barbie doll away. But that image of the perfect body is still with her. No matter how thin she may be, she is still aspiring toward Barbie” (Stay-at-home mum, Betsy Gallup 2002)

Another counter argument exists, claims are made that children know what is and isn’t realistic, and understand that Barbie is not “real”. This argument is conflicted by real life examples of woman who seem affected by the ideal Barbie have placed on them during childhood. Barbie syndrome is a term used to describe the desire to have the body and looks of a Barbie doll. The Syndrome is usually associated with pre-teen and adolescent girls but is applicable to any age group. Someone afflicted with Barbie syndrome strive to attain such a body type through cosmetic means (Dorsey 2001)

Cindy Jackson's autobiography 'Living Doll'
image source: Amazon

Cindy Jackson, 48, had 31 operations over 14 years to look like Barbie “I looked at a Barbie doll when I was 6 and said, ‘This is what I want to look like.’ She spent $100,000 on the operations because she ‘wanted to look better’, “Barbie was the blank canvas I filled in all those years ago. It was still my role model.” Cindy believed she was being ‘held back by her looks’ and that with surgery to make her more like her idol, she believes she is happier and has a better quality in life. Although this example is both rare and extreme, it is interesting to observe a woman's behavior later in life, who so blatantly and clearly links her desire of appearance to a prototype presented to her as a child.

According to Fein (1995) the Barbie Doll make girls and women feel as if they have to try to somehow attain her certain body type, this is true in examples such as Cindy Jackson. Children have always innately associated themselves with their toys to give them information about their own identities. This allows them to form and develop their self image at an early age (Lind 2008). Toys such as the Barbie doll, children’s animated films, material they are exposed to through TV and advertising, combined with family influences, firmly set in place a young person’s attitudes about physical appearance and what they believe to be desirable physical qualities.


REFERENCES:

Cannon, J., (2008) "Barbie as Feminine Icon: The Subversion Narrative Gets a Second Run on Film" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, TBA, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 21, 2008 viewed online 25th September

DeZon, B. (2008) "No Mirrors No Makeup, No Men, No Problem? A Rhetorical Analysis of Curves' Strategies for Membership" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the NCA 94th Annual Convention, TBA, San Diego, CA, Nov 20, 2008
viewed online 15th September 2009

Fein, G. G. (1995). Toys and stories: In A. D. Pellegrini (Ed.), The future of play theory (pp. 151-165). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Kelleher, Kathleen. "Birds & Bees; this Cartoon's Got Legs--and Hips Too." Los Angeles Times 15 Jul. 2002: E.1. Proquest Direct. Manhattanville Coll. Lib., Purchase, NY. 23 Feb. 2005 .

Leung, R., (2004), Becoming Barbie: Living Dolls, Real Life Couple Are Models Of Plastic Perfection, Aug. 6, 2004, CBS News. viewed online 20th September

Lind,Amy. "Battleground:Women,Gender,and Sexuality",Published by Greenwood Publishing Group,2008

Lord, M.G. (2004) Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of A Real Doll, Chapter 11, William Morrow & Company; 1st edition

Ockman, Carol. “Barbie Meets Bouguereau: Constructing an Ideal Body for the Late Twentieth Century,” in The Barbie Chronicles: A Living Doll Turns Forty, ed. Yona Zeldis McDonough, New York: Touchstone, 1999.

Signorielli, N. (1997, April). Reflections of girls in the media: A two-part study on gender and media. Kaiser Family foundation and Children NOW
Viewed online 25th August 2009

Sacks, Danielle. “The Barbie Problem.” Fast Company, 10859241, May2004, Issue 82. viewed online 25th september