Negative Effects Of Barbie Dolls

The Negative Effects of Barbie Dolls on Body Image:
“As a child most girls played with Barbie dolls and if they had not, their views of what is considered beautiful and acceptable for women would be different, as well as how they felt about body image” (Ive, Dittmar, Halliwell 283). Childhood is the period of time where girls start to build their basic belief system that they will carry into their adulthood. Most young girls, especially in the United States, are given toys that portray the “perfect way” a girl should look. One of the most common examples is the Barbie doll. The Barbie doll image engraves a belief system in these girls’ forms a young age. Because of this doll, many young girls believe that in order to have a good life they …show more content…
In 2010, there was an experiment conducted on a group of young Dutch girls. The goal of the experiment was to proof the hypostasis that playing with thin dolls effects the way girl purposive the human body as beautiful and influence their food intake. In this experiment, different girls were given 3 types of toys to play with. The toys were thin dolls, average sized dolls, and Legos. After playing with the toys the girls were asked a question regarding their body’s appearance and given food to eat. Most girls answered that they were happy with their appearance, but when it came to food intake, the girls who played with the thin dolls, ate significantly less than the girls who played with the average size doll. From these results we can see that playing with thin dolls might not necessary affect the way one views their body in a young age, however, it may influence your subconscious when it comes to food intake. This study 's result can also be proved once more by the following case. In Ukraine, there is a model named Valeria Lukyanova who is known as the human Barbie. She says that the way she became the human Barbie is constantly being on the Breatharianism diet. This diet requires people on the diet to starve themselves. These people claim that they receive the nutrients that they need from the air and sunlight. As can be seen in the examples above, even the …show more content…
In many books, cartoons, and movies the Barbie doll are portrayed as a bubbly, gullible, and unintelligent girls. When the first Barbie doll was released, all she cared about was fashion, beauty, and physical appearance, regardless if it will be at the expenses of her other interests or passions. One example is the “I Can Be A computer Engineer!” Barbie doll picture book. In this book, Barbie wanted to create a new game for class. At first, it seems that Barbie is designing the game herself, but when she was asked about its development she says: “I’m only creating the design ideas,” she continues, laughing. “I’ll need Steven and Brian’s help to turn it into a real game!” (npr). Later in the story, while she is working on designing the game, Barbie accidently infects her computer with a virus and not knowing what to do, she went to her male friends for help. After the book was released many people were not happy with its storyline. Many feminists commented on the book saying that it sends a bad message to young girls. They said the message that this book sends is that in order for girls to achieve anything they should not try to do it themselves, but always rely on others, especially men to get the job done. In addition, this book teaches girls to not peruse their dreams because they can’t do the job correctly without a man. The portrayal of Barbie in both the book and media