I played with Barbie dolls. I still love them,and I still have my precious doll stored safely in my drawer back home; and each time I go home, I take her out, give her a bath, comb her hair, and put her somewhere near where I can see her. In my imagined world she was a daughter, a wife, a mother, an aunt,a friend, a successful career woman, a good cook, the perfect host, a woman with the kindest of hearts, a strong personality, and the lady whose eternal smile emanate from within. She was my idea of a perfect woman.I "wanted to be like her"; after all, she was what I "made her to be"! It was simple as that then and it still is. She didn't tell me to lose weight when I gained weight in my teens,she didn't make fun of me when I had braces on my teeth,she didn't mock my bad fashion sense. Instead, in spite of being thin she was still my friend, gave me that perfect smile and wore whatever clothes I gave her to wear. She was such a gracious lady! She taught me that thinner, prettier people are good too!
I write this to state this point-a child's play or what she dreams up in her imaginary world has a lot to do with what her parents and elders teach her and the environment she is in and exposed to. A poor toy doesn't make your daughter develop anorexia or bulimia, or even teach her to be licentious. A doll is what you make her to be. So instead of blaming her thin figure for all the problems our daughters have, let's try teaching them to see the doll in a different way.The problem lies in perception. A little introspection will make us admit that instead of trying to take control of our own home, we are all out fighting the producers of the doll! Yet at the same time we continue buying the dolls and continue blaming them for our incompetence! Old problem with humanity! I have heard many people rant about the evils of the doll. Have the same people talked to their daughters about the doll? What do their girls think of it? And importantly, have they stopped buying it?( Mattel, producer of Barbie reported a 16% increase in profit last year).If there is a problem with Barbie we are to blame for it. Period.
I am aware of reports blaming the doll for poor body image of girls worldwide(if the US of A and a few western countries IS the world!). I am inclined to think that the reports are part of a media war, and hyped by feminists. Can we really know the truth? If that is really the case then who is to blame? I am surprised that in an age of consumerism, the producers have their way, in spite of the consumers!Introspect!
There are girls who effortlessly have figures like Barbie. What about them? Are they guilty of something? Did Barbie inspire them to look like this? No. Beauty comes in all sizes. What frightens me is the subtle waves of reverse discrimination towards the naturally slim girls.Envy has a way of turning ugly; and if it's my daughter who is the envious one,I'd blame myself for her low self esteem and ugly nature, not Barbie.
I hear that there's a new doll in the offing named Lammily resembling"actual humans"( I don't need to repeat that it still leaves out many members of the human race, the Barbie-likes being just a fraction). There are so much hype around it and it is going for crowd-funding for production. On the surface of it, it seems like a brilliant idea. My first reaction towards it was one of support; I even planned to buy one. It touched that reactive, egoistic,activist side of me. But on introspection I realized how shallow I was in parroting the popular narrative that Barbie is to blame for poor self image of girls worldwide. It might be an instrument in the least but it's not the cause. By putting the blame on the doll we are absolving ourselves of our responsibilities as parents, as adults; and by waging a war against her, we are fighting the wrong enemy.
A wise lady older to me once said that the definition of beauty changes with time. By this she meant the physical beauty.Beauty was being plump in her mother's generation; now in her daughter's generation and mine, it is being slim. Physical beauty is subjective.By opposing Barbie we are only reinforcing our materialistic belief that physical beauty is all there is to beauty- that it is beauty itself. I have good reasons to think that Lammily will also face the same fate as Barbie if we don't recognize the real issue involved here.
I write this to state this point-a child's play or what she dreams up in her imaginary world has a lot to do with what her parents and elders teach her and the environment she is in and exposed to. A poor toy doesn't make your daughter develop anorexia or bulimia, or even teach her to be licentious. A doll is what you make her to be. So instead of blaming her thin figure for all the problems our daughters have, let's try teaching them to see the doll in a different way.The problem lies in perception. A little introspection will make us admit that instead of trying to take control of our own home, we are all out fighting the producers of the doll! Yet at the same time we continue buying the dolls and continue blaming them for our incompetence! Old problem with humanity! I have heard many people rant about the evils of the doll. Have the same people talked to their daughters about the doll? What do their girls think of it? And importantly, have they stopped buying it?( Mattel, producer of Barbie reported a 16% increase in profit last year).If there is a problem with Barbie we are to blame for it. Period.
I am aware of reports blaming the doll for poor body image of girls worldwide(if the US of A and a few western countries IS the world!). I am inclined to think that the reports are part of a media war, and hyped by feminists. Can we really know the truth? If that is really the case then who is to blame? I am surprised that in an age of consumerism, the producers have their way, in spite of the consumers!Introspect!
There are girls who effortlessly have figures like Barbie. What about them? Are they guilty of something? Did Barbie inspire them to look like this? No. Beauty comes in all sizes. What frightens me is the subtle waves of reverse discrimination towards the naturally slim girls.Envy has a way of turning ugly; and if it's my daughter who is the envious one,I'd blame myself for her low self esteem and ugly nature, not Barbie.
I hear that there's a new doll in the offing named Lammily resembling"actual humans"( I don't need to repeat that it still leaves out many members of the human race, the Barbie-likes being just a fraction). There are so much hype around it and it is going for crowd-funding for production. On the surface of it, it seems like a brilliant idea. My first reaction towards it was one of support; I even planned to buy one. It touched that reactive, egoistic,activist side of me. But on introspection I realized how shallow I was in parroting the popular narrative that Barbie is to blame for poor self image of girls worldwide. It might be an instrument in the least but it's not the cause. By putting the blame on the doll we are absolving ourselves of our responsibilities as parents, as adults; and by waging a war against her, we are fighting the wrong enemy.
A wise lady older to me once said that the definition of beauty changes with time. By this she meant the physical beauty.Beauty was being plump in her mother's generation; now in her daughter's generation and mine, it is being slim. Physical beauty is subjective.By opposing Barbie we are only reinforcing our materialistic belief that physical beauty is all there is to beauty- that it is beauty itself. I have good reasons to think that Lammily will also face the same fate as Barbie if we don't recognize the real issue involved here.
