I remember being a little girl and playing Barbie’s with my older sister. Sitting on the living room floor playing some made up game in our made up Barbie world, with fake little names we had for each other. Also she was always picking the Barbie doll before I could.
However I also recall sitting on that same living room floor holding the Barbie and just staring at it. Staring at it taking in how perfect she looked, with nice straight blonde hair, pretty clothes and dresses that fit her to a tee, but most importantly how perfect her body looked. I couldn’t help but think in the moment how mine looked nothing like it and probably never would. I was the exact opposite of Barbie. I had brown hair that was frizzy and unruly, buck teeth, she was a size zero and I would never be, we didn’t even have the same eye color. So I could not help but sit there and think, is this what I’m supposed to look like? And why couldn’t I look just like her?
As I grew up it seemed those same feelings and thoughts grew with me. While Barbie she stayed the same and continued to set those unrealistic beauty expectations that every girl is faced with trying to meet.
So Barbie who really is just some plastic doll can somehow make such a negative impact on how girls begin to view their body. According to the National Library of Medicine “Even if dolls cease to function as aspirational role models for older girls, early exposure to dolls epitomizing an unrealistically thin body ideal may damage girls body image, which would contribute to an increased risk of disordered eating and weight cycling.” Highlighting that from early childhood we are promoting young girls to be one size and if they do not fit that standard they have to change their body to fit it.
However some may argue that Barbie can not cause that much of an impact on young girls and how they view themselves. The answer is she really can according to Psychology Today “A study published in 2006 found that 5-8 year old girls who played with Barbies in an experiment desired thinner bodies than girls who did not.” Showing that just one doll who does not even talk can make these girls start to view themselves negatively. So from an extremely young age we are showing girls that they are supposed to look one way and be just once size. However not every girl is and when you are not the size zero that Barbie is it can be detrimental to how you view everything about yourself.
Yes, Barbie can give off a good message to young girls that they can be anyone they want and do anything that they set their minds to. However is that really worth it if a child that loves Barbie starts to hate her body? I don’t think it is.
On the other hand Mattel has released “bigger Barbie’s”; however they are labeled on the website as curvy Barbie. There are only three options for the Barbies who are curvy two of them are regular Barbie’s and one is a doctor Barbie. One Barbie is not available to buy, one Barbie you can only buy at Target, and the last Barbie you can only buy off of Amazon. These three Barbies can be a good representation for young girls who are bigger; however, two of these Barbies can’t even be purchased in an actual store and one just at Target.
Compared with other Barbies that are available for purchase at numerous stores and online. The sale’s percentage for these Barbies are also only 6% of total sales. Also these Barbies are not even bigger, plus size, or curvy but larger in select areas like the thighs and chest primarily. The waist on these Barbies are still slim and small just like the regular Barbie. Once again showing that for young kids who aren’t skinny or are, that they need to be smaller to be perfect and pretty like Barbie is. Still holding up these unreal body representations and expectations. These curvy Barbies have also not been perceived very well by young girls.
A study done in 2023 from American Science said “Typically, the larger-figured doll or curvy Barbie tended to be ascribed with more negative characteristics.” This leads to the questions of what about the girls who do look like the curvy Barbies. How can these be helping them if they are carrying a negative view with them? The point is that they can’t, these Barbie can lead to more harm done to these girls.
A study from Digital Global Health done in 2023 found this “These studies have identified that exposure to Barbie or similar thin-type dolls can contribute to lower body esteem and a greater internalization of the thin ideal. Moreover, findings suggest that weight bias can be ingrained in children from a young age, as larger-figured dolls are often associated with negative characteristics.” Emphasizing the fact of Barbie leading to these young girls having thoughts of wanting a skinnier body. Especially when the Barbies supposed to be promoting a bigger body is viewed with a negative outlook. Leading to even more of an increase in wanting this skinnier body and more negative thoughts about the body. This will lead to an even larger increase for the girls who are more similar to the bigger Barbies.
As someone who struggled with this negative impact I don’t want to see the cycle of it in more girls. Barbie needs to bring in more unique dolls, ones to look like everyone, not just size zero, blonde haired girls. And if we don’t is this the message we really want portrayed to children. That to be pretty in this world we must look one way.
