The Barbie Effect: How Barbie Affects Her Body
The Barbie Effect
As a parent, giving your little girl the Barbie doll that she has always wanted for her fifth birthday seems like a harmless gesture at the time, but what most parents don’t realize is that Barbie often effects the way a young girl perceives her body. What many parents don’t think about is that when these young girls are playing with their brand new Barbie doll, their brain is registering everything about that doll. How popular and perfect she is, so naturally these girls are beginning to want to be just like Barbie, which starts many of them on their way to eating disorders. (Wanless 2001) Barbie is not all about her weight though. She is also known for her perfect looks, which include her hair, makeup, clothes, and everything else that goes along with it. These looks lead girls to spending hours caking on makeup in the mirror, destroying their hair with dye, straighteners and curling irons, and begging their parents for the most popular and expensive clothes to try and achieve the ultimate “Barbie” doll look. (Wanless 2001)Young girls who grow up playing with Barbie dolls are likely to suffer from emotional distress, poor self-image, and lack of self-confidence.
The average three to ten year-old girl in the United States owns eight Barbies. Only one percent of this group owns no Barbies. (Munger 2006) Barbie is often said to have the perfect body, but what most people don’t realize is that if Barbie was an actual …show more content…
The effects of these dolls are obvious and can extend to as far as Cindy Jackson’s story. The unfortunate part is that self body image is extremely important in the world we live in today and is doubtfully going to change. If parents are more aware of the effects that Barbie can have on young children, hopefully they can confront the situation so that their children never take extremes like Cindy Jackson
As a parent, giving your little girl the Barbie doll that she has always wanted for her fifth birthday seems like a harmless gesture at the time, but what most parents don’t realize is that Barbie often effects the way a young girl perceives her body. What many parents don’t think about is that when these young girls are playing with their brand new Barbie doll, their brain is registering everything about that doll. How popular and perfect she is, so naturally these girls are beginning to want to be just like Barbie, which starts many of them on their way to eating disorders. (Wanless 2001) Barbie is not all about her weight though. She is also known for her perfect looks, which include her hair, makeup, clothes, and everything else that goes along with it. These looks lead girls to spending hours caking on makeup in the mirror, destroying their hair with dye, straighteners and curling irons, and begging their parents for the most popular and expensive clothes to try and achieve the ultimate “Barbie” doll look. (Wanless 2001)Young girls who grow up playing with Barbie dolls are likely to suffer from emotional distress, poor self-image, and lack of self-confidence.
The average three to ten year-old girl in the United States owns eight Barbies. Only one percent of this group owns no Barbies. (Munger 2006) Barbie is often said to have the perfect body, but what most people don’t realize is that if Barbie was an actual …show more content…
The effects of these dolls are obvious and can extend to as far as Cindy Jackson’s story. The unfortunate part is that self body image is extremely important in the world we live in today and is doubtfully going to change. If parents are more aware of the effects that Barbie can have on young children, hopefully they can confront the situation so that their children never take extremes like Cindy Jackson