You can pretend that your toy was your role model, but we know better than that. We don't believe you are that stupid.
Normal Barbie
- Thread starter evince
- Start date
You can pretend that your toy was your role model, but we know better than that. We don't believe you are that stupid.
Ignoring media influence and blaming a doll doesn't make your crap any more "real" either.
The reason you thought it was how "beautiful" women should look would be the resemblance to the women in the Miss America contest, not because the dolly made you believe you were inadequate.
No, you don't. The doll resembles women that media portrays as beautiful. Believing that the doll was the influence for the other is where you have a disconnect. It's a toy and will never measure up to the women they see on TV as a role model, other than its resemblance to those women.
tekkychick
New member
Damocles, Barbies have been around for decades, well before TV became as important as it is today. So they had influence then outside of what was shown on TV. And the images on TV have changed over time as well, to where they seem to be a lot more "sexy" than they used to be. Miss America was once a year (and lots of us didn't watch it); dolls were played with daily by many children. (Moi, I tended to stick to stuffed animals... and I had dolls other than Barbie... but I did have a couple Barbies)
Since you have never been a little girl, playing with dolls who are "prettier" than you can ever hope to be; since you haven't seen messages aimed at you that say "thinner is better" and "you should look like Barbie" - unless you've done some kind of sociological study in this area, this may not be your best place to argue.
Of course now girls are influenced by the women on TV as well as their dolls. But having the dolls have more realistic proportions is one step of many that we can do to help our girls out.
Another example- African American girls were forced to play with white dolls for decades because there just weren't any black dolls; there were no dolls that looked like them. You don't think that affected them? That they didn't grow up thinking silky hair and white skin is better than their hair and skin? yes, media also stressed that; but the dolls didn't help.
In ways big and small, our culture influences us. Yes, finally, alternative toy companies started making "ethnic" dolls. But you walk down the toy aisle and it's still heavily white and pink.
There's a lot of work to do. Dolls are just one of the areas that need work. Are they the only area? no. But they're one of them.
Since you have never been a little girl, playing with dolls who are "prettier" than you can ever hope to be; since you haven't seen messages aimed at you that say "thinner is better" and "you should look like Barbie" - unless you've done some kind of sociological study in this area, this may not be your best place to argue.
Of course now girls are influenced by the women on TV as well as their dolls. But having the dolls have more realistic proportions is one step of many that we can do to help our girls out.
Another example- African American girls were forced to play with white dolls for decades because there just weren't any black dolls; there were no dolls that looked like them. You don't think that affected them? That they didn't grow up thinking silky hair and white skin is better than their hair and skin? yes, media also stressed that; but the dolls didn't help.
In ways big and small, our culture influences us. Yes, finally, alternative toy companies started making "ethnic" dolls. But you walk down the toy aisle and it's still heavily white and pink.
There's a lot of work to do. Dolls are just one of the areas that need work. Are they the only area? no. But they're one of them.
canceled.2021.1
#AMERICAISDEAD
It is sad how feminism has totally screwed up women. Do you ever hear men complaining about the shapes of GI Joes?
God women can be so whiney. Always complaining
God women can be so whiney. Always complaining
I may not have been a little girl playing with dolls, but I certainly was the youngest child in a house full of older girls. Barbie absolutely came into being after TV played a major role in the household. The first Barbie was created in 1959, long after beautiful women graced our screens at the theater and on televisions across the nation.
Again, dolls with more realistic proportions? As if this would have fixed the image issues women have? It is both unrealistic and dismisses the intelligence of women.
Whether or not they helped, blaming the doll for what media brought to them is just silliness. Every one of my sisters looked up to people, not to plastic dolls. They wanted to be like women they saw on TV, not like Barbie. They'd get haircuts to match them, pretend they were Princess Leia... Want to be like those women, not one of them thought to grow up to be like their doll.
Not according to this thread. In this thread I have been presented with a theory that Barbie is the sole role model that counts. It is my experience that Barbie is a toy, and that the role models the women/girls in my life looked up to had nothing to do with their toys.
evince
Truthmatters
I have to admit, this made me LOL.
canceled.2021.1
#AMERICAISDEAD
Actually that was a good one, but my original point stands. That you put your self worth into a doll says more about you than the doll.
canceled.2021.1
#AMERICAISDEAD
You obviously still have issues with your Barbie sweetie. You started the thread. I haven't thought about GI Joe in years
LOL... This one was even better. You shouldn't have thrown them out, they can be worth money.
Steelplate
New member
If it was JUST a doll, it wouldn't be a problem....but the doll represents only one aspect.....look at magazines with teenage girls as their demographic, look at teenage oriented television. It all goes hand in hand.
You aren't special unless you buy "X" clothing" oh...."X" clothing doesn't fit? You aren't special....you're a fucking Cow. Same with Makeup and and a host of other bullshit criteria for "being acceptable".
But ILA's OK with all that shit....because he's a profit/loss kind of guy....he doesn't care how many girls turn anorexic, bulemic, or just go out and kill themselves...as long as Hollister, American Eagle and Maybelline are flush with money.
You aren't special unless you buy "X" clothing" oh...."X" clothing doesn't fit? You aren't special....you're a fucking Cow. Same with Makeup and and a host of other bullshit criteria for "being acceptable".
But ILA's OK with all that shit....because he's a profit/loss kind of guy....he doesn't care how many girls turn anorexic, bulemic, or just go out and kill themselves...as long as Hollister, American Eagle and Maybelline are flush with money.
evince
Truthmatters
At the very least it is an opportunity to allow you to teach your little girl the proper place and objects to put on pedestals as a measure of their worth. If you happen to have a little girl who wants to "be like" Barbie.