BYE BYE BARBIE!

Do you remember when you were a little girl and enjoyed playing with baby dolls and Barbie dolls? I can recall when I was only six years old and I received the new Barbie camper and Barbie doll for Christmas. Back then, I thought that Barbie was fun to play with and I used my imagination to play "make believe" that I was Barbie. What little girl wouldn't want to be beautiful and perfect, like Barbie?

As Barbie celebrates her 50th birthday today, a lawmaker named Jeff Eldridge wants Barbie banned in West Virginia. He believes that Barbie puts too much emphasis on outer beauty and materialism, instead of focusing on intelligence and emotional development.

To better understand Eldridge, lets consider how the average woman compares to Barbie. The average woman is 5'4", a size 12, has a 37" bust, a 29" waist and 40" hips. A Barbie doll is 7'2", she has a 40" bust, a 22" waist and 36" hips. A Barbie doll's neck is TWICE the length of a normal humans neck! NOTE: Several websites provided various measurements of Barbie that ranged from the above measurement to 39-23-33. The exact measurement is questionable, but very apparent that it is UNATTAINABLE and DISTORTS a healthy body image for little girls.

The typical American girl, aged 3-11, owns eight Barbie's. How could American girls grow up in our society with a healthy body image and a positive self-esteem if they are receiving the unconscious and disturbing message that females must be tall, slender and physically beautiful to be considered acceptable?

The truth of the matter about Barbie's unrealistic measurements is that even if she were human and did marry Ken, they would never have children. Based on research done by Rader Programs, the percent of Barbie's body fat would be so low, she would have ceased to menstruate. That is if she ever started because she has been grossly underweight since the beginning!

At the Vanderbilt University's Wellness Resource Center located in Nashville, TN, they are dedicated to help members develop and increase their awareness of every aspect of wellness. They believe that wellness is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful existence. In addition, the resource center believes that wellness is a holistic concept involving physical, spiritual, social, emotional, intellectual, and environmental dimensions.

The Wellness Resource Center has a life-size Barbie Doll for the public to view. She is built in direct representation to the actual Barbie doll. The purpose of Barbie is to force people to see what an unrealistic image young children (in particular young girls) have as their ideal model. Read some of Barbie's specs below and find out just how UNREALISTIC she is . . .

The REAL Barbie . . .

* would have to crawl to support her top-heavy frame.
* would only have room for a radius OR an ulna in her arms.
* would only have room for a tibia OR a fibula in her legs.
* would only have room for an esophagus OR a trachea in her neck (she could either eat OR breathe . . . we guess she must just breathe)
* would wear a size 3 children's shoe
* would have a severely distorted face (like the pictures of aliens), due to the almost triple average size of her head.

At an age where children are very impressionable and seek to be like the role models around them, whether it is dolls or the media, it is important for parents to use positive role models, especially for girls. Parents could promote a positive self-esteem in their children by seeking real life role models, such as doctors, teachers, women and men in history, artists, writers as well as moms and dads.

Another way to promote a healthier body image is by teaching your children about their true identity and how they were created to be unique with special talents all their own. One program that aims to promote a healthier body image is The True Campaign. The goal of their program is to end the crisis of distorted self image by challenging cultural ideals about identity and beauty.

Personally, I do NOT believe that every little girl that plays dress up with Barbie is destined to be struggling with an eating disorder or her self-image, but I do believe that children should have the opportunity to use their imagination, enjoy their childhood, have fun playing indoors and outdoors as well as to learn at a young age that beauty is not determined by the outer appearance. Educating children is important and the lesson should teach that regardless of size, color or shape, true beauty is much more than skin deep.



Copyright © 2009 by Dana Arcuri. All Rights Reserved.